Small Business Mole|

Fax machines were the “hot new technology” years ago. It was a big deal to load your document, dial a number, and with a push of a button your document was transmitted to another fax machine in another office in another state, maybe in another country. This bit of technology sped up the communication process, especially if you were waiting for signed documents. It was so quick that it was worth dealing with the toner, lousy paper that curled, and the blurry reproductions.

Despite being quick, fax machines cost companies quite a bit of money. First, you would spend hundreds of dollars on the machine itself. Then you need to buy the paper, toner, and ink so you could indeed receive other people’s faxes. Depending on how frequently the machine was used, this could be a costly monthly expense. Forget about the service calls if something major happened to the fax machine. Business would grind nearly to a halt as you paid $75 just for a repair person to walk through the door.

However, technology is a beautiful thing that keeps changing and improving so now fax machines are nearly obsolete. Internet faxing service is available from many of the <a title=”Link to An Introduction to Virtual Phone Systems” Reference: http://www.expand2web.com/blog/2008/09/15/introduction-to-virtual-phone-systems virtual phone system providers like RingCentral, Phone.com and VirtualPBX, so now you can throw your dinosaur of a fax machine away and save money at the same time.

Web-Based Fax Service

When you set up an account with one of these services, one of the features of your account is the ability to send and receive faxes. Not only can you send faxes from Microsoft Office, email, or phone but you also receive free fax software that allows you to edit and sign your faxes as well as design original cover sheets.

More importantly, your faxes are sent and received from a remote server so your customers will never get a busy signal if they try calling you. Obviously this is essential to your customer service efforts, especially if a customer is having a crisis or you are trying to win a big account.

Save Money and Gain Worker Efficiency

Remember that awful fax paper that used to come in rolls and curl? You can eliminate that problem by using an Internet Fax service because all your incoming faxes go directly to your email account. No more ink rubbing off on your fingers or important faxes falling underneath the machine. You are saving paper and getting more organized at the same time.

You can also do your job more efficiently by using these fax services because whenever you receive a new fax, you will be alerted by email, cell phone, or pager. Now you can focus on another project until the fax comes in rather than checking your fax machine every 5 minutes.

Fax On Demand Does The Work For You

Ring Central’s Fax on Demand service is getting rave reviews, especially from real estate agents. Rather than hiring a receptionist to answer calls and fax listing information to potential buyers, fax on demand allows realtors to pre-load listing documents to the service.

These documents will then be sent automatically when someone calls that personalized extension number for that property. This also works well for busy restaurants that get requests for their menus.

Sometimes it’s comforting to “stick with what you know” and many business owners feel that way about their fax machines. However, if you take the time to explore new technology advances, you can make your office run more efficiently, gain more office space, and save more money in the long run.

Don Campbell
Publisher, Expand2Web
http://expand2web.com/blog

About the Author

Don Campbell is the publisher ofa website that helps small business owners build use WordPress To Power Your Small Business Website?” why-use-wordpress-to-power-your-small-business-website “WordPress powered websites, http://www.expand2web.com/blog/2008/07/22/why-use-wordpress-to-power-your-small-business-website, and get a steady stream of new customers from Google and Yahoo. In his leisure time Don enjoys learning to play Jazz piano, skiing, and wake boarding. He lives with his wife and two daughters in San Jose, California where they enjoy traveling and exploring the Redwoods and the Pacific ocean beaches.