Have you ever felt that you were throwing a fax out the window? Well, you may not know about it, but you can, but not literally, please.
For some time, services have been available that allow you to receive your facsimile messages on the Internet and relieve yourself from clashes with the fax machine.
Any provider must be able to provide you with the basic fax service by email. Usually you are assigned your own fax number, and any faxes sent to that number are then attached as an image file to an email. It is then delivered to your email address. You will need to store a fax machine for sending faxes, but you can set it up so that it does not answer the call and does not remain in your main business line.
Most, but not all, fax services also provide the ability to send faxes by e-mail, on the Internet, or directly from the desktop. This feature can be used to send invoices or forms to clients without pre-printing and then sending a fax. A fax e-mail address allows you to e-mail faxnumber@provider.com and attach every document you want to send by fax. You are then notified by email when your fax is complete.
Traditionally, in order for your business to send a fax, it was meant to order a separate telephone line and number, as well as purchase a fax machine or fax for each user. This is a costly offer for a communication channel that is still needed, but is rarely used today. With the help of online fax services, all these expenses are included in a single monthly fee, which is paid to your fax provider. Often this fee is only a fraction of the cost of renting a telephone line. Add savings to paper and ink, and using the online fax service starts to make a lot of sense.
If your customers send faxes through the many forms that you need to process and archive, you know how tedious it is to scroll through the entire binder to find a specific fax. With online facsimile, your facsimile correspondence can be filed along with all your email correspondence.
Questions to consider when choosing a supplier:
- Do you get your own number? Some virtual office providers, for example, will place you in a shared room, and your faxes can be seen by anyone.
- File Formats. Make sure that the supplier can send you an email in the format that suits you. Most will be sent in a general format, such as PDF, but others may use implicit formats that require special software for reading.
- Do they have a way to send faxes that suit you? Some will offer you a choice of methods; from basic email to fax to desktop clients, allowing you to “print” directly to a fax.
- Is there a regional code that will be local to your customers? Even if you are a regional business, you may want to read a metropolitan fax number if your customers are there. Remember, you now have a choice.
There are some things you need to know when switching to an online fax:
First, the fax machine makes a copy of a piece of paper and that on-line faxing makes a copy of an electronic document. You can no longer quickly draw a note and fax it. However, you can also quickly send a quick reminder by email or by fax or fax printer. Filling out a form sent to you by fax is no longer easy, but this can be done by opening the fax in the image editing program and typing a text tool.
The second caution is that you can use to sign almost every fax you send, this is no longer possible, since there is no paper scene. The author recommends that if you have access to a scanner, you can scan your signature and save it as a black and white image, ready to be set in the footer of each document you enter.
In general, if you or your staff do not use the fax machine a lot or use it for repeated work, sending faxes on the Internet can save you a lot of money on ink, paper, communication costs and, most importantly, productivity. If you cannot opt out of the fax machine with a piece of paper, you can still consider sending faxes online; but only for receiving faxes. Remember to turn off your fax machine's answering machine feature.
