The fax machine was invented in the 1900s, and has long been a part of the office landscape. A rather cumbersome and large machine, it took up some space at the office, and served businesses with a very useful function. The fax or facsimile machine literally scanned in material and converted it to an image which was then transmitted via an analog line to the recipient whose receiving fax converted it back into an image of what had been sent. Indeed, businesses have used the fax machine for a long time since its invention, but it wasn’t only until the cost of the equipment itself dropped, along with the supplies, that individuals and home offices utilized it. finding a cheap fax machine in somebody’s house is simply common at present.
With the introduction of digital internet fax and email to fax services, the facsimile market has gone to the next level, offering availability of this standard office equipment at prices anyone can afford. At present, there are many online faxing services available and the most common question today is which service provides customers with the best reliability and quality, at a much affordable price. Not all online services are the same; the transition from physical office equipment to digital services can be easy or hard based on the research done in advance.
When looking to transition from physical equipment to digital services, there are some basic things to keep in mind. Your office expenses can be lowered, since you would no longer require a dedicated fax line. Good services provide a unique, personal and local number that can be passed out to customers and clients. This means that telephone expenses are lowered. The dedicated number should be local to you, and an 800 toll free number would also be given to you for your clients or customers who are not situated within your area code.
If security is an issue, investigate the online service’s availability to receive incoming faxes via the website rather than through email. Email is not secure, so if privacy issues are a concern, make sure the service enables for secure sending and receiving of faxes via an encrypted page on their site. There are companies that require such service especially when they transmit financial information or due to HIPPA concerns. An excellent fax to email service must be able to offer this as a part of packaged services.
Should any problems arise, an extensive knowledgebase and troubleshooting ought to be available. As well, there should be good customer support, and a simple method for contacting the online company. Nothing could be more frustrating than experiencing problems and the support that you get is close to nil, with their knowledgebase practically zero. So that you may be able to avoid this, try to navigate through the site before you sign up so that you may see if there is a support ticket service that can handle issues that are not covered in the FAQs, and also take a look if they address the most usual issues concerning the service. While there is a lot more to mull over, one thing that should be taken into consideration is the number of positive reviews from satisfied customers. One good benchmark with regards to the quality and reliability of service is positive customer reviews.
