The business card reader; Between analog and digital
A business card reader is a device for scanning and automatically storing business cards electronically under the relevant fields. The relevant information gets filed under the fields of name, title, company, address, city, state, zip, country, phone, fax, mobile, email, and web, after which they can be searched and sorted easily as with in any other database management program. A business card reader employs advanced OCR (Optical Character Reader) technology to identify the information on the business card in order to accurately file the text under the relevant heads. It is, thus, a very effective tool for storing and managing one’s contact information.
A business card reader proves its usefulness even in this day and age when almost every second person owns a smart phone to manage his or her list of contacts. One does not need to look far for the reason; a person’s full contact details, as given on such a visiting token, would take much too long to recite and store on a personal digital assistant, even the likes of which are out today. It is still considered courteous to introduce oneself by means of exchanging business cards. Of course, they may easily get lost or misplaced. The advantage of being able to upload one in electrical format is immeasurable. But as mentioned before, it simply is not feasible to have to individually make entries into a computer or cell phone for every contact detail that a business card affords.
The ideal solution is the business card reader; a device that would automatically carry out this burdensome task. Of course, optical character readers are a dime a dozen nowadays, and even handwriting can be converted into digital format with a high level of accuracy. But what sets the business card reader apart from them is the fact that not only does it detect the data, it also analyzes and processes it and files it under the appropriate fields without any human assistance.
It hardly needs to be pointed out that business cards have almost become redundant. It is a much more convenient method to just store and message the information electronically via mobile phones, which eliminates the need for such an OCR device. But practicality is not the only consideration here; its importance stems from its status as a courteous social custom. The business card reader, thus, serves to bridge the two worlds. It keeps alive the tradition of the past without impeding the needs of the future either.
A business card reader, thus, is by far a more fashionable way of being modernized. However, it should by no means be regarded as a replacement for today’s far more efficient personal digital assistants, but rather as an extra equipment to be used alongside them. A time may come when visiting cards themselves go out of fashion, and the device too will become useless paraphernalia, but in today’s world at least, which is marked by transition, it is a tool which reflects the spirit of that very change and compromise. Till the past has been effaced completely, the business card reader will continue in popularity as a reminder of what we are leaving behind.