Adoption of Corporate Business Card Management Services May Help Visualize Sales Challenges

Sky Inc. conducted a survey targeting business professionals engaged in sales-related activities (including field sales, marketing, and customer success) to investigate the usage and management of paper business cards in companies, as well as the current state of AI utilization in sales activities.

Recently, while the digitalization of sales activities and the business application of AI technology have been rapidly advancing, the management and utilization of 'business cards,' the starting point of customer contact, often still rely on analog methods and individual discretion. This survey explores how digital management of business cards affects the efficiency of sales activities and the visualization of organizational challenges, and also examines the current status and future potential of AI utilization in familiar business tools.

Topics

- About 60% of companies have no established rules for business card management. Analog management, such as filing, is still mainstream.

- About 20% of people issued business cards use personal business card management services for work, indicating a lack of awareness of security risks.

- Companies that have adopted corporate business card management services have a stronger awareness of challenges related to role allocation and information sharing in sales activities.

- About 90% of companies that link business card information with sales support tools experience marketing effects, a 32-point difference compared to companies that do not.

- Daily use of AI in sales activities is limited to about 10%. There is a discernible need for AI integrated into business tools rather than standalone AI.

Detailed Survey Results

1. The Position of 'Business Cards' in Modern Sales Activities

The survey revealed that while nearly 90% of companies provide paper business cards to their employees, the percentage of people who 'use business cards for work' by job type was 79.1% for sales staff and 72.2% for sales department managers. This shows that even in frontline sales positions, a segment of 20% to 30% does not use business cards. In the modern business scene, it is becoming necessary to have means to properly manage information for this group that does not carry business cards. This suggests the need for corporate business card management services to have a function to manually input and manage information of individuals without physical business cards, alongside digitized paper cards.

- Monthly consumption of business cards is highest at '10-29 cards,' with notable usage in media and mass communication.

Looking at monthly business card consumption, '10-29 cards' was the most common for sales staff, followed by '0-9 cards,' indicating many use only a few cards per month. For sales department managers, '10-29 cards' was also the most common, but compared to sales staff, the proportion of those answering '0-9 cards' decreased, while the proportions for '30-59 cards' and '90 or more cards' increased. This is likely because managers have broader responsibilities and more contact points with partner companies, industry organizations, and other companies' management, leading to increased business card consumption.

Furthermore, looking at the percentage of sales staff who 'use business cards for work' by industry, the highest rates were in 'Publishing/Printing' and 'Media/Mass Communication/Advertising,' both over 90%. In these industries, collaboration with various external experts is essential, and new encounters directly lead to business opportunities, suggesting active business card exchange. In fact, 10.0% of sales staff in 'Media/Mass Communication/Advertising' reported using 90 or more business cards per month, a high rate compared to other industries.

On the other hand, in 'Medical/Welfare' and 'Electricity/Gas/Water,' the percentage of those who 'use business cards for work' was only about 60%, showing a disparity in business card usage opportunities by industry. In these sectors, it is likely that there are many visits to specific facilities or contacts with whom relationships are already established, making situations for exchanging business cards as a new greeting relatively infrequent. Notably, in 'Electricity/Gas/Water,' 0% of sales staff used 90 or more business cards per month, with about 70% reporting exchanging 10-29 cards per month.

- Is there a weak consciousness to utilize business cards for sales activities?

Among business professionals who said they are issued business cards by their employer, 58.6% reported receiving lectures on business card exchange etiquette in training, indicating it is valued as basic business etiquette.

However, it was also revealed that over half of the companies have no established rules for managing business cards. Only 39.7% of companies have clear rules for managing exchanged business cards, leaving management to individual discretion in 60.3% of companies. This suggests that the consciousness to utilize business cards for sales activities is still weak.

Among those who said no management rules were specified, the most common method, chosen by 413 people, was 'filing,' accounting for 30% of those issued business cards. 271 people said they 'don't organize them in particular,' highlighting the prevalence of analog methods. 365 people used a corporate business card management service introduced by their employer, which is 26.5% of those who use business cards. Additionally, 263 people, or 19.0% of those issued business cards, used a personal business card management service, with 146 of them using a service designated by their organization. This result suggests that the security risks associated with personal business card management services are not widely recognized.

Companies not using a corporate business card management service account for over 70% of those who use business cards. Considering the potential for introducing such services to these companies, the market for corporate business card management services can be described as a blue ocean.

2. Comparative Analysis of Companies Using and Not Using 'Corporate Business Card Management Services'

A difference in awareness of sales activity challenges was found between companies that have adopted corporate business card management services and those that manage business cards by other means.

- Digitalization of Sales Activities

The percentage of respondents who felt that 'digitalization through the introduction of sales support tools and AI utilization is lagging' was 12.6% for adopting companies, compared to 19.1% for non-adopting companies, a slightly higher rate for the latter. This result suggests that corporate business card management services are perceived and utilized as one of the sales support tools.

- Awareness of Challenges in Sales Activities

For items other than digitalization, the percentage of respondents who 'feel there is a challenge' was higher for adopting companies than for non-adopting companies. In particular, the percentage of people who feel that 'role allocation in sales activities is not progressing' was more than double for adopting companies (45.5%) compared to non-adopting companies (21.2%).

In addition, the percentage feeling that 'information sharing about sales activities between field sales and other departments is not progressing' was 31.2% for adopting companies compared to 23.6% for non-adopting companies, and the percentage feeling that 'there are many tasks other than customer interaction, which encroaches on core sales time' was 21.1% for adopting companies versus 11.8% for non-adopting companies. It is possible that by advancing digitalization and AI utilization, challenges in sales activities have been visualized, revealing the next steps to be taken to improve sales capabilities.

- Marketing Measures and Their Effects

The introduction of sales support tools such as MA, SFA, and CRM tools is underway in about half of all respondent companies, in the order of SFA, MA, and CRM tools. Among companies that have introduced both corporate business card management services and sales support tools, it was found that 81.6%, a vast majority, link and utilize both.

Furthermore, among companies that link and utilize business card information with sales support tools, the percentage who answered that the effects of BtoB marketing measures were 'sufficient' or 'somewhat sufficient' was 88.7%. In contrast, for companies using sales support tools without linking business card information, this percentage was about 32 points lower, at 56.6%. This shows that whether or not accurate customer information is utilized for BtoB marketing directly impacts the effectiveness of the measures.

3. Current State and Future Potential of AI Utilization in Sales Activities

In sales activities, 46.9% of respondents said they 'use AI often' or 'use AI sometimes,' but only 13.9% of them 'use AI often.' This reveals that while AI utilization in sales is spreading, the number of people using it on a daily basis is still small.

When those who use AI were asked about the type, 784 people answered they use 'generative AI' like ChatGPT, and 321 people use 'AI functions built into sales support tools.'

On the other hand, when those who currently 'don't use AI much' or 'don't use AI at all' were asked about their intention to use AI functions if they were installed in their daily sales support tools, 17.5% answered they 'could probably use it' or 'would like to try using it.'

From this result, it is considered that there is a certain demand for business efficiency to be realized naturally by integrating AI into tools used for daily work, rather than mastering individual AI tools. Incorporating AI functions into essential daily sales activity tools such as business card management and SFA/CRM seems to be a major key to accelerating sales DX in the future.

Survey Overview

Survey Name: Survey on the usage and management of paper business cards in companies, and the current state of AI utilization in sales activities.

Survey Method: Online questionnaire survey

Survey Region: Nationwide

Survey Target: Employees (full-time, contract, or dispatched) and executives/officers of companies engaged in sales activities (Total 1,990)

Survey Period: February 24, 2026 - February 27, 2026

Survey Planning: Sky Inc.

Note: In this survey result, ratios are rounded to the first decimal place, so the total may not necessarily be 100%.

Overview of Sales Business Card Management 'SKYPCE'

Business card exchange is the first step in business, such as developing customers and business partners. 'SKYPCE' was developed to securely manage business cards obtained through work and to strengthen sales activities. SKYPCE supports safe and efficient business card management by sharing business card information throughout the organization. It supports daily sales activities with features such as business card data with 99.9% accuracy, a system to visualize daily sales activities, and a highly reliable database. It also actively utilizes AI and continues to evolve as a service in line with business trends.

Overview of Sky Inc.

Sky Inc. is involved in the development of business systems, as well as the development and verification of software embedded in products such as automobiles and digital multifunction devices. It also develops and provides solutions utilizing advanced technologies such as AI-driven development that incorporates AI into the process, and also operates an SI business that provides consistent support for system construction from proposal to maintenance. In addition, it provides software technology in a wide range of fields, such as planning, developing, and supporting its own products like information leak prevention software for local governments and private companies, sales business card management services, and software to support ICT utilization education for the education market, as well as ICT environment maintenance. Furthermore, it is actively promoting initiatives for the utilization and technological improvement of AI within the company.