Business communication is a wide field. Sending documents, writing letters, making phone calls and now sending email messages are all actions that are part of the modern communications arsenal. For businesses, new and old, cutting costs is a primary focus. The costs of business communication can quickly run up to relatively high levels if communication methods or practices are inefficient. A business that wastes time and energy wastes money. Eventually, the business starts losing money instead of merely wasting it. Improving communication methods and using new technologies may be the answer. Greater efficiency translates into sealing off holes in the business model.
Internet Options
The Internet has made it possible to completely decentralize business operations by doing everything remotely. By using virtual phone systems, the business model can be based entirely on telecommuting. The need for office space and wired phone equipment is obviated, saving the business enormous expenses. The Internet has also opened the door to other technologies.
Faxing Documents
The fax machine, first invented in 1843 but not fully adopted by the business world until the 1980s, is a device for sending documents electronically. It is a combination of a scanner and a printer. The machine scans a document and sends it via phone to another fax machine, which converts it back into document form by printing it. The fax machine became a staple of both businesses and consumers in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Internet has made it possible to replace fax machines with a new technology: email to fax, also known as digital faxing. Using an ordinary fax machine, a sender can turn a faxed document into an email attachment and send it to an email address. This method enables the business to blend two forms of communication, email messages and faxed documents, into a single means of sending information.
Advantages
Email to fax technology is almost completely green. By eliminating a good portion of the 200 billion pages of paper used each year, this technology stands to save tremendous amounts of water and electricity. Not to mention the acres of trees that will not have to be cut down.
Additionally, the advantages of email to fax also include increased document security and fax numbers that are never busy. Since the faxed documents are turned into email attachments, and there is no receiving fax machine on the other end, the phone lines are never jammed. The email server should be more than capable of handling multiple email to fax documents at once.
Mistakes And Screw-Ups
Email etiquette is a well-known issue. Each reader of an email message may interpret that message differently based on their own unique inner reading voice. Without human elements of communication, like voice inflections, tones, insinuations and nonverbal meanings, the precise way to read a sentence in an email is somewhat confusing.
In addition to communication errors, technical errors also abound. The email to fax program must be configured properly in order to work. No messages will be sent if the fax machine is pointed at the wrong number. Likewise, the number must be linked to the right email address. Email clients may also have to be altered to receive faxed documents.
The technical errors are easily resolvable, and the communications errors are more a function of the human mind than anything to do with email to fax directly. Nevertheless, business communication is one of the most important aspects of human communication, and technology has altered it. Email to fax technology will change how businesses and consumers send documents. Businesses will be able to cut costs by digitizing their papers, bills and memorandums.
Author Resource:
The author is a contributor and researcher of small business tools and options on subjects such as email to fax services and providers. Please visit http://www.faxcompare.com/email-to-fax for more information on email to fax services.host gator