Troy Shantz
A Sarnia entrepreneur has created a smartphone app that he hopes will make business cards obsolete one day.
Mike Beggs launched CommCards this summer and it acts like a mobile contact book on steroids, displaying the user’s vocation, interests and social media handles, as well as the usual email addresses and phone numbers.
When new contacts are added they get access to that information.
“Business cards are limited to the last exchange,” said Beggs, president and founder of BAM Inc., which developed the app.
“They’re limited to information, they’re not friendly to the environment, they’re limited to space and they get lost very easily.”
The app’s navigation is simple and straightforward. Currently, an activity feed shows user posts made on Twitter, with other social media posts coming in the future, Beggs said.
“If you lose your phone, your contacts are gone. But with (the app) you re-download it on your new phone and all your contacts are there and up to date,” he said.
“I don’t care what your email is, all I care is that when I click that link it takes me to that email.”
Beggs, 50, said the app could be used to market yourself.
“We’re not trying to replace LinkedIn or anything like that. In fact we’re trying to expedite the process of me being able to find you on LinkedIn.”
CommCards is cloud-based and powered by an exclusive algorithm that makes suggestions based on social media activity. It has a cross-platform messaging tool and can notify other CommCards users within 300 metres, making it useful for trade shows or conferences, he said.
Beggs, who has lived in Sarnia for 17 years ago, said half of BAM Inc.’s six-person development team is located in the city.
