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The
lifeblood of any
business is its ability to communicate with its prospects and
customers. Contact management software makes it a lot easier
to
track those vital contacts – but the key to success is getting
your contact information entered in the first place!
If you’re not thrilled at the thought of spending hours
typing in
business card data, a
business card scanner could save your
sanity. If you’re thinking of buying
one, you may be
wondering what to look for, and how difficult it will be to set up and
use. Here are some tips:
First, make sure you
select a scanner that is designed to work with your computer.
You can buy scanners that work with Windows or Mac. The most
common brand is CardScan (www.cardscan.com), available from Staples and
Office Depot. Be sure to carefully
read the fine print
to make sure that the scanner will work with the operating system you
have. For example, CardScan’s
“Personal”
scanner won’t work with Windows Vista®, but their
“Executive” scanner will.
Most business card scanners create their own database, and if you
don’t already use a system to store and track your contacts,
this
can be a good solution for you. However, if you are already
using
your own contact management software, you should also make sure you buy a scanner that
will “talk” to the software you’re using.
Most business card scanners can synchronize directly with Microsoft
Outlook®, and you can also get scanners that can synchronize
with
Act! ®, Lotus Notes®, Outlook Express®,
Salesforce®,
Goldmine®, Microsoft CRM®, SalesLogix®, and
handheld
devices such as Palm®, Blackberry®, and Windows
Mobile®. Most scanners can also export your contact
data into
Excel® spreadsheets or text files.
To find out which scanner will work with your contact management
software, read the
specifications on the box, or check out the scanner’s
specifications on the manufacturer’s website.
Most of the newer business card scanners use a USB cable to connect to
your computer, so make
sure that you have a USB port available
to plug it into. If all your USB ports are used, you can buy
an
inexpensive USB hub that plugs into a single port and
“splits” it into 4 or more available
ports. Your
scanner will come with an installation disk and instructions on how to
connect it to your computer.
When you put a card in the scanner, it will “read”
the
card, and store the information automatically into various fields in
its database. Although this is a fairly accurate process,
it’s not 100% reliable, so you should always check to make sure that the data
has been transferred correctly.
Once your card data is stored in the database, you can (if you wish) perform a synchronization
procedure
between the card scanner’s database and your own contact
management software. You’ll need to set up this
process
yourself, but the scanner instructions usually provide a fairly simple
set of steps for you to follow.
Although it may seem like a bit of a learning curve at first,
ultimately the $150 - $250 you’ll spend on the scanner can
save a
lot. Instead of spending hours typing in data, you can
concentrate on making your contact management software work for you!
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By: Diane Henders, Bright Ideas Personalized
Learning Inc. For more information or computer training services,
please call Bright Ideas Personalized Learning at (403) 269-2347.
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