A couple of weeks ago, I was engaged on a top-secret mission for a company whose name I cannot divulge working on a project whose details I cannot discuss in a location that must remain forever hidden, but I fear I’ve said too much.

Suffice it to say that I was surrounded by techno-geeks of the highest order — the sort of people who would flock to the sound of a packet of pocket protectors being produced. Thus, this was a situation that demanded I establish my own techno-cred.

Fortunately, I had recently taken possession of my new smart business card. This techno-dweeb’s delight served to disguise that fact that I rarely have a clue as to what I’m waffling on about.

The card in question comes from the folks at Mobilo. There are so many facets to this that I don’t know where to start. Perhaps we should begin by noting that you no longer need to stuff your pockets with an unsightly wad of cards before heading out of the office — now you need carry only a single card.

The way this works is that, when you wish to share your contact details with someone, you simply tap your card on the corner (or just bring it into close proximity) of the smartphone of whoever you are talking to. In turn, they immediately receive a popup containing all of your details, including name, address, company, email address, telephone number, website, and photo (you can also add all of your social networking channels if you wish). With just an insouciant tap of the finger, they can add you to their contacts.

This is awesome. Quite apart from anything else, since we are currently fighting out way through a worldwide pandemic, using one’s Mobilo card drastically diminishes any discomfiture, distress, awkwardness, or embarrassment associated with attempting to share potentially pestilence-ridden paper-based products.

There’s no need to load an app on your own phone, although you can do so if you wish. If so, this provides the same functionality as when you use a regular browser to access your personal profile page on the secure Mobilo server, which is where you can modify your contact details whenever and wherever you feel the urge to do so.

A generic plastic Mobilo card requires a one-time payment of only $7, while a custom-designed plastic card with your own logo and whatever else you want involves a one-time payment of $39. There is also an enterprise version for $65/year and a stainless-steel version that’s laser in-scripted with your custom design for $249/year — these latter versions are accompanied by a wealth of networking, analytics, lead-generation, and customer relationship management (CRM) features and functionalities.

But wait, there’s more, because there’s also a Mobilo Wood Card version, available in birch or sapele, that’s laser-etched with your custom design. In addition to looking awesome and being responsibly sourced, a new tree is planted for every card sold.

I was just thinking about the fact that every time I’ve moved office and/or changed positions and/or modified emails and/or altered phone numbers, I’ve ended up trashing hundreds of old business cards and purchasing hundreds of new ones.

Also, when I used to attend conferences in the days before coronavirus, I would return with piles of business cards collected from the folks I’d met. I know some people who manage to stay on top of this sort of thing, spending hours assiduously filing their acquisitions away in card indexes and suchlike. I’m not of their number. With the best will in the world, any cards I’ve collected eventually find their way into the bottom of a filing cabinet drawer cowering in the darkest corner of my office, never again to see the light of day (I like to think of this cabinet as containing a treasure trove of data waiting to be uncovered by industrial archaeologists of the future, to whom I say, “You’re welcome!”).

All I can say is that I look forward to the day when we all glide through life gracefully wafting and waving our Mobilo smart business cards while — at the same time — sharing our contact details with each other. How about you? Do you have any thoughts you’d care to share on any of this?