Expert Articles

Fax to email, also known as internet fax, isn't a new technology. The services have been around for almost a decade, although several recent innovations have made them much more accessible and useful. Small businesses can see a particularly strong set of benefits from fax to email, as the features and flexibility of these services seem perfectly suited to the needs of a small business.

One such benefit is the easy retrieval of faxes, which fax to email services provide by allowing their users to read faxes on a computer like a standard email. Faxes can be sent and received instantly, and there are few, if any, limitations on the number of faxes that can be handled simultaneously. This is in stark contrast with traditional fax machines, which can usually only handle a single fax at a time before presenting an annoying busy signal. Small companies can't afford to lose business due to missed faxes, and the ease of use of a modern Internet fax service greatly cuts down on overhead while improving efficiency. More data can be handled, and this translates directly to higher profits.

Another key improvement of modern fax to email services is their mobility. In order to send and receive faxes with a standard fax machine, a user must be physically standing in front of the machine. This can create some issues, as small businesses which send employees to different cities or which require occasional work from home may quickly feel the limitations of a traditional fax machine.

Fax to email services can be operated from any computer with an Internet connection. This might include a computer in a hotel room, an employee's home, or laptop with wireless Internet access. The services provide a tremendous amount of mobility and flexibility, and improve work flow in a similar manner as other popular new technologies like cloud computing. Small businesses are able to take advantage of an Internet fax service's features very quickly, and can often give their clients the impression of a much larger business through superior organization and mobility.

All of this improved flexibility and efficiency comes with reduced costs. Fax to email services do not require any maintenance from a small company's standpoint. There's also no installation; the services work through a standard Internet connection. Faxes are sent and received as common documents (such as Word documents and PDFs), so it won't cost a small business time or money to train new employees on how to use an Internet fax service. This again contrasts with traditional fax machines, which require heavy investment even for simple operation.

In general, a small business needs to consider major technology changes carefully, and it's important to look at the potential benefits and costs of a service like fax to email. Fortunately, the service's benefits are extraordinary, and costs are very limited by the easy installation of the technology. A good fax to email service can greatly improve a small business's work flow with easy fax retrieval, reduced fax costs, and an incredible improvement in mobility. The services bring a more focused and organized office to any small business that uses fax services in any capacity.