“every other aspect of business has moved into the paperless digital age. Now we are doing the same with business cards,” says Gregor Isbister, Toroblue.com founder and director of parent company Breeze Tech Ltd.

“This is the perfect way to ensure your details are stored accurately in your customer’s phone address book, letting them contact you at the push of a button - and refer you to a friend or colleague just as easily.”

The Toroblue.com system, which operates for free using Bluetooth technology, sends an e-card to modern mobile phones within a 40-metre radius, as customers enter the building or pass by outside.

“The programme is a simple cost-effective tool that makes it easier for your customers to do business with you,” Isbister adds.

The software is available from Toroblue.com where customers fill in their business card details and make a one-off payment of £75. A customised CD and USB transmitter is delivered the next day. “The software is installed with only four clicks, and the programme runs when you turn on your computer,” says Isbister. “The system is very simple to use.”

The information, including the company’s logo and contact details, is stored directly in the phone’s address book and is never sent to the same phone more than once. The e-card can also be edited quickly and easily to accommodate any changes made to the contact details.

E-cards, which can either be accepted or declined by the recipient, have a high acceptance rate, according to Isbister. Trials at Lexus Edinburgh dealership, where the Toroblue.com system was piloted in August 2004, showed that on average 70 per cent of e-cards are accepted by customers and 36 per cent make a follow-up call using the number they receive.

The programme was also piloted by Lexus at the Sydney International Motorshow in October 2005 where 15,000 e-cards were sent to visitors. “This technology enables us to provide customers with key contact details, as well as information about Lexus, delivered directly to their phones,” says Vin Naidoo, product manager at Lexus Australia. “The 88 per cent acceptance rate we achieved shows it is well-received by customers.”

The system has also been trialled at Pizza Toscana, based in Lavender Hill in London, where it has been used to distribute contact details for the restaurant and promote special offers both to customers who enter the premises and those waiting at a nearby bus stop. It is now being launched across a range of businesses.

“People refuse to leave the house without their mobile phones,” says Isbister. “This means that they will always be walking around with your contact details, ready to make use of them or pass them on to some one else. This is a great way to attract new business and develop connections.

“The Toroblue.com system is a really easy way for customers to store contact details and takes out the need to manually transfer information to their phone.”

The IT specialist offers ongoing support to companies that order the software. “But we have had very few calls for support since the product went on trial as the programme looks after itself by automatically re-starting the software if there are any difficulties,” Isbister says.

The programme, which has been on trial in six locations since August 2004, was launched three weeks ago. “We have had interest from all over the world,” says Isbister. “The feedback that we have had looks very promising.”

So, will Bluetooth technology replace conventional paper business cards? “E-cards work alongside traditional business cards to help grow businesses,” says Isbister. “But as an immediate and accessible programme, the Toroblue.com system would be a useful tool for any business.”

SUPPLIERS SLOW TO TOSS OUT THE PAPER

As suppliers to supermarkets and foodservice operators feel the pressure to manage error-free tracebaility systems, there has never been a greater incentive to leave the paper behind.

many organisations in the fresh produce industry still operate manual paper-based traceability systems where data is handwritten onto batch sheets.

However, apart from being highly labour-intensive, there is a growing concern around such systems from customers, such as supermarkets and foodservice organisations. In this article, Anglia Business Solutions looks at the hidden benefits than can be gained from automating this process.

The key business issue is one of customer confidence. What bothers them most is how quickly and efficiently the supplier can provide them with reliable data in the event of a problem with any product. The issue with manual records is that the process of analysing the data becomes a logistical nightmare where large volumes of data are involved.

The requirement is for a system that provides comprehensive traceability information at the touch of a button. The desired deliverable is a full, paperless audit trail of raw material traceable by lot and batch number.

While this may seem like an unnecessary overhead for the business to bear, the reality is that legislation and customer demands are likely to force companies to adopt these practices sooner rather than later. Pre-empting this by tackling the issue before it becomes mandatory could have significant hidden benefits.

The main advantage of having full product traceability built into your electronic business processes is visibility of stock movements by batch. In manual paper-bound processes, the data is only available to people with access to the physical paperwork. With its electronic equivalent, the captured data can immediately be shared with the wider workforce.

This can assist in flagging problems, such as quality issues or order shortages as they occur. The advantage is that it can enable the management to take rapid pre-emptive action to head off a potential customer relationship issue. The real benefit, however, is having the flexibility to respond promptly to changes in customer demands. In the fresh produce sector, orders are constantly changed at very short notice in response to consumer buying trends. The recent Short Order Lead Time (SOLT) initiative by Tesco is a taste of things to come.

To optimise sales in the supermarkets, suppliers of perishable goods are likely to come under more rather than less pressure where product deliveries are concerned. With access to accurate dynamic electronic data, it becomes feasible to meet those demands without employing a small army of administrators.

Natures Way Marketing provides a useful example of this theory in action. Prior to implementing its LINKFresh solution, the company was reliant on a variety of disparate applications and processes to run its business.

These made product visibility and traceability difficult to say the least. Having transferred to the new solution, the business benefits were quite significant. The introduction of live stock coupled with full lot traceability has brought major benefits to the organisation. It now has total control over the movement of stock across the organisation. This has reportedly impressed one of its major clients, which should lead to a welcome increase in turnover with this organisation.

The reality is that the availability of full lot traceability will become the norm in future for any supplier to the major retailers. The greater prize is the improvement in efficiency and agility that it brings to the implementing organisation.

The benefits to the company can range from increased turnover to improved margins. This can make the difference between surviving and thriving in the cut-throat world of the electronic information age.