Email To Fax Machine

The fax machine has become one of the most important communication tools of modern business. From updates about the proceedings in Tiannanmen Square 15 years ago to updates from 1 Redmond Way, we rely on faxes to share press releases, contracts, love letters and thousands of other documents. Today it is nigh impossible to imagine how we conducted business without fax machines.

Despite, or perhaps because of its simple power, today's fax machines have little improved since business embraced them in the 70's and 80's. While most people have forsaken paper rolls, their print quality is still marginal at best. We would never accept from even bubble jet printers the fuzzy text we expect from fax machines.

Figure 1: Fax machines waste paper and have poor quality

On top of their poor print quality, fax machines waste money. While the PC revolution continues to consolidate an ever-expanding circle of functions onto our desktop, fax machines remain separate from our computers, typically guarded by a secretary. A few software packages allow you to send faxes from your email account; but as long as businesses must still pay $500 - $2000 per machine to receive faxes, most businesses see little reason to buy additional fax software.

On top of these costs, fax machines cost a great deal of time. Printing hard copy, walking to the fax machine, sending the fax, waiting for return confirmation, none of these nuisances takes much time individually, but collectively they can easily take 10-15 minutes per fax, sometimes longer. And of course, fax machines waste a lot of paper.

Figure 2: Non Labor Costs of Using Email Fax Machines

Because many businesses usually have 5, 10 or more fax machines, hardware costs are often substantial; these costs, however, pale in comparison to the labor costs. According to a 1996 Gallup/Pitney Bowes (G/PB) study, more than 300 billion faxes are sent annually. Because faxes allow businesses to share information securely and safely, the number of faxes continues to rise. For a department that sends even a miniscule fraction of those 300 billion faxes, these 15 minutes quickly morph into hours and days of wasted time.

As Figure 1 indicates, printing and telecom charges make up the bulk of the non labor cost of using fax machines. However, this estimate relies on a very conservative estimate of maintenance costs. Maintenance costs often consume 10 percent or more of non labor costs.

Figure 3: Labor vs. Non-Labor Costs of Using Fax Machines

While the non labor costs of using and maintaining fax machines are significant, the labor costs are far greater.

Figure 4: One of the fax machine’s more irritating labor costs

By moving the fax to your email, AirComUSA© can easily shave 1/3 off your total fax costs.