With the rise of online and digital platform use in recent years, more and more companies are incorporating the practice of using the internet to their advantage. The same is true for companies who are relatively new to the digital scene, especially now where consumers are spending most of their time browsing the net.
For business owners who want to take advantage of becoming part of the digital ecosystem, converting to remote work is, by no means, easy. Since most internal business units and divisions are interrelated, all codependent units must be converted to a remote setup. This goes the same with all business affairs and transactions as well.
Fortunately, practically all day-to-day business activities have their online counterparts. There’s email for snail mails, voice-over-IP or VoIP for phone calls, and there’s online fax for the classic, printed fax. If you’re a business owner who wants to convert to an online work setup, here are ways how remote workers can leverage internet fax services:
1) Internet Fax Services Are More Convenient
Despite being essentially the same, online faxes are more efficient than printed fax machines. Gone are the days where you need to scan everything before having them faxed to the recipient, which means a faster, jam-free, and more seamless transaction to your business partners.
In addition, when it comes to convenience, internet fax services can do more than just fax documents. For one, they have cloud storage integrated within their systems, and some services allow e-signatures. Other online fax service even has the option of mobile faxing or being able to send/receive fax through your mobile phones.
This is extremely important especially if your employees are working in the comfort of their homes since being able to simultaneously do work across multiple devices means becoming more productive.
2) Internet Fax Services Work With Email Platforms
Although faxing is an entirely separate mode of communication from emailing, fax is made to work with emails. More aptly, you can create emails and send them as a fax, or receive fax to your email addresses.
Generally speaking, for online fax to work, you’ll only be needing an email address, a digital fax number, and an internet connection. So long as you have these three, using internet faxing is a walk in the park.
Furthermore, if printed fax automatically converts any document to .PDF, internet fax lets you choose between different file extensions, such as .doc, .pdf, .xls, and other commonly-used file types. This is important especially among employees who have to work with different files from different business units.
3) Internet Fax Services Can Use Your Existing Fax Number
Porting your fax machine number to your online fax provider is possible to most internet fax services out there. This means not losing any contact from partners or people who transact with the business through fax.
In addition, by being able to port your existing fax number, you retain the workflow of your employees who have to work with the fax throughout the day. This may mean a little, but employees get the knack for their work by creating routines that suit their pace. Disturbing this may create tension, thereby making their work slightly more difficult.
4) Internet Fax Services Can Be Worked On Simultaneously
The days of waiting on a long line of people behind the fax machine are no more. With internet fax services, a number of employees can receive and send the fax at the same time.
While different providers have a different number of heads that can work simultaneously, it’s undeniable how efficient and convenient it is for everyone to work at the same time. This also means a shorter wait time for partners and customers who bring in their concerns through fax.
5) Internet Fax Services Are More Secured
The word ‘security’ might mean differently from employee to employee depending on their position and their disposition about internet safety. Some would think having a secured password is enough, while others crank it up a bit by installing antivirus applications on their devices.
Despite these, however, online security isn’t just about secured passwords or a clean drive. There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to cybersecurity, especially when employees work at their homes where the network is more vulnerable.
Working in an unsecured network exposes the business at risk, and since internet fax services involve communication to and from different locations, not treading carefully puts the business in harm’s way. The same is true with transferring files over the internet, despite having many options available.
Luckily, internet fax services are secured and run an encrypted tunnel. This means all data transmission will be ‘invisible’ to most hackers, therefore decreasing the likelihood of snatching the document mid-transfer.
Conclusion
Internet fax services may have a myriad of good things about them, but just like with any other thing, a degree of caution must always be exercised. Despite the glaring compatibility of online fax, with remote work, both employees and business owners should always proceed with care.
