The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Fax Machine in Business

If you are starting a business and you’re deciding what office equipment to buy, you may be thinking whether to buy a fax machine or not. You understand that this is machine is not as popular as it once was; however, you also know that some other businesses and organizations use it. Will it be to your advantage if you purchase a fax machine? If you’re not going to purchase one, are there other alternatives that you can use?

First, let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of owning a fax machine:

Will it be expensive? These days, it is pretty easy to find all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/ fax machines. Since most likely you will be using a printer, copier, and scanner, you can simply consider the fax feature as a bonus. It will be there whether you will use it frequently or occasionally.

Will you need a dedicated phone line? The answer is no. Your all-in-one machine will need to be attached to the telephone line, but it can share the line with another phone.

What if you already have old but working printer, scanner, and copier, and all you need to decide is whether to buy a fax machine or not? Aside from having to maybe need it eventually, consider these: 1) Your recipient can receive your fax as soon as it is sent, 2) You can receive confirmation once the fax is received, and 3) Fax documents are tamper proof since they are hard copy documents.

What are the disadvantages? 1) If your recipient shares the fax machine with other employees, your documents may be picked up by another person, 2) The document quality is low, so it can be difficult to read, 3) You will not be able to send fax if the machine of your recipient isn’t turned on.

What is the alternative?

If you still think owning a separate fax machine will not work for you, you can get the service of another provider to help you with this. Your local UPS store can help you with this. They can send and receive fax for you. This is actually easier than waiting for the fax to go through if you send it by yourself. The cost will depend if you will be faxing your documents to a local or a long distance number. It will also depend on the amount of documents you’ll be sending. If you’ll be sending huge quantities of documents via fax, check with them the rate for your needs.