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| A Quarterly Publication of the Raleigh Regional Association of REALTORS® |
March 2009 Issue
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About Us March Dates to Remember
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Faxing
to go One of the fun things about watching old movies is seeing how the world has changed since the movie premiered. When Beetlejuice runs his TV ad in the movie of the same name, he flashes an 800 number, but there’s no mention of a Web site. In 1975’s Three Days of the Condor, there isn’t a desktop computer in sight – despite the fact that Robert Redford works for the tech-savvy CIA. In black-and-white movies from the 1940s, office workers contact the operator to make a simple phone call. Perhaps the thing I notice most about them, however, is the way everyone who works for the company works in the same building, all day, every day. They come in to their lush offices, work their 9-to-5 day, then head home to their families – or out for cocktails with their colleagues.
The world has certainly changed since then. We have always been a mobile society outside of work, but now that attitude permeates the workplace, too. The central office has given way to mobile workers, working from home, and the mantra of “hiring talent where it lives” rather than relying on proximity to the office is a core criterion. In many cases, technology has enabled this far more-distributed workforce. Cheap and abundant mobile phones have made workers reachable just about anywhere in North America . The Internet and e-mail have extended that reach to just about anywhere in the world. Yet in the midst of all that, like a bug in a salt shaker, is the immobile fax machine. Now, before you start thinking it doesn’t matter because faxing has gone the way of Clara the phone operator, you should know according to analyst group IDC, there were more faxed pages in 2007 than in any previous year. Despite e-mail, texting, IMs and all the technological marvels of our age, faxing still remains the communications medium of choice for contracts, work orders and other papers that require signatures or handwritten notes. In fact, in some industries it is still the primary means of sending official documents. So there’s the dilemma. Your workforce is mobile, but its means of communication is not. This means nonoffice-based workers who need to read, send and/or respond to faxes either have to make a special trip to pick them up, have documents refaxed to them from the central office to another location, or have someone else read the faxes to them and then dictate responses. None of which is conducive to conducting business. There’s another option: using an Internet fax service. Call it faxing to go because with this service users can send and receive faxes wherever they are – as long as they can get an Internet connection. Take an agent who is offsite for the day. With a traditional fax machine, the paperwork is sent to the central office, where it must wait until he returns – perhaps at the end of a busy day. If there’s a problem, the amended fax is sent back and the process starts again. Depending on the complexity involved, an entire day or two could be lost. With an Internet fax service, the agent receives an e-mail notification and preview on his BlackBerry. He can then quickly look over the fax, write up any changes or amendments as a cover note, forward them to an assistant and have the whole thing completed in minutes. It’s a huge advantage that saves time and helps drive efficiency. Not to mention revenue. Internet fax services are simple to use. You sign up online and are assigned either a toll-free number or a local phone number, depending on what options the service offers. Some will give you an application to download but others won’t. Once you’re up and running, you can send and receive faxes through your e-mail account, a secure online server or both. As long as you have an Internet connection your fax capabilities are operational no matter where you are. Different services offer different types of “to go” options. For example, some allow you to have the same fax sent to multiple e-mail accounts. This is great for people working as part of a team or with an administrative assistant (virtual or otherwise) because everyone involved can receive the fax without additional forwarding. Receiving e-mail notifications allows you to know instantly when a fax has arrived and having a preview option means you can determine the fax’s contents so you know whether it needs to be opened now or can wait until later. Another great feature is online storage of sent and received faxes. That’s ideal for users who suddenly need to access an older fax – or who lose their copy and don’t have a backup. Of course, receiving faxes electronically also means you can carry every fax with you on your laptop, so the information is always at your fingertips. Then there’s the cost savings. Many people try to work around the static nature of the fax machine by sending faxes from or having them sent to a local quick print shop or other service supplier. At $3 per page, which is a typical rate, it quickly adds up. If you send or receive more than three or four pages a month, an Internet fax service will usually cost less. And there’s no waiting in line while three people ahead of you try to decide what color paper to use for their lost dog flyers or which size box would be best for Aunt Martha’s 80th birthday gift. In our ever-more mobile and distributed society, it doesn’t make sense to have all your important faxes tied to a single location. Instead, take your cue from the quick service restaurant industry – when you’re looking at your next fax solution, simply say: “Make mine to go.” (
Adams is vice president of marketing for MyFax [www.myfax.com],
a provider of Internet faxing services. He can be reached at sadams@protus.com.) |
