Expert Articles

Companies all over the country and in nearly every field have begun to tout new, eco-friendly services, and it's not hard to see why. Many customers see their dollars as votes and prefer to back businesses that share their concern for the Earth's condition. Others simply see "green" companies as more advanced or technologically adept than the competition. In either case, businesses are answering the call of their customers, using new technology and new approaches to find "green" solutions to old problems.

The various benefits of this type of eco-friendly shift in company mindsets are easy to notice. Tech giant, Apple routinely makes the news by cutting the environmental impact of their various products, using less energy in their computers and iPods and shrinking the size of their product packaging to save more paper. This free press consistently helps to advertise new product releases.

Many other companies base their entire public image on their eco-friendly efforts, wisely not mentioning that they're actually profiting by going green. Businesses that turn green by cutting the amounts of materials they use usually save big on costs, and improving a company's public image inevitably leads to more sales. It's also extremely simple and often inexpensive to improve a business's environmental footprint.

One of the simplest ways businesses are finding to go green is by turning to digital communication as much as possible and using internet fax services instead of costly and inefficient paper fax systems. Internet fax uses no ink, toner, or paper, and works using technology that most offices are already using: the Internet. It's easily implemented and requires little to no training for individual users. A company with is assigned a fax number, and faxes sent to that number are instantly delivered to a user's inbox. Clients that send faxes to the company through the Internet fax system don't need to do anything differently. The fax can then be opened, copied, or printed if a paper copy of a certain document is necessary.

Companies that use Internet fax services instead of (or in addition to) paper faxes find them to be more convenient and manageable. Because a fax sent over the Internet can be stored using common document types like PDF files, they're easier to search through, file, and safely store than traditional paper faxes. Plus, the saved space can be used for expansion or simply to give an office a bit of breathing room.

The saved Internet fax documents are obviously not subject to tearing, staining, or aging, and they can be backed up easily, instantly sent to home email addresses, or even password protected. Unimportant faxes like advertisements or misdials can be deleted without using paper or ink. On top of this, many office users quickly become more comfortable with Internet faxing as opposed to paper faxing, since they may be more likely to deal with a scanner or email inbox in their day-to-day work than the increasingly outdated paper fax machine. This, of course, varies depending on the field of the business switching over to the Internet fax, but generally it has a very positive organizational effect.

The Internet fax and similar green technologies do a lot for businesses' images, as the growing fan base of green companies indicates, and promote an image of a high-tech, forward thinking company. When a business promotes environmentally friendly products, procedures, and services, it can also quickly attract the attention of new clients because of its progressive and adaptable qualities.

What's more, when low-overhead green technologies like Internet faxes are introduced, the money that a company saves can be re-invested in other places. Some of these efforts include marketing ventures, further tech development, or in the case of companies like Apple and BP, even into telling customers about the companies' green efforts.

The methods that a company uses to go green can vary greatly. From something as simple as using Internet fax to something as complex as making heavy duty equipment changes and minimizing landfill waste, the changes are beneficial from both an environmental and a business standpoint. Whether a business is able to save on materials, build customer respect and loyalty, or simply become more efficient, going green with Internet fax and other technologies adds cash flow and allows for more innovation.