Yes, Faxing Is Still Important

Remember the so-called paperless office? The first big PR push for this brave new office world came in the 1980s as the first personal computers hit store shelves. Then, when e-mail and the Web brought the notion of virtuality to the fore, the so-called paperless office movement pronounced their goal pretty much achieved. The only problem is, there is probably just as much paper in the average office as there ever was, except for the decrease in personal mail that has occurred. For business purposes, though, direct mail is still widely used, and business have many ways to communicate and create documents. The fact is, whether old technology or new, if something is working, you use it. It's important to cover all the bases.This is why faxing, with both fax machines or online services, is still around. Yes, faxing is still important. Why? It's mainly because there are several hundred million of them in use, that's why. The machines are more popular in some parts of the world, s
uch as Eastern Europe and regions of Asia, because the phone systems there are more widespread than cable Internet lines. Even in the U.S. there are millions and millions of fax machines in use, even in companies that also use e-mail and Web services for communications. There is a simple, business-related reason why this is so. You reach people where they are, and how they can be reached. Simple.Multiple meansYou may have the very model of a 21st century firm. All of your PCs and Macintoshes are networked and work well together. You have a slick online faxing service that allows you to send and receive faxes from any of the computers in the office. Why would you also need a fax machine? Isn't that inefficient? Wasn't getting an online fax service supposed to make fax machines disposable?It's not quite that simple, actually. Yes, you are well advised to avail yourself of a good, solid, dependable and reasonably priced online fax service. And, yes, you can both send and receiv
e faxes with it. So, now that you have a new inbound fax number to put on your business cards and give to customers (and potential ones), what happens to all the old business cards with your original fax number? Do they just magically evaporate now? Will all your current ads, phone book listing, online profiles and other materials suddenly and spontaneously update that fax number?Cover your assetsAll right, those were obviously rhetorical questions, and the point should have been well made, if not hammered home with the repetition. Your original fax number is plastered all over the world (if you have a good marketing program, at any rate) and the last thing you want to do is prevent people from contacting you. Over time, of course, your newer business cards and marketing materials will replace the old, and your new fax number will be widely disseminated. Of course, you can never be certain than a prospective customer won't get hold of that old fax number, so it does make sen
se to keep that machine and that line working.In the meantime, you can start moving your outbound faxing needs to the virtual world and use an online fax account. This allows you much great organizational flexibility, and saves time, money and consumables as you will be using less and less fax paper, toner and even electricity. As your online faxing increases, your dependence on yesterday's technology will be dramatically diminished, if never quite eliminated completely. However, keeping a single working fax machine on an historic phone number that is tied to your business is no great expense, and can bring you some nice surprises from time to time.Cost savingsSince most of your incoming faxes will be coming through your computer rather than the machine, those consumable costs mentioned above will decrease. This bears repeating, because you can actually fund the online fax cost, which is low to begin with, directly from the savings you will realize during normal operations.
In other words, there could be zero cost, net, to your business to obtain and begin using an online fax service. Amazingly, few online fax firms take the time to explain this clearly to potential customers.Add up the numbers yourself. See what you've spent on paper and toner and everything else to keep that standalone fax machine working. If you decreased the demand even by half, what would you save each month? Probably much more than an online fax service would cost. It may be that fax machines are, slowly, on their way out, but faxing itself? It is here to stay, for quite a while, and your best move is to work the ingredients to your benefit. It will not cost you, it will pay you!

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