Internet Fax Servers
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Internet fax servers or Internet fax machines was a choice the sales manager of a high powered marketing firm had to decide. With salesmen out in the field all over the country, the ability to send faxes, or facsimiles, over the Internet even to salesmen that don't have facsimile machines at home is a huge step forward. The ability for facsimiles to be sent directly to email is now an everyday occurrence for anyone with Internet access. Being able to see facsimiles directly on the screen of the one to whom it is directed begins to close the huge security and privacy gap that traditional facsimile machines couldn't minimize. Any one walking past the facsimile machines could view important and perhaps secured documents before they ended up in the hands of the correct recipient. The ability to be able to scrap the dedicated phone line for the facsimile machine would be a great fiscal benefit and the cost savings in paper could also be huge. Plus the fact that the salesmen would not have to pay for transmission sending services or even find a service in remote areas is a big consideration.
With Web fax machines as a consideration, the sales manager began looking at the various possibilities. There were a number of facsimile machines that now possess Ethernet ports which give a direct line to the Internet. This device or the Internet fax servers could almost make an office paperless if the company wished to go that direction. As the manager began to look, the man found a well known company's basic Web facsimile machines starting at one hundred and fifty nine dollars. From that price the machines became more expensive as the capabilities expanded, to include traditional facsimile machine options. But as the man pondered the thought further, the question became clearer, and that was "Why would our company want to have regular facsimile capabilities if the goal is to get away from paper as much as possible?"
The man put that thought aside and began pondering the use of Web facsimile servers as a possibility. These service providers offered anywhere from free service for a few facsimiles a month to the handling of twenty five hundred pages a month for sixty dollars. If a person wanted to receive faxes only, the service was four dollars a month. Another service charged twelve cents a page and a onetime service offered up to ten pages for a flat fee of five dollars. These Internet servers have the capability to get any email from any employee and it anywhere in the world. These providers give a local number to the customer from which to send a fax and this is the process: Open a new email and put in the recipient's email address and phone number, and send the fax by email to the desired person. The difference between getting an email attachment and an Internet fax is that the fax is not an attachment to open but rather a full screen document just as an email message would be.
The Internet fax machines option came back to the fore as the manager considered the logistics of the decision. A hundred and sixty dollar machine was in the budget. On the other hand thirty five clerical staff running around all day sending some forty to fifty faxes to salesmen all over the United States and Canada, one machine might not be enough, and how productive could the AAs be if they were all waiting for machine time? Four Internet fax machines spread out over the office area could be a real time saver and alleviate the standing around. On the other hand the Internet fax servers could empower all of the staff directly at their desks, and that seemed to be the logical decision.
Getting Internet fax machines or using Internet fax servers is really the first logical step to an office becoming entirely paperless. One study suggests that an average size business uses over two hundred and thirty thousand pieces of paper a year. At five dollars for a ream of paper, that is a savings of over four thousand dollars a year, plus the cost of a dedicated transmission line. Enough of a savings for a nice office Christmas party! Add the security of the "for your eyes only" factor and this way of doing business can only grow stronger in popularity in the years to come.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." (Matthew 13:44) Finding new ways to cut costs has to be at the fore of all business thinking and planning. If a company can see the value of Internet fax machines or Internet fax servers, it can be like finding a treasure hidden in a field. Being able to send multiple faxes at one time, saving some trees from less paper use, receiving and sending faxes from and to anywhere in the world without overseas phone charges and receiving faxes even when all the computers are off for the night and giving people in the field more options and ways to communicate can't be anything but a big advantage for any business. Within weeks of implementation of choosing one the of the Web transmission servers, the sales manager was receiving high praise from salesmen all over the country who no longer had to run to find a facsimile service late at night.
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