How To Automate Digital Business Card Creation with Azure AD

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Manually creating e-business cards, complete with details and customizations, for each hire can be time-consuming.

But, picture this: For every new member you onboard, your digital business card solution automatically creates a detailed card for that person. And all you need to make this happen is to integrate your e-business card solution with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory).

Entra ID is a favorite access management tool among companies with a sizeable workforce and an annual revenue of $10-50 million. If you employ this platform to enroll new hires into your digital ecosystem, why not use it to help automate digital business card (e-business card) creation?

Integrating Entra ID with your digital business card solution can help eliminate manual, recurring tasks and ensure your team members are networking-ready as soon as they join.

So, how do you efficiently execute this integration? Keep reading to find out.

6 Ways an Entra ID (Azure AD) integration can benefit your business card workflows

How to integrate your digital business card solution to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory)

Instantly create e-business cards for new hires with an MS Entra ID-Uniqode integration

6 Ways an Entra ID (Azure AD) integration can benefit your business card workflows

Automatically create digital business cards for new team members

Maintain data accuracy when a team member leaves your company

Tailor your digital business card’s design according to each team’s preferences

Ensure data security and compliance with Entra ID’s robust security features

Automate card creation based on specific Entra ID domains

Automate card creation based on specific Entra ID groups

📝Note: We will use Uniqode’s digital business card solution to show these benefits.

1. Automatically create digital business cards for new team members

Adding a new user account to Microsoft Entra ID triggers Uniqode to create a new digital business card for that user.

Uniqode uses the Entra ID data to instantly craft an e-business card with the new member’s professional and contact details.

🎬 Here’s how it works: Emily is set to join your sales team as its newest member. When HR adds Emily to Entra ID, Uniqode will create a polished digital business card. This card showcases Emily’s role, contact details, and relevant multimedia elements such as URLs and social handles.

2. Maintain data accuracy when a team member leaves your company

When you deactivate a user account on Entra ID, Uniqode automatically archives that user’s digital business card.

The user will no longer be able to use their company-issued card for future professional interactions. This procedure aligns with many companies’ security protocols for ensuring an organized record.

🎬 Here’s how it works: Michael, one of your real estate agents, has notified you about their resignation. You begin the offboarding process by deactivating Michael’s account on Entra ID. The instant this deactivation occurs, Uniqode automatically archives Michael’s digital business card, making it unusable.

😌 Good to know: Auto-deactivation capability also prevents unauthorized card use. For instance, you can stop dishonest ex-team members from exploiting their previous company cards to conduct fraudulent activities.

3. Tailor your digital business card’s design according to each team’s preferences

You can create pre-customized cards based on unique team preferences with a Uniqode-Entra ID integration. A set of e-business cards for one team can feature distinct colors and a different layout.

🎬 Here’s how it works: As a customer-facing department, your sales team’s e-business cards must reflect your company’s visual identity. But since marketing is not always on the front lines with customers, they can have creative freedom over their card’s design. Regardless of preferences, each team can preset their card’s visual customizations.

4. Stay on top of data security and compliance

To ensure sensitive team member information remains secure and compliant with organizational policies, only designated administrators can initiate the Entra ID-Uniqode integration.

🎬 Here’s how it works: You assigned Tom as the admin for your legal firm’s corporate law division. Now, it will be up to Tom to initiate an Entra ID-Uniqode integration for this department. A single individual conducts every activity involved in the integration—from initiating the API to configuring card settings.

😌 Good to know: Having admin privileges to a team in your company’s Uniqode account puts you in charge of conducting an Entra ID integration only for that team. You cannot oversee integrations for other teams unless you hold master admin status. A master admin can initiate all team integrations.

5. Automate card creation based on specific domains in Entra ID

You can smoothen the onboarding process by automatically creating e-business cards for employees belonging to a specific domain in Entra ID. This ensures a standardized card representation for all members within that domain.

🎬 Here’s how it works: As standard practice, each department in your company uses a unique Entra ID domain. Marketing has @marketing.yourcompany.com, and sales has @sales.yourcompany.com. Upon integration, each new hire in these departments instantly gets an e-business card reflecting the details specific to their assigned domain.

6. Automate card creation based on specific Entra ID “groups”

A “group” in Entra ID is a collection of user accounts organized by specific criteria. These criteria can be department affiliation, device usage, and project roles. You can automate digital business card creation based on your company’s Entra ID groups.

🎬 Here’s how it works: Three project teams work within your IT department. After a successful Entra ID integration, Uniqode will identify and onboard new members from these three project teams. It automatically creates a digital business card for each member based on their group (project team) details on Entra ID.

How to integrate your digital business card solution to Microsoft Entra ID (Azure Active Directory)

📝 Note: We will use Uniqode’s digital business card solution for this demonstration. You can access this capability by opting for a BUSINESS+ plan.

The integration process has five legs:

Step 1: Get your Uniqode account’s API Key and Tenant URL

These two pieces of information are essential for configuring a successful API integration. Follow these steps to get your Uniqode account’s “API Key” and “Tenant URL.”

Log-in to your Uniqode account.

Click the drop-down menu next to the bell icon on the top-right corner of your screen. Choose the organization that you want to integrate with Entra ID.

Choose the organization that you want to integrate with Entra ID

📝 Note: You can only integrate Entra ID with the organizations you have admin access to.

Go to Integrations and choose Entra ID.

Go to Integrations in your Uniqode account and choose Active Directory

Next, copy your API Key and Tenant URL.

Copy your API Key and Tenant URL to integrate with Azure AD

Step 2: Create a Uniqode application in your company’s Entra ID (Azure AD)

This stage consists of creating a custom Uniqode application in your company’s Entra ID:

Go to your Entra ID account and click “Enterprise applications”

Click “+ New applications” to go to your Entra ID account’s App Gallery

Click “+ Create your own application” in the App Gallery

In the “Create your own application” overlay, name your new application “Uniqode”

Select “Integrate any other application you don’t find in the gallery (Non-gallery)”

Finally, click the “Create” button on the bottom left

You will now see your newly-created app’s Overview page.

📽️ See it in action

📝 Note: You can only create one enterprise application for each organization in your Uniqode account. If your account has multiple organizations, simply replicate the above process for each one.

Step 3: Configure your new Uniqode application to complete the integration

After creating a Uniqode application, you must now configure it to meet the specific needs of the integration.

This is where the API Key and Tenant URL you copied earlier come into play:

Click “Provisioning” under the “Manage” section on the left menu

Click the drop-down menu under “Provisioning Mode” and choose “Automatic”

Paste the copied Tenant URL and API KEY in the “Tenant URL” and “Secret Token” fields, respectively

Click “Test Connection”

Wait until the connection is tested successfully, then click Save in the top-left corner

📽️ See it in action

You’re done with the primary integration process. The next stages involve configuring additional settings on Uniqode’s dashboard and performing a final test to ensure the integration’s success.

Step 4: Set up various settings for branding and networking features

This step involves setting up various e-business card settings according to your preferences. These aspects include card branding and enabling networking functionalities:

Go back to Uniqode’s dashboard

Click Integrations in the left menu, then choose Entra ID

Click Manage Configuration

Set the branding and networking features for your e-business cards

Under the Templates tab, select the desired template that you want to assign for your employees’ cards.

Next, enable the advanced networking features you need in the “Settings” tab.

Enable advanced networking features for your digital business cards

These settings include:

#1 Send user invite email: Enable this option to automatically send an invitation and password reset link to new users via email. This simplifies onboarding by allowing them to join your organization and set their Uniqode password conveniently.

#2 Automatic domain-based user assignment: Enable to automatically assign users to their respective organization based on their domain. This feature can be enabled/disabled only by the organization’s owner or the admin of the master organization (super admin).

#3 Sync profile image of users: Enable to automatically import the newly onboarded users’ profile picture from Azure Active Directory to their cards. To obtain the credentials:

Click “Microsoft Entra ID“.

Click “App registrations” in the left menu.

Click on the app “Uniqode” from “All Applications“.

Copy the “Application (client) ID” and “Directory (tenant) ID.”

Click “API permissions” in the left menu.

Click “+ Add a permission“, then click “Microsoft Graph.“

Click “Application permissions“, then search for “User.Read.All” and select it.

Click “Add permissions.“

Now, click “Certificates & secrets“, then click “+ New client secret.“

Provide a description of the secret to be “Uniqode profile picture” and choose the expiry date.

Click “Add, then copy the “Value.”

Go back to Uniqode, then paste the Application (client) ID, Directory (tenant) ID, and Value in the Application ID, Directory ID, and Client secret fields, respectively.

📝 Note: A few advanced settings such as “Auto-Save Business Cards“, “GPS Location“, and “Two-Way Contact Sharing” are now managed under “Organization Settings.” Enabling/disabling these settings affects all your newly-created cards.

📽️ See it in action

Step 5: Conduct a final verification test to ensure a successful integration

With your necessary networking settings now activated, the final task is to confirm the success of the integration:

Return to “Enterprise applications” on your Entra ID account

Click “Provisioning” on the left menu

Go to the “Edit provisioning” tab

Expand the “Mappings” section and click “Provision Azure Active Directory Groups”

Disable the “Provision Azure Active Directory Groups” mapping by toggling the switch

Click “Save”

Go back to Provisioning and expand the “Settings” section

Choose the Provisioning “Scope,” then click “Save”

📝 Note: We recommend selecting “Sync-only assigned users and groups” as the “Scope.” This implements the provisioning among a small pool of users, allowing you to check whether the integration is successful.

💡 Pro tip: You can assign the provisioning to a single user for a more precise testing approach. This allows you to verify (via Uniqode dashboard’s QR Codes view) whether the integration has created a card for that user.
To assign the app to a specific user:
1. Click “Save” in the top-left corner to save the settings you have done so far.
2. Go back to the app’s page by clicking “Uniqode | Provisioning,” then click “Users and groups” under the “Manage” section in the left menu.
3. Click “Add user/group,” then click “User.” Select a user for whom you want to test the card creation.
4. Click “Select,” then click “Assign.”

📽️ See it in action

📝Note: Adding a new Uniqode user through an invite consumes a user seat. If the same user also exists in Entra ID (Azure AD) when you sync, a card will automatically be created for that user. When you delete that user from your Entra ID, only their card will be deleted from your Uniqode account. You must manually remove the user from their organization in Uniqode’s dashboard.

Instantly create e-business cards for new hires with an MS Entra ID-Uniqode integration

Integrating Microsoft Entra ID with Uniqode’s digital business card solution smoothens your organization’s card onboarding process.

You create digital business cards for every new hire as soon as you enroll them in Entra ID. No manual processes. No time-consuming card deployment.

In addition to this integration capability, Uniqode gives you all the features to create, manage, and share e-business cards at scale:

Share your digital business cards via Apple Wallet (or Google Wallet)

Enable Two-Way Contact Sharing to capture warm leads using your card

Track and analyze your digital business card’s engagement metrics

Centrally manage all e-business cards created within your company

You can access these functionalities (and more) without downloading an additional app. Enterprise-grade security measures also safeguard your networking activities.

Author Details

Reuben Isidoro

Reuben is a Content Marketer who helps businesses drive audience engagement and conversions through compelling content. Currently, he explores the profound impact of digital business cards on organizational ROI.

https://www.uniqode.com/blog/

reuben.j@uniqode.com