Fax has gone online, and in the process some new trends have emerged regarding the uses and benefits of this technology. General benefits of Internet-based fax—like saving time (no more waiting for faxes to print) and money (no more expenditures on toner and paper)—are being reinforced by current events and changes in business practices.
Four such trends are outlined here.
Going “Green”
Traditionally, faxing involved using one of the most energy-intensive pieces of business equipment. Fax machines burn through paper and electricity quickly, impacting the environment (not to mention the company budget) in a negative way. Internet-based fax, by contrast, doesn’t require extra electricity (it’s accessed on a desktop or laptop computer) or paper (document arrive in electronic format and most don’t need to be printed off). Online fax is therefore definitely a “green” technology.
Economic Slowdown
In the U.S. right now, the economy is experiencing a general slowdown. At times such as these, companies look to their budgets for way to trim the fat. Switching to an Internet-based fax service is one such cost-cutting method likely to stick around even after the economy picks back up. Cut down on electricity bill and paper budget? It’s a no-brainer.
International Growth
While the U.S. economy is in a slow period, companies are nonetheless looking at international growth, and online fax can help. Internet-based fax services are now available geared toward companies operating on an international or global scale, and having 24/7 access to fax without special equipment makes it easy to keep doing business even while traveling.
Number Porting
In the past, switching to an Internet-based fax service meant establishing a new fax number, which could be problematic. That’s no longer the case; you can now port an existing number to an online fax service. Making the switch can be truly seamless.
To learn more benefits of online fax, please visit the Fax channel on TMCnet.com, brought to you by RingCentral (News - Alert).
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Mae Kowalke is an associate editor for TMCnet, covering VoIP, CRM, call center and wireless technologies. To read more of Mae’s articles, please visit her columnist page. She also blogs for TMCnet here. Voice over IP (VoIP) | X |
A real-time communications system that converts voice into digital packets containing media and signaling data that travel over networks using Internet Protocol....more |
Internet Protocol (IP) | X |
IP stands for Internet Protocol, a data-networking protocol developed throughout the 1980s. It is the established standard protocol for transmitting and receiving data
in packets over the Internet. I...more |