North Idaho Janna

I struggle to keep up with, or I should say CATCH up with, the ever-changing technological world I live in. I recently have begun using efaxing and IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!  When I think of how many miles back and forth to the office I have dashed to pick up faxes, send, locate, call the fax machine names...  it makes my head spin!  Who KNEW that with efax it's as simple as checking your inbox from ANYWHERE! How many hours of my time could have been redirected to something more productive?  How many reams of paper, ink cartridges and fax repairs could have been saved?  One REALLY GREAT thing about efaxing is that THERE IS NOTHING NEW TO LEARN!  That's a bonus for this old dog not to have to learn any new tricks to take advantage as this brilliant bit of technology.  Woof!  More info at:  www.myfax.com

According to Steve Adams, Vice President of Marketing for MyFax, a provider of Internet faxing services, making the move to an Internet fax service has several benefits, including:

- Greater mobility.With a fax machine, the limiting factor on where you can be to send and receive a fax is the location of the machine. With an Internet fax service, though, you can send and receive faxes anywhere you can get an Internet connection. In today's age of the mobile realtor, that alone might make it worth it. In addition, you can store all your faxes on your laptop or other mobile device, allowing you to keep those important documents at your fingertips. Some services even allow you to store faxes online for as long as a year, letting you access them even if you forget your mobile device.

- No (or at least less) paper. Fax machines create paper documents. Paper costs money, can get lost, misplaced or destroyed, and takes up a lot of space in filing cabinets when there is a lot of it. Because documents faxed via an Internet fax service are electronic, they're much easier to handle and manage. The only time you'll need paper is if you choose to print a particular fax (or part of it). That's better for the environment, and better for your bottom line too.

- Lower cost. To operate a fax machine, first of course you need to buy the machine itself. Then you have to pay to install another phone line. Each month you have the cost of paper, toner, electricity to keep it ready to use 24 x 7, and ongoing phone line charges. Maybe even a maintenance fee for the machine. With an Internet fax service, the only expense is the cost of the service itself - which is lower than just about any one of the above expenditures.

- Increased privacy/security. Fax machines tend to be placed in common areas for the sake of convenience. The problem with common areas is that anyone can go there, which means that confidential fax you're sending or receiving is potentially left open for viewing by anyone who walks by. Not exactly the picture of tight security you need to have when you are sharing all your financial information. Since Internet fax services deliver faxes directly to the user's desktop, the chances of unauthorized eyes seeing a particular fax are reduced by an order of magnitude. It certainly keeps the amateurs and busybodies away.

- No more lost faxes.As mentioned earlier, fax machines generate paper faxes. Paper faxes can be mis-filed, blown off desks by fans (or co-workers hurriedly walking by), become stuck to another piece of paper, accidentally tossed in the trash or suffer other fates. Should that happen, the contents are lost, sometimes forever. The electronic documents generated by Internet fax services not only are immune to all that. They can also be backed up and restored in case of a catastrophic loss. Not so important if the fax is a general one, but extremely important if the contents are mission-critical. Such as the contract for a new piece of business.

- No extra cost for a toll-free number. If you want to look big in the eyes of your customers by having a toll-free phone number, you're going to pay extra for it if you're using a fax machine. And every time one of those customers uses your toll-free number you'll pay again. Most Internet fax services allow you to choose between local and toll-free numbers for the same cost.

- No extra space required. A fax machine takes up space, pure and simple. So do the filing cabinets required to store paper faxes. An Internet fax service frees up that space. Use it to put in extra desks, or maybe even a few nice plants to dress up the office.

The bottom line is there's simply no good reason to keep a fax machine in the real estate office anymore. Sign up for an Internet fax service and you can finally banish your old machine to the Island of Obsolete Office Equipment. Don't feel bad about it, though. It can always turn to the steno machine for company.