Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Sending Receiving To Email In The 21st Century

By Arthur Albao


Back in the late 1970s, receiving a fax meant waiting at the departmental machine while the wand jerked back and forth, creating an image or text, one fine line at a time. It was fascinating watching the document evolve before your eyes. In the 21st Century, fax to email technology allows the recipient to receive faxes instantly via their email inbox.

In large companies or organizations like hospitals and universities, there may be dozens of different fax machines in different locations throughout the building or even several buildings. A fax can easily be sent to the wrong number or, if sent to a central office, become lost or delayed in its trek to the final recipient. This may take hours or even days and completely defeats the point of having the document transmitted electronically to begin with.

Having a fax directed to an email address completely removes the possibility of the paper document being lost or missent and has the advantage of total confidentiality. Only the account holder is able to receive it so there is no possibility of it ending up in the wrong hands. Fax-to-email providers assign the account holder with their own, unique fax number.

Faxes are received as either TIF files or PDFs, which means the recipient does not need to have special software installed on their computer. If desired, the fax may then be printed and filed. Alternatively, those who aspire to the paperless office may simply view the contents and file it electronically in their personal system.

The owner's designated fax number remains theirs for life. If they change business address or move to a different home, the number remains the same. The service is free to the recipient. Agencies make their money from the sender, who has to pay to send the fax anyway. This method is no added cost to the sender.

The account holder is able to receive more than one fax at a time. There is no dedicated machine or phone line to get backed up. This is a huge benefit to the sender as well, because it means they do not hear an engaged tone and need to keep pressing the send button.

Another advantage of fax to email is the ability to receive faxes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no necessity to keep a machine stocked with paper. This spares the sender(s) the frustration of hearing an endless ringing tone, indicating that the remote fax is out of paper and unable to receive.




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