The latest craze in electronic gadgetry is sure to be the electronic business card, a hand-held, smaller-size CD-ROM that can serve as a gateway to lots of different kinds of information about your firm or business.

But are these cards worth producing, and are the benefits going to truly help?

Like any marketing tactic, the answer sometimes is vague, but CPAs and accounting professionals will want to quantify this effort first by looking at the card's cost. Plan to spend about $10,000 to $20,000 for design of the CD-ROM itself, then about $2-$3 per finished card depending on quantities ordered.

Once the information is placed on the card and it is produced, it does tend to become static, although some of the better cards with links to updated Web sites certainly are more timely than cards without links (and there are many of these).

Weigh the possibilities before deciding on this tool, and collect samples of cards from others so you can decide if this is for you.