The Evolution of Business Networking Starting from a Business Card
Today, digital business cards and business SNS feel familiar, but back in 2015 the atmosphere was completely different.
Most people still collected paper business cards, pasted them into notebooks, and flipped through card holders to find contacts.
At that time, a service called “WITIVE” quietly appeared.
Instead of being just a “business card scanner” that takes pictures of cards and stores them, WITIVE chose to design and store the user’s profile itself in the form of a business card.
Rather than saving the card as an “image”, it stored it as a profile card centered on the person, and was designed as a networking platform that allowed users to quickly and easily find business partners.
In this sense, it was extremely rare — effectively the first business-card-based business networking platform in Korea and even globally.
1. 2015 — An Experiment Launched under the Name “WITIVE”
At that time WITIVE even introduced a highly innovative NFC chip-based business card.
Profile information was embedded in an NFC chip on the card, and shared easily with others via a URL when they tapped it with their phone — an idea that still feels ahead of its time.
In other words, WITIVE was experimenting with the concept of an “NFC digital business card” more than ten years before it became commonplace.
However, the wall of reality — technical limitations and a lack of service stability — was high.
Ultimately, the service had to be shut down about a year and a half after its initial launch.
2. The Service Ended, but the Possibility Did Not
Even at the moment the service shut down, CEO Bonggyu Song did not see it as “the end.”
Instead, he came to this conclusion:
“The market simply wasn’t ready yet. The potential of business networking based on business cards definitely exists.”
From that point on, he never let go of the idea. If anything, he dug deeper.
Why did it not work at that time?
How are users’ perceptions changing?
How far has the technology advanced?
In which direction should we restart?
Holding on to these questions, he took time to thoroughly re-examine the service, business, technology, and market from every angle.
And on July 8, 2020, he took the former service name “WITIVE” and adopted it as the company name itself, preparing for a new challenge.
3. WITIVE Inc.’s Second Challenge — The Birth of CONNECT
WITIVE did not rush back into the market.
To avoid repeating the mistakes of the first attempt, the team prepared carefully, running long-term tests, reviewing the service direction, analyzing business feasibility, and planning marketing strategies.
Finally, in April 2024 at the WORLD IT SHOW, WITIVE unveiled a new name to the world:
“Connecting everything in the world” — CONNECT
CONNECT is not merely a digital business card service.
It is a business networking platform that uses the business card as a starting point.
It aims to go beyond the limitations of paper cards and connect people to people, people to organizations, and organizations to opportunities —
so that one day, every business touchpoint can flow across the CONNECT platform.
4. Market Reaction after Launch and the Emergence of CONNECT PLUS
Right after launch, CONNECT spread quickly by word of mouth.
Interest grew especially fast among corporate clients, public institutions, and organizational units.
Companies that exchange many business cards in the field, organizations for which external partner networks are critical,
and HR/Planning teams that want to manage employees’ business cards in a structured way —
all of them were asking for the same thing:
a “corporate-grade digital business card management solution.”
To meet this demand, WITIVE launched CONNECT PLUS, a dedicated solution for companies and institutions, in July of the same year.
It allows organizations to centrally manage employees’ cards, unify brand guidelines, easily update card information when people join, leave, or move teams,
and operate physical cards, NFC cards, and digital business cards within one integrated system.
In short, CONNECT PLUS began to establish itself as a “business card operations infrastructure for enterprises.”
Of course, the journey was not all smooth.
As a latecomer entering an already competitive market, CONNECT and CONNECT PLUS were naturally compared to similar services and sometimes heard feedback like “there are still some shortcomings.”
Moreover, before the corporate solution officially launched, parts of internal materials leaked to a competitor and the business model was nearly copied as-is.
This experience was undeniably painful.
But at the same time, it became an expensive lesson on “which risks we had underestimated” and
“what level of preparedness is required to compete in such a fiercely competitive market.”
5. Rapid Growth of Global Users and Rebranding to “CLOW”
Today, CONNECT’s user base is rapidly expanding beyond Korea, with a growing share of international users.
Although it started in Korea, its core — “business-card-based business networking” — naturally lends itself to cross-border usability and scalability.
However, as the user base grew rapidly, it became clear that the initial architecture and framework were not enough to guarantee both stability and scalability.
So WITIVE made another big decision:
“Let’s boldly discard the existing development framework and redesign everything from scratch.”
The result is a newly re-engineered service that is being rebranded and prepared for launch under the name “CLOW.”
CLOW is being built with the following directions in mind:
– More stable service : infrastructure that can handle large-scale traffic and global users
– Full multilingual support : an interface that users in each country can use naturally in their own language
– Faster speed and smoother user experience (UX)
– Feature design focused on real networking : not just “sharing a card,” but a platform that places the process of people communicating and connecting at its core
This update is not simply a feature upgrade —
it is a turning point that opens the second chapter of CONNECT as a brand and a service.
6. NFC Cards as a “Gateway,” Not a Revenue Model
As CONNECT is adopted by more companies and institutions, demand for NFC cards has naturally increased as well.
If digital business cards are the core platform, NFC cards serve as the offline gateway that brings people into that platform.
However, WITIVE does not want to see NFC cards as a “primary revenue model.”
“What we want to build is not a card business, but a network that connects people and business.”
For this reason, WITIVE decided that, after the upcoming update, NFC cards will no longer be sold for a fee in the store but will instead be provided free of charge.
This is a choice to forego short-term revenue in favor of long-term platform value and network expansion.
7. Integrated Online/Offline Employee ID Scheduled for Release in 1H 2026
WITIVE’s perspective is expanding beyond business cards into the realms of organizational “identity” and “workflow.”
In the first half of 2026, WITIVE is preparing to launch a differentiated integrated online/offline employee ID.
This ID card is more than just a door access badge:
– Digital business card
– Access control
– Integration with internal systems
– Entry and verification for online/offline events
– Internal communication and networking within the organization
All of these functions are combined into a single integrated identity medium.
In other words, the networking philosophy that began with CONNECT and CLOW is now extending into enterprise ID, security, and communication domains.
8. Not an End, but an Ongoing Journey
The story of CONNECT stands on a foundation of one failure, a long period of preparation, another bold challenge, and intense competition and learning.
The first-generation WITIVE business card platform in 2015 that was “too early,”
the shutdown only a year and a half after launch,
the founding of WITIVE Inc. in 2020,
the launch of CONNECT in 2024,
the entry into corporate and institutional markets through CONNECT PLUS that same year,
and now, the leap toward a global networking platform through the CLOW rebranding.
Along the way, WITIVE has received a great deal of feedback from the market and has sometimes had to face emotions such as being copied, competing, feeling frustrated, or feeling wronged.
Yet in the end, WITIVE has held on to one core conviction:
“We build a meaningful network that connects people to people.”
CONNECT and CLOW are still very much “stories in progress.”
Starting from a single digital business card, this journey will continue to create new connections and change the businesses — and lives — of the people it touches.
We hope you will continue to watch the challenges of WITIVE, CONNECT, and CLOW, and we would be grateful for your interest and support.
Author’s Note
