Although faxing may not be the most popular communication method these days, it remains a viable technology in the modern age. Businesses still receive and send faxes, particularly those in government agencies, the health care industry, and small businesses.
Like most equipment that has long been around, faxing systems have adapted to the advancing world. Fax machines have now been largely replaced by digital solutions. Numerous companies offer online fax services, allowing any business to send and receive faxes via email.
Why You Need An Online Fax System
Moving from traditional faxing to online faxing can help your small business in a lot of ways other than allowing you to adapt to the highly digitized world.
It Is Inexpensive
The main benefit of an online fax service like MetroFax is that it helps in keeping your business costs down. There’s no need to buy, operate, and maintain several bulky machines with dedicated telephone lines. In addition, you don’t have to print documents before sending them.
You only need to upload the needed files to the service, which helps saves time and resources such as paper and ink. If your business doesn’t frequently send faxes, then it doesn’t make sense to purchase traditional faxing equipment. Plus, most online fax services are inexpensive and offer a range of options so you can choose one that fits your current budget.
Security Compliance
Security is one of the biggest benefits of online faxing. Most businesses are now obligated to comply with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PIC-DSS) in order to protect customer or user data.
The traditional faxing system uses outdated technologies that can’t keep up with today’s security updates. Online faxing, on the other hand, uses encryption methods during transmission and can only be accessed from protected personal accounts.
Organization
When you skip the traditional fax machine and turn to an online faxing service instead, you can improve your paperwork organization, thus saving space, increasing storage, and reducing paper clutter in your physical establishment.
Accessibility
In today’s fast-paced and mobile world, you don’t want to wait in your office during lunch hours just to receive, sign, or send documents via fax. Online fax allows you to send and receive fax messages from anywhere as long as you have a good internet connection and a mobile device.
4 Steps In Setting Up An Online Fax System
Online fax systems are indeed beneficial, especially in this world where nearly everything can be done in the digital realm. So if you want to start receiving and sending faxes over the internet, here are the steps to follow:
Choose The Right Online Fax Service
You have a lot of options for online fax services, and choosing one can be quite confusing if you’re not sure what you should be looking for. Here are few of the things you need to consider in order to find the best service for your business:
The Volume Of
Determining the volume of faxes you expect to receive and send on a monthly basis is the key to choosing the right provider. For small businesses that don’t send a lot of faxes, you need to select an inexpensive plan with a low monthly fax limit.
If you work with faxes a lot, then you’ll need to spend a few dollars more for higher limits and to avoid overage fees. Some providers also offer packages for corporations and businesses sending high volumes of faxes every month.
Understand Fee Structures
Unexpected costs and hidden fees are the worst. While most online fax service lists their pricing model on their site, sometimes you need to do some extra digging in order to find out about other charges like long-distance fees, setup fees, and overage fees.
Try Their Customer Service
Contacting a provider is a great way to evaluate not only their service but also how they handle customers. Pay attention to how their customer service representatives discuss the provider’s services. How long until you get a response? Do they explain the available features? Are they upfront about the service costs?
Are they just trying to push you to pay for the service? It’s essential for you to know how you’ll be treated if there’s an issue with their service, and getting some one-on-one time with those who are part of the company can help show you how that would go down.
Free Demo Offer
Most providers will offer a trial period or free service demonstration. Take advantage of this in order to test out a particular company’s service before signing up for it. This should help you find out if it can satisfy your business’ needs.
Sign Up
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Once you’ve found the perfect online fax service for your business, you need to sign up for their service. Creating an account shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes. Typically, this involves entering your name, email, company name, phone number, address, and payment details.
Select A Fax Number
When creating an online fax service account, you’ll also need to choose a fax number. In general, those without a fax number will have a regular or toll-free fax number. You can choose your area code and choose from several available fax numbers. For those with an existing Google fax number number, your fax service provider should allow you to transition easily. This fax number is what you’ll give to anyone who needs to send faxes to you.
Send And Receive Fax Messages
In general, there are two ways to use an online fax service:
The Standard Email Service
This is similar to creating a new email. You attach the documents needed and enter the fax number of the recipient, followed by the name of the service you’re using.
Through A Dashboard
Many services will come with a comprehensive dashboard you can use to send and receive fax messages. You simply need to follow the prompts, entering the fax number of the recipient and attaching any file. The faxes you receive will also be available on the dashboard, where you can download the files you need.
Conclusion
Using an online fax system offers your small business more speed and security, and it helps in improving communication across the board. Choosing the right provider is the trickiest part, but from there on, setting up your fax system should be simple and straightforward, allowing you to securely and efficiently send and receive fax messages over the internet.
