The use of plastic cards for identification has been the majority in the last 25 years, all of us have or use plastic cards for loyalty cards, membership, banking, for access control etc... On the other hand, the use of digital or virtual cards hosted in digital Wallets are a current trend that provide multiple benefits compared to PVC or Plastic cards.
In this post we analyze the main differences and advantages of a digital card compared to a plastic or PVC card.
1. Dynamic Content.
Once a plastic card is printed, we can no longer modify it, that is, if we want to change any data or content of the card we must issue a new card. In the case of a digital card, all the content is dynamic and we can modify it remotely at any time even having issued and sent the digital cards to users. We can modify any text on the front or back of the card as well as the images.
2. Interactivity
‍Digital cards allow the user to interact with it from the mobile device either by dialing a phone number, opening an email editor or clicking any of the links to the URLs of the card to open a googe docs, any internet address or even the whastapp (more info in this post: https://idenge.com/es/blog/section/conocimientos/post/como-abrir-whatsapp-desde-una-tarjeta-digital-en-el-wallet)
3. safety
‍To have access to a digital card we must first have access to the mobile phone or cell phone that in most devices has facial recognition, biometric or pin code giving it greater security.
4. Backup
‍What happens if we lose our plastic card? Well, we have to call the issuer to send us a new card. On the other hand, on a digital card hosted in a wallet, that card is stored in the Wallet and in the phone backup, so if we lose the phone we can recover our cards. In IOS the backup is in our Apple account while in Gpay it is in our google account while in Passwallet we can use both google and Dropbox as a backup.
5. Geolocation
‍ If we have geolocation activated, digital card users can receive important information about the services and offers of their membership when approaching a specific point set by the card issuer.
6. Push Notifications
‍We cannot communicate with a plastic card holder; on the other hand, we can send push notifications to digital card users. More information in this post
7. Virality
‍ Through a digital card we can invite and send a provisional card to our friends or family so that we viralize our membership or loyalty system. Obviously, the provisional card has no validity or relevant data until it is authorized by the issuer.
8. Interaction
‍With a digital card we can interact with external elements (access control, readers ..) through barcode, QR code and soon NFC. Plastic cards have a greater range of interactions because to the same digital ones we can add magnetic stripe, contact chip, RFID ...)
9. Sustainability
‍Digital cards, unlike plastic ones, do not generate any type of waste nor have they provided any type of energy for their manufacture, so they are a much more sustainable and better element for the environment.
10. Self-management
‍
‍
