Expert Articles

Now more than ever, the home office and home based businesses that are sprouting up across the United States can have all of the conveniences of their big business competition. There are a whole host of cool tools that home offices can use that will increase your productivity and enhance your professional image. These tools are so good that people that do business with you may never even know that you are working from home.

One such tool is Internet fax. Internet fax allows you to send and receive faxes on your computer. When a fax is received it is attached to an email. The files come in as either .tiff or .pdf files, either of which can be easily viewed with free software that is most likely already on your computer. The incoming Internet faxes do not interfere with your existing phone lines and therefore you do not need a separate line for phone and fax. This also eliminates an even worse scenario of having a shared line for phone and fax that needs to be toggled every time a fax is expected.

Sending faxes is just as easy. Faxes can be sent either straight from a word processor, using similar steps already used to print documents, or from an online interface. Either way, Internet fax makes it convenient for people that work from home to get their faxes out quickly and easily.

The top 3 benefits of Internet fax for a home office include:

1. Increased office organization and decreased costs by getting rid of bulky fax machines that need toner, paper and maintenance.
2. Increased efficiency since sending and receiving faxes can be done without even leaving your desk.
3. Enhanced professional image due to the 24/7 availability of your fax number (without having to switch the line from phone to fax and back again.)

Another great tool that allows home based businesses increased productivity and enhanced professional image is the virtual PBX. While this technology has been a round for awhile now, it is really making a surge in popularity due to the increase in people working from home.

A virtual phone service includes a toll free number complete with automated main menu greetings, multiple voice mailboxes and extensions, faxing, email delivery of voice and fax messages and more but without any hardware or software required. Calls are forwarded to you wherever you have programmed the system to reach you. The phone systems are all run and housed by a virtual PBX provider and therefore you can have all the same conveniences and outward professional appearance as a larger company, but without the expensive and cumbersome equipment and maintenance.

The top 3 benefits of a virtual phone service for a home office include:

1. Projection of a professional image due to the automated main menu greeting and multiple extensions.
2. Efficiency of consolidating and unifying all communications to one place. Voice, fax, and email messages all to your computer.
3. Flexibility of having calls forwarded to you anywhere you wish and the ability to change it on the go.

These are just two of the great tools available for home offices today. The home office revolution has been creating a need for technologies such as this and providers are rising to meet those needs. With tools like Internet fax and virtual phone system, most consumers would be hard put to say whether the company they are working with is a home office or a large company.