Low Cost Faxing With No Hidden Fees

By Author: Chris Haycox
Total Articles: 4762
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Although it should not take an economic downturn to motivate business owners to justify every cost down to the penny, the fact is that even successful business managers can lag behind in certain areas. Sometimes we get used to a certain product, technology or service and stop considering alternatives. This is one of the reasons that it takes some outmoded, obsolete ways of doing things a little time to die off completely. Then, too, there can be solid business reasons for maintaining some legacy systems, as they're called, including the need to work with other individuals and businesses that are slow to adopt new ways of doing things.

These are a few of the reasons than fax machines are still in use, when it is clear that online faxing is a cheaper, more efficient alternative. The case has not been made widely or loudly enough, perhaps, that it's time to move on from a 1970s technology and leverage the ubiquity and low cost of the Internet for all formerly discrete, separate ways of communicating. Mail has moved online in the form of e-mail, text messaging and Twitter. Skype and other online telephony and videophone services ...
... have usurped the telephone and even the more recent standalone videophones, which are now made (mostly) obsolete. Shopping has been online for some 15 years now. Faxing has also made a move to the Web, although it is still in its growth phase. It's the way of the world, and the road to the future, for all communications channels.

Modern Money Savers
The reason that the new Web-enabled communications technologies succeed has a number of aspects, from better efficiency to lower cost. One common characteristic among these various communications channels is the number of steps involved, and the amount of resources used, is reduced when they move to the virtual world of the Web. Mail costs are down, and not just because you don't need a stamp. You don't need an envelope or piece of paper to write on, either. Phone and video calls no longer require handsets, devices, wires and other separate components, just a single modern netbook or PC with integrated (or cheaply added) webcams. Online faxing has a similarly short list of necessities, namely, a computer and Web access.

Contrast the low barrier to entry of the new virtual communications methods with the 20th century version of faxing. First you need to buy a fax machine, or one of those office all-in-one devices that includes fax capability. Then you need a land line phone, of course. Then, too, as you use the device you will need to replenish toner or ink cartridges, not to mention reams of paper. Add in the cost of electricity and you have a goodly amount of ongoing expenses to maintain a physical fax machine.

Saving with Virtuality
Obviously, using a Web-based fax service is going to save you a great deal of money on the foregoing items. Frankly, you would be wise to keep the fax machine working for a while, at a reduced level, so that individuals and businesses that have your old fax number can still reach you with it. As your new online fax number replaces the old on business cards, in phone books and at online locations (yours and others), the total cost of supporting your fax machine will gradually decrease. At some point along the way, in fact, it will have decreased enough to pay for your online fax service, which is only a $10-20-per-month item anyway. There is simply no downside to moving to an online fax provider.

The upside, of course, is clear. Not only do you benefit financially, you gain greater efficiencies. Faxes that arrive via your computers can be archived, sorted, searched and mined for useful data in a way that printed documents simply cannot. Now the choice of printing a fax is yours, as opposed to the situation in which anyone in the world with your fax number can spend your money on paper by transmitting their message to your old-style fax machine. It doesn't take an MBA to figure out that ceding control of expenses to third parties isn't good business. With virtual faxes, the decision to spend money to print them is entirely yours.

Clearly, there is nothing to lose in making the move to online faxing, even if you keep your fax machine operational until, at some point, the new fax number has totally supplanted the old one. This is one area of your business where there really is a no-brainer way to proceed. If you can save money while increasing efficiency, you should do it. Online faxing is certainly not the only way to do so, but it's a simple way to start making progress, and it's progress that can actually pay you measurable dividends from day one.
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Metro Hi Speed is a leader in internet fax solutions for any sized business. Less expensive and more reliable than traditional fax services - you'll enjoy the convenience and well as the cost. Visit us today for more information on our small business and corporate fax solutions.