Luckily, we have technology that helps us complete tasks and operations effortlessly, especially for businesses. Communication is one area where technology has improved significantly over the last couple of decades. Gone are the days when you have to wait for slow fax transmissions because of manual faxing.
Today, you can fax online through internet faxing service providers, making fax machines obsolete. Because of such, you can now send fax messages using any device as long as you have internet access. However, there are several things you must take into account before choosing an internet fax service provider for your business, this includes:
1. Your Faxing Needs
First and foremost, choosing the best internet fax service provider for your company should depend on your needs. Consider asking yourself, how many files or documents will I be sending or receiving every month?
You may also want to take into account your storage needs. Having identified your needs, you should be able to find a provider who can provide them and offer a subscription plan in line with your requirements. It can be a waste of resources if you choose a package to go along with abundant storage even though your business will probably not need all of it.
2. Speed
Your work can be much easier without having to deal with unreliable fax machines. With online fax services, you can quickly send and receive files from any device via email. Although your sender or recipient is using a manual fax machine, you can still process their sent files and share files with them within a few seconds only. Therefore, it’s worth taking your time to consider the speed of delivery of fax messages from your prospective provider.
3. Security
When choosing an internet fax service, security should be one of your top priorities. No business wants to risk a data breach. For that reason, the service you opt for must come with protection or encryption. This way, no unauthorized person may gain access to your faxes. And even if they do, your files will still be encrypted.
4. Support For Multiple File Formats
Next is to check whether the provider offers support for multiple file formats. Most providers support TIF file attachments only for faxed documents. Because of such, if you want your files faxed in different formats, you may have some problems. Therefore, you need to ensure that the fax service you choose can deliver faxes and other types of file formats, including PDF, without any difficulties.
5. Customer Support
You also need to consider the quality of customer service offered by the provider you want to hire. This is essential as you may never know when you might encounter some problems or issues in online faxing. Finding an internet fax service that is available all the time to assist you is beneficial during emergencies.
Look for a provider with reliable customer support and is easy to reach. Having live chat support aside from phone and email is a big plus. It is specifically helpful for organizations using internet faxing for the first time. They may face some technical hitches that may need customer support assistance.
6. Mobile Compatibility
For most people who are always on the go, gadgets such as tablets or smartphones have been their go-to devices for work. With that said, it would be a good idea to ensure that the online fax service you are going to avail of is not limited to desktop use.
Furthermore, find a service that allows you to link all your devices. Doing so will give you a backup measure when you run into trouble with one of your devices. It can dramatically limit the number of downtimes that might affect your business communications and bottom line.
7. Electronic Signature
It can be a waste of company money if you invest in a provider that doesn’t support electronic signatures. If you are going paperless, you might as well look for a provider that provides e-signatures to avoid printing documents to sign them.
With electronic signature, you can conveniently give your faxes and other documents authority and undoubted eligibility when received by your recipients. It also allows you to initiate and close business transactions without delay.
Conclusion
When picking an internet fax service for your company, ensure that you evaluate your needs and compare them to what the provider offers. Have a clear understanding of their plans and prices and check if the provider is reputable and legit. Taking all these criteria into account can guarantee you that embracing online faxing technology would benefit your organization by increasing the productivity of your employees and boosting the company’s bottom line.
Read more: Pros And Cons Of Stop-Loss Order
