As time goes on and society progresses to using new forms of communication, people are increasingly looking at fax machines as a thing of the past. With email, texting, and other forms of communication so widely available, why even bother faxing anymore?
But the hard fact is that faxing is still very much necessary. In fact, in certain industries the use of faxing remains a requirement. Because of the security that faxing provides over other forms of communication, many industries that are sensitive to potential data leaks continue to require that any sensitive material be sent by means of fax.
So then the question becomes, how to find a fax machine near me? Should you simply go to Google maps and start looking for locations to find fax services near you? Or should you invest in faxing hardware itself? The best answer to these questions are neither of the above.
Faxing near me versus electronic faxing
There is actually a solution to the faxing question that doesn’t require purchasing anything or going anywhere. If you have one individual fax that you need to send and you need to do so urgently, you should go to Google maps and see what’s available in your area. Simply look up fax service near me. There could be libraries or other businesses that allow you to fax nearby to your home. However, if you have any kind of regular faxing need, you should look into getting online faxing software. This can all be done from the comfort of your own home. All that is required is getting the right software solution, and you’ll be able to fax to and from any location you want.
Benefits of digital faxing
Let’s now take a look at some of the specific benefits of electronic faxing. Once you become familiarized with it, you will never want to return to the big clumsy machines again.
It’s always there, day or night
One of the clearest benefits of electronic faxing is that you don’t have to wait for a business to open to use it. You can get onto your computer any time you want, day or night, and send or receive fax. It may happen that the person on the receiving end has a machine that is turned off, but in this case you will be notified and you will receive electronic notice when your fax does actually reach its final place. What’s more, you will have all of your faxes archived in digital format, which you can later look up if you need to recall any information about time, date, recipient, etc.
No standing in line
We’ve all experienced what it is like to stand in line behind a fax machine. Not only might there be people in front of you in the queue, but they might have problems with their faxes, problems with the paper, etc. With the use of electronic faxes, you can get on and send any time you like. And even if there are other people from your company that want to send documents at the same time, they can all get their own login so you can all take care of your business simultaneously.
Efficiency
With an electronic fax service, you can fax with confidence knowing that your faxes are going through to the right numbers and that you will be notified when they are delivered. All you have to do is store recipients’ numbers in your database, and you won’t have to worry about entering them manually each time you fax.
Cost savings
It might seem as if investing in additional software would cost your company money, but actually the cost savings can be huge. If you think about how much it costs to send faxes each time you do so, the money really adds up. If yours is a large company with significant faxing needs, then you probably spend a very large amount of money on faxing. With digital faxing, all you have to do is pay a monthly fee, and you can fax as much as you want. You will also save money by not having to pay for paper, ink cartridges, and whatever mechanical problems you might have with your fax machine because everything is stored and carried out in the cloud.
Fax user friendliness
Some people are technophobic by nature and consider it the IT department’s job to take care of anything related to software. But you’d be amazed at just how easy electronic faxing can be. In the sections below, we will describe the process of using this type of software.
How to fax online with Everyfax
As mentioned above, the steps involved in online faxing are much easier than one might think. Here is how to do it:
- Go onto everyfax.com and sign up for an account. There are different levels of accounts that you can purchase, and this will depend on your fax user needs. If you have only a small number of faxes that you send each month, you might want to sign up for a package that allows you to pay for them individually. If, however, your company needs are greater, you will have more options. You can create multiple logins, for example, and choose an “enterprise” level subscription that will allow you to send unlimited numbers of faxes on a monthly basis.
- The login that you use will automatically take a corresponding digital fax number and convert faxes to email form. This will only be visible to you. Both sending and receiving faxes will take place by means of this converted mechanism.
- When you are ready to send a fax by email, there are several things that you should do. First of all, you will need to create a cover sheet as you would for a standard fax machine. The cover sheet should contain all of the information required by the company or organization you are sending to in addition to whatever your company standards require.
- If you want to send documents as an attachment, you should follow a specific procedure. Whatever documents you want to attach should be in the form of PDFs. You can either convert Word documents to PDFs by saving them differently, or if you have hard documents that you need to scan, you can do so and save them in the correct format when you are finished scanning.
- You can import your sender information from your database, and send either individual faxes or groups of faxes. If you want to create different types of cover sheets for different companies, for example, you can manage this in your settings.
- You will receive electronic reports following each fax telling you what time your fax was received. If, for some reason, a fax does not get delivered, you will be able to see this information, as well.
Conclusion
As you can see, the benefits to be gained from electronic faxing far outweigh any initial cost that might be involved. If you desperately need to find fax services near you on a one-time basis, you should simply use Google.
But if you have any kind of larger faxing needs, you should sign up for online faxing. And in signing up for this kind of service, you are eliminating many of the problems associated with traditional faxing. You eliminate physical waste, the process of searching for a machine, waiting times, and the possibility of making a mistake in the process of faxing. There is simply no question which is the superior method.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I be sure that my faxes reach the right people?
While no one can guarantee who will physically take a fax from a fax machine, having your recipients’ numbers in a digital database will guarantee that they at least go to the right machine. It is up to you to be sure that you include the right kind of information on cover sheets, etc., but electronic faxing is generally much safer than physical faxing because you eliminate the incidence of human error in typing numbers each time.
Can I send fax from mobile phone?
With everyfax.com, you have the options of downloading both desktop and mobile versions of the fax app, so you can send faxes from your iPhone or smartphone. Once you have your login established, you will be able to log in from any app you choose and send and receive faxes. If you don’t know how to fax from iPhone or Android, the software will provide you with easy-to-follow instructions.
Can I fax overseas?
Because of the conversion mechanism that takes place in sending faxes to your gmail or other email account, you won’t have to worry about whether a fax is sent domestically or internationally. You will, however, need to be sure that you include the right country code information on faxes that you send to.
Is there a limit on the amount that I can send to one recipient?
There isn’t a limit on the amount that you can send, but if you have many large documents then your computer might have issues uploading it. Be sure that you have a fast Internet speed when you work. There also might be problems on the receiving end, but this is up to the recipient to manage. You should always be sure to notify people when you are sending them faxes of a particular volume.
