Choosing the Right Fax Program

Few people would want to take the long way to a destination if there is a shorter (presumably legal!) alternative. This is the same concept that is seeing the growing use of faxing software. Looking at the benefits and convenience that the use of faxing software presents, it is no wonder that more and more people are opting for fax programs over the conventional fax machine. Fax software brings speed, efficiency, convenience, reduced cost, security and resilience to the faxing process. Whichever way one looks at it, the benefit of faxing software is not in doubt. However, since there are quite a number of products in the market purporting to offer computer and internet based fax services, how does one choose the software that is right for themselves or their organization?

The first step to take is to perform a background check on each company offering fax software products. An important rule to note is that the product cannot be better than the company that developed it. Next, start to look at the product in more detail. Does the company offer a free trial that you can use to get a feel of the product for a limited number of days? The availability of a trial version is a demonstration of the company‘s confidence in their product.

Compute the total cost of ownership for each of the faxing software applications. This is important because the initial purchase cost of an application may appear cheap but there may be additional costs that make it expensive in the long run. One such cost is license fees. Certain faxing software applications may not have a requirement for annual license fees. For those that do, license fees might be pegged on the number of users or on the number of faxes sent. Use an approximate figure of the number of faxes you sent each month or year to determine which one has the lowest license fees.

Other factors that come into play as far as the TCO goes include installation, migration and support costs. Does the company have a limit to support after which you start to pay? Is there a grace period after installation when the company will provide extended onsite support at no cost at all until the application stabilizes? Still on TCO are the costs of training and as well as infrastructure (e.g. the minimum specifications of the fax server required).

Another thing you must confirm is the level of compatibility with the applications you use most frequently. As you do this, confirm whether there is any limitation as to the type of documents that can be faxed from directly within the application used to create them. In other words, can it fax PDF documents just as easily as it can fax spreadsheets and word processor documents? Also does the faxing software allow for the setting of user limits in the number and size of faxed documents?

Finally, check the level of security that the fax software provides before and during transmission. Does the application allow for the creation of a unique user id for each system user? Does it have an audit trail that can be referred to if an investigation is required to determine who sent a certain fax and when they did so?

Whether you are running Windows, MacOS or Linux desktop environments, all these factors need to be taken into consideration before you make your decision.

More Benefits to Using Fax Software

Advances in technology like the desktop computer and the internet have made what were once mundane office and home tasks much simpler to do while at the same time increasing the speed and efficiency with which we can do them. One device that has fallen out of favor as a result is the fax machine. Faxing software enables one to send a document from a personal computer by making use of the internet. Today's fax software is tailored to work with a graphical user interface such as Windows thus ensuring that anyone who knows how to use a computer can use it. There are many benefits of using a fax program.

The first has to do with cost. Faxing software is much cheaper than traditional faxing. You no longer need to have an extra phone line or buy a fax machine just for sending or receiving faxes. Additional avenues of saving come in the form of using the very same infrastructure for connecting to the internet to send faxes. In fact, sometimes the actual cost of sending the fax is free. In addition, even if a dial up internet connection is used, the documents to be faxed can be queued on the fax server and sent in batches in order to reduce the overall cost.

Many forms of faxing software allow one to send faxes directly from the application used to create the document. Other than the convenience this provides in that one does not need to walk to the fax machine, it also means that the transmitted document has a higher level of clarity than a document sent using a fax machine.

Another advantage of fax software is the resilience of the process. Whereas an error in the faxing process when using a facsimile machine or damage to the faxed document would require the document to be re-faxed thus incurring an additional cost, this problem is eliminated when using faxing software. This is because since the document is sent in digital form and often also received in digital form, the electronic copy remains on the recipient's computer even after printing. Therefore, a need for an additional copy is met by simply printing the document again.

Fax software also brings more control in an organizational setting. The fax server can be used to not only apportion quotas for each user in the number of faxes they can send, it also serves as an audit trail in the process. It is possible for each document faxed to be traced end to end, from the user and computer that sent it to its destination. Compare this with a facsimile machine where it would be difficult to tell who sent a document since all that may be required to use it is physical access.

Still on control, given that transmission is entirely digital, control against junk fax messages is easier to achieve since all that one needs to do is blacklist the offending IP addresses.

Interesting Information About Fax Software

The service originally started as an online facility with few companies offering the convenience of sending and receiving faxes online for a fee. The service provider would give you an online fax account from where you could send or receive all your faxes with the facility of having your received faxes forwarded directly to your email address. This also led to the coining of the term email faxing. Soon the demand for the service led to the development of special faxing software that can send and receive faxes directly from a computer.

Faxing software provides all the facilities and features of traditional fax machines but without the need for a special fax machine. Computers have become an integral part of everyday work. Businesses big and small are also permanently connected to the Internet through high speed broadband connections. So all they need to start sending faxes online is a bit more - a simple program that put the convenience of faxing into their computers.

A major advantage of faxing software is that it does away with the need to maintain multiple files filled with printed documents that have either been faxed or are received faxes. With a faxing program installed on your system, you no longer need to print any documents but can send them directly after creating them on your computer. Received documents are delivered to your email inbox in the form of attachments, making for easy filing and storage.

The latest faxing software programs come with advanced features including full integration and support for variety of email clients such as Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Many of these programs also have the facility of faxing documents directly from Microsoft Word, Excel or other office applications after you have created them.

The beauty of faxing software and email faxing is that it is very convenient and saves lots of time and money. Unlike manual fax machines, there are no hassles of paper jams, toner cartridges, or telephone line connectivity. The fear of a fax not going through despite a completed transaction report or the danger of an important document coming through incomplete or incoherent has also been removed thanks to Internet-based faxing.

Faxing software is simple and anyone who is acquainted with computers can use it without the need for specialized training. Talking of savings, faxing software can save lots of money compared to traditional fax machines and in more ways than one. Faxing machines do not require any paper, or toner, or telephone connections - all leading to savings in terms of bills. There is no need to carry out period maintenance which can also be a major cost factor, especially if you are a big company and have multiple fax machines installed.

With so many advantages faxing software and email faxing are sure shot winners. But there is another big advantage that tilts the scales totally in favor of faxing software and that is the convenience of mobility. With Internet faxing, you can send out your faxes from anywhere. All you need is a computer running Windows XP or Vista, faxing software, and a connection to the Internet.

Fax Software: The True Benefits

Faxing software are quickly replacing traditional fax machines as increasing number of people recognize the convenience and cost savings offered by email faxing. Faxing software is a computer program developed specifically for sending and receiving faxes via the Internet. All major computer operating systems including Windows XP, Vista, and Mac Leopard support faxing software.

These programs have evolved to the level where they can easily be integrated into computer-based email clients such as MS Outlook, thus making it easy to send and receive faxes directly from your email account. Many modern faxing software also come with scheduling and timed delivery features for sending out faxes, something that was not available in fax machines.

While these cutting-edge features provide many benefits, it is the smaller bits that really set apart faxing software from traditional fax machines. Gone are the days when you would have to file away each document that you have sent or received via fax. Now you can just have all documents stored as attachments in your email inbox. What this has done is removed the need to invest in filing cabinets and tons of paperwork.

Internet faxing has also resulted in thousands of dollars in savings, both for the big companies and the individual fax users. These savings are in the form of special fax rolls and papers, fax printer cartridges, the need for separate telephone lines for the fax machines, all of which can be significant expenses. Faxing software have also eased things in terms of the maintenance requirements; traditional fax machines were prone to breakdowns and had limited operational lives.

A major point in favor of faxing software is the convenience and security provided by these programs. With an Internet-based fax, there is no fear of the document not getting delivered to the receiver's inbox or of the fax going through incomplete or illegible. With many faxing software offering the security of encrypted faxes, there is little to worry about the integrity of your faxed documents either.

But the biggest difference made by faxing software has been in terms of the time savings and mobility offered by them. As traditional faxes were sent over telephone lines, the chances of network congestion and delayed sending were always a factor. Moreover, the fax machines would normally be common to multiple working areas, so if you had to send or receive a fax, you would have to leave your desk to do the needful. With faxing software sitting right on your desktop, your faxes are sent and delivered instantly, saving you the time and effort required with a fax machine.

Last but definitely not the least is the unmatched mobility offered by faxing software. With business executives and professionals becoming increasingly mobile and working out of their laptops and mobile offices, having a traditional fax machine no longer works for them. With a faxing software though, they can easily send and receive all necessary documents as long as they are logged into a computer that is connected to the Internet.