Fax Machines – How to Cut Faxing Costs 50%
Fax machines used to be an office staple but with advances in technology you can now fax without even having a fax machine. Computer faxing has not only changed the fax industry, but more importantly, the way offices are run. Moreover, computer faxing is about half the cost of regular faxing and automatically digitizes documents you receive.
The concept is actually very simple. When you sign up for a computer fax service, you are assigned a toll free number (or you can switch over your existing fax number) and people will send you a fax like they normally would from their regular fax machine (if they still have one.) The document is then converted into a.TIFF or.PDF and sent to you as an email attachment. Suffice it to say, the advantages are numerous, including the elimination of expensive fax machines, fax paper, ink and toner and the extra phone lines. In addition, you have an extra layer of security because the faxes are sent directly to your email, and documents aren’t available for everyone in the office to see.
There are conveniences as well. For example, since most people can retrieve email from at work, home or on the road, you have basically turned your computer, laptop or PDA device like a Blackberry, into a virtual fax machine. So no matter where you are, you can still retrieve your faxes. Interestingly enough, you also turn other fax machines into printers. For example, let’s say you’re at an out of town hotel and receive a fax on your laptop or Blackberry, but you need a hard copy. You just email your fax (which was received as an attachment) to the hotel’s regular fax machine, and presto, you have your hard copy. Or, you can email it to any computer or laptop in the vicinity that is connected to a printer and accomplish the same thing.
Another convenience is that once you receive your fax, you have the choice of saving it to your hard drive, printing it out, or forwarding it on others. The key that you don’t have to scan documents anymore. They already come to you digitized. (Yes, some people fax documents to themselves to digitize them rather than scan them.)
Sending faxes from computer is just as easy. Again, you use your email and a special address. You just attach a document, such as Word, to the email, and the service automatically converts it into a PDF file and it is printed out at the receiving fax machine. (Or if your receiver has a computer fax service too, he/she will receive it as an attachment on their email.)
Best of all, it is a service and you don’t need any special hardware or software to get started. And you have the option of getting the service on a month to month basis, or quality for lower rates with a longer term agreement.
Computer faxing is just one more example of how technology is changing the office landscape. Imagine, thirty years ago, people actually functioned without email or faxes, and if you had an IBM Selectric correcting typewriter, you were one of the lucky ones! No one knows what the future holds, outside of 3D holographic conferencing, but as of today, computer faxing has made traditional faxing obsolete.