Pro Networking Tip #5: Use Camcard to Save Business Card Info

Pro Networking Tip #5: Use Camcard to Save Business Card Info

When I would go to conferences at my old job, I would come back with stacks of business cards. I dreaded the task of punching in the info one by one, but that’s the way it was. One colleague of mine got a business card reader but I just never got around to it. After getting back into sales last year, and once again collecting stacks of business cards, I needed a way to process business card info quickly as they were piling up.

I was delighted to find a business card reader application called Cam Card. I paid the 10 bucks on the app store downloaded it to my Samsung 3 phone and immediately processed a stack of about 60 cards in under 15 minutes. All you have to do is open the application, point your camera phone at the card, and snap the picture.

The application reads the card and I would say that it is pretty accurate 80% of the time at least. Sometimes cards with odd formatting and/or shiny reflective surfaces will interfere with the process, but overall it is pretty good. 

You can also set it up to synch with your Gmail contacts, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. This means that even if your phone breaks all of your contacts can be easily accessed through another device.

Sometimes when people give me their card, I will just CamCard it on the spot and give them their card back to save them the cost. After all, it’s just going to sit in a drawer somewhere or get recycled once I capture the info!