Every day, more and more companies of all sizes and types are developing or refining their strategy for transmitting, storing, and retrieving their business documents electronically. And while most electronic document transmissions are primarily via email or downloaded from the Internet, savvy organizations realize that a critical part of this strategy also involves managing their inbound and outbound fax traffic.

Every business needs a fax server for the following reasons:

  1. Competitive need. The faster faxed business documents, whether sent or received, reach the proper destination, the greater the likelihood of increased organizational efficiencies.
  2. Increase employee productivity. Fax servers allow users to send/receive faxes from their computers without leaving their desks. These faxes can be sent from a thin, thick, or Internet-based fax client (Microsoft Internet Explorer) or email application such as MS Outlook/Exchange, Lotus Notes, Novell Groupwise. The most common operating systems used are Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows 2000.
  3. Minimize the costs of consumables such as paper, toner. The typical fax transaction first requires the document to be printed on a printer and delivered to a fax machine over a sneaker network. Documents transmitted through the fax server begin electronically as word processing documents and end electronically as digital images at the recipient’s destination.
  4. Documents transmitted through the fax server are recognized as legal documents in a court of law. Once a document has been faxed, information about the fax transmission is recorded during the process, including the date/time of the transaction, duration, and total number of pages.
  5. Improve customer relationships and find new opportunities. Fax documents are always read or at least scrutinized. If the information in the fax is properly addressed to a particular recipient or responds to an immediate business need, there’s a good chance you’ll get some kind of response. Many fax-savvy organizations use fax for newsletters, press releases, billing, product announcements, and expedited contract delivery. Try the following: Go to your existing customer database and choose an existing customer. Send a fax about a new product launch or update directly to their attention. Also, within the fax, please provide multiple methods of return correspondence, ie email, website, phone, and a response deadline date. Chances are you’ll get some level of response faster than email!
  6. Alternate email. While emailing is an extremely reliable and common practice, it does have its drawbacks when it comes to loan applications, purchase orders, and signed contracts. Business done with these types of documents is usually done through a fax machine or fax server.

Technically, what do fax servers do?

Fax servers complement all business units in one way or another. They convert documents from their native format to Black and White Tiff G3 or DCX format. These tiff documents are then sent over the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or IP (Internet Protocol). Fax servers can be integrated into any application, email system, ERP, CRM, or operating system in the world. They can query plain text from any host or AS400-based output system and convert it into a readable formatted document (either PDF or Tiff). Some fax servers can also send email, act as middleware, fax-enable websites, operate as an administrative application, or be used in an ASP service bureau model.

Summary

Fax server technology has been around since the late 1980s. Although not all fax servers are created equal, there are fax servers available for every platform ie Microsoft Windows, Unix, Linux. The most reliable fax servers mainly support smart fax cards such as Brooktrout, Eicon, Pika Technologies or Natural Microsystems. Depending on your organization’s needs, infrastructure and budget, there is a fax server solution for you. If your entire organization sends or receives more than 20 fax pages per day, the ROI cost justification may be 3 months or less.