Digital business cards for companies compared

A printed business card is a static paper medium that can no longer be changed after printing and must be handed over physically. A digital business card is an electronic profile that is shared via NFC, QR code, wallet pass or link and updated centrally at any time; changed data is immediately current across all channels, without reprinting.

In addition, contact details can be added directly to the address book as a vCard with a single click, and in corporate use central administration, corporate design specifications and contact/lead capture are possible.

No. With the common online-based approach, the recipient needs neither an app nor a registration. When tapping an NFC card or scanning the QR code, the smartphone opens the profile in the browser; from there the contact details can be added to the address book as a vCard.

For NFC, the recipient's device merely needs to be NFC-capable and have the function activated; QR codes work with any camera and are therefore device-independent.

Digital business cards can be operated in a GDPR-compliant manner if certain prerequisites are met. Since the provider processes personal contact data on behalf of the customer, it is a processor; required are a data processing agreement (DPA) pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR, a transparent privacy policy and processes for data subject rights.

If data of third parties is stored via contact/lead capture, the legal basis for the processing must be clarified. To minimize risk, hosting in Germany or the EU and the avoidance of data transfers to third countries are also advisable.

The server location determines which legal framework the data processing is subject to. Hosting in Germany or the EU avoids the legal requirements and uncertainties of a third-country transfer (for example to the USA), which would require additional safeguards.

The specific data center location as well as the chain of subprocessors are decisive for the assessment. Providers that operate exclusively on German or EU servers and exclude third-country transfers reduce the compliance effort for the company using them.

SSO (single sign-on) enables logging in with existing company credentials via standards such as SAML 2.0, OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect and does away with separate passwords. SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management) automates provisioning: user accounts and groups are synchronized with the directory service, new employees automatically receive a card including a role assignment, and on departure access is automatically revoked.

SSO governs authentication at login, SCIM the lifecycle of the accounts afterwards. Together the two reduce manual administrative effort and the security risk of remaining access, and are therefore central to scaled corporate use.

In the online-based approach, the NFC chip, QR code, wallet pass and link all point to the same cloud-hosted profile. If the profile is changed by the card holder or centrally by an administrator, the new data is immediately available across all channels, without cards having to be reprogrammed or redistributed.

Wallet passes that have already been shared update the stored data as soon as an internet connection is available again. If, on the other hand, a recipient has already imported the data into their address book as a vCard, this local address book entry is not automatically updated as well.