One of the things that I find interesting is how businesses today are still reliant upon “fax” machines. These devices, which have stayed in roughly the same form and function since the mid 1970’s, have become a critical part of many business functions. This is evident simply by asking business owners, or running some simple web searches. By allowing you to transmit or receive images of documents, it provides a method of quickly processing documents such as legal forms (contracts, etc), non-disclosure agreements, orders, and confirmations (all requiring dates/signatures). As you can guess, fax machines virtually eliminated the wait-time that used to occur as documents were delivered by mail or courier.
The Problems with Physical Fax Machines:
- Not Eco-Friendly: Fax machines are notorious for wasting supplies (ink and paper)! In particular, if your fax number is harvested by spammers/scammers, you will be bombarded with worthless faxes and no way to stop it except to change numbers (to a hopefully un-harvested number), until the cycle begins again.
- Supply & Maintenance Costs: Since everything is printed to paper, you’ll pay for supplies just as you would for your office printer. Similar to your printer, the device is mechanical and will need maintained. You may have to suffer through repairs when your fax machine breaks (or pony up the additional cash to replace it completely). You’ll also suffer through the loss of productivity when you are unable to send/receive faxes during maintenance or downtime.
- Transmission Costs: While it is possible to share a telephone line with your fax machine, you’ll be inconvenienced at times where you want to both send or receive a fax and make a telephone call. Also, remember that if your fax number is harvested, this will tie-up the phone line your potential (or current) customers will be calling! Many businesses opt to have a separate, dedicated telephone line for their fax machine(s), which incurs an additional cost. Fax machines also incur additional transmission costs when overseas or long distance numbers are involved.
The Case for Electronic Fax via Internet and Email:
So what is electronic faxing and how does it help you? Electronic Fax allows you to send/receive a document or “digital image” of your received fax either through software installed on your computer or as an attachment in an email. This method of faxing provides numerous benefits, including:
Lowered or Eliminated Supply Costs: Since you receive faxes electronically, there is no need to purchase a dedicated fax machine. If you occasionally send faxes, you will appreciate not having to purchase this hardware. If you send lots of faxes, you will no longer be wasting paper and ink/toner. Some may find that they *never* need to print received faxes, and can simply file them away. However, if you do need to print a received fax, you can save on supply costs for your printer by utilizing duplex features of your printer and/or by printing ONLY the pages you need from the fax. You will save money as you no longer need to pay for supplies and maintenance on a separate piece of hardware.- A “Virtual” Fax Number: No longer is your ability to send and receive faxes tied to a phone line in your office. Electronic Fax services allow you to send/receive faxes from anywhere with an Internet connection, and can be a great compliment to the business owner that already utilizes a VOIP solution such as Skype (check out their Unlimited Calls to Landlines offer). In the case of Small Business, this allows you to work from your office, your home, the local Starbucks, etc. This can be great when you’re working hard to build your client base, especially if this involves travel! Additional benefits to a virtual number: many services allow you to receive multiple faxes simultaneously (never again will your clients hear a busy signal, and electronic fax services generally treat international and long-distance faxes similar to local faxes as part of your monthly plan. Try that with your old physical fax machine (hint, it won’t work)! NOTE: I read an eye-opening article at erica.biz about what small business owners should plan for when [they]’re sick. Electronic Faxing definitely allows you keep up with your business while you’re recovering at home in bed and unable to be in the office.
No Overflowing, Unorganized Piles and File Cabinets: It is important to note that the digital format of electronic faxes ends the crazy stacks of papers and cluttered file cabinets littered around your desk. You can easily save your received faxes into an archive on your computer (be sure it’s backed up to a Remote Backup Agent), a folder on your office server, or Network Attached Storage. If you create a useful naming convention for these files, it will be easy to locate them at a later date (and you could potentially use some sort of desktop search program such as Google Desktop to index them).- Secure Fax: Some vendors offer solutions for secure fax, where your electronic fax is encrypted during transport to your email and/or during download through your web browser. If your business is subject to regulatory requirements (such as HIPAA or the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act), it’s important to know whether your chosen electronic fax vendor offers a Secure Fax solution.
There are many additional benefits, but I think the above are the key heavy-hitters.
Where to Get Electronic Fax:
There are a number of vendors in this arena with solutions aimed at anyone from a home user to a large enterprise. As anyone can tell by a Google search, eFax seems to be the market leader and seems to be a hit with most of the folks in the blogosphere. In the scope of small business, I’ve settled on two recommendations (with similar feature sets, secure fax solutions, Windows/Mac compatibility, and free trials) which seem to fit the majority of situations:
eFax – Electronic fax, simple and easy! Their pricing starts around $14/month.
- RingCentral – Electronic fax (also simple and easy) with pricing starting at $8/month. Ring Central also does VOIP solutions, so if you’re looking for an all-in-one solution for your business, this may be worth more of your time.
As you can see, there are a number of benefits to utilizing electronic fax. If you have any questions, feel free to Contact Me. Also, you can now get our latest tips and advice by email!
UPDATE: Erica.biz also posted an article regarding the benefits of Internet Faxing. She also endorses the Epson Workforce 610 Color Inkjet All-in-One Printer
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Thank you for another great article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.