Regardless of how passionate you are about your business, at the end of the day, it's all about money. A company massively hemorrhaging funds won't be in operation for long, but even small expenses can add up to quite a lot of waste over time. Cutting corners may not be an option, but optimizing budgets is a necessity, and organizations all over the globe are constantly looking for ways to trim the fat.
For those relying on legacy fax systems to transfer important documents, Fax over IP is a money-saving technology that can help with this. FoIP virtual fax solutions have many benefits in terms of security, but can also help business leaders keep a firm grip on hard-earned dollars. Let's take a look at how this amazing service can help with saving company money:
Cut down on paper costs
"The world has rapidly moved to a more digital environment."
The world has rapidly moved to a more digital environment, and yet many companies are still relying on paper. In fact, according to The Paperless Project, just under half of the paper used by office workers finds its way to the garbage bin every day. This adds up to about a trillion sheets being trashed every year, and is forcing the paper industry to pump out around 300 million tons annually.
Putting aside the moral argument of this being a major drain on natural resources, this is just a wasteful use of company resources. Although the source of this comes from all kinds of business documents, a sizeable portion can be attributed to faxing. Cover sheets are sometimes thrown away and less important documents are often read and quickly disposed of.
FoIP virtual fax solutions do away with all of this by moving all correspondence to the digital realm. Employees can receive faxes directly to their email account, eliminating the need to purchase paper for the legacy fax machine. What's more, duplicate documents can be sent to multiple recipients without having to waste paper for each copy. It's a simple and effective tool for saving company money while also helping the company go green.
Lower time wasted looking for documents
Although physical supplies can certainly waste money, one of the biggest expenditures in any business is payroll. Advisers from the small business advisory firm Second Wind Consulting stated that the ideal business should be spending around 33 percent of their overall income on paying employees. That said, many businesses go well above this due to a multitude of factors ranging from the need for experienced staff to poor financial management.
Regardless, it's clear that companies spend a lot of money on their employees, which is why it's vital that administrators limit the amount of time workers waste while on the job. The term "opportunity cost" applies here, which is defined as the time wasted doing one activity while the employee could have been doing another. For instance, a baker who is forced to clean a dirty oven could have used that time to prepare three dozen cookies, which translates to a loss for the employer.
In the same way, businesses who need to hold onto faxed documents are allowing employees to waste time searching for the specific record they're looking for. A worker who spends even 10 minutes looking for a fax in a sea of unrelated papers could have used that period to call back a client. On a long enough timeframe, this translates to quite a lot of wasted potential.
Once again, FoIP virtual fax solutions cut down on this opportunity cost by automatically archiving all documents sent to a company. Employees are given an easily searchable library that allows them to find exactly what they're looking for in a fraction of the time, enabling them to get back to the tasks you're actually paying them to do.
Respond to messages whenever and wherever
Continuing with productivity, legacy fax systems seriously limit how employees get work done. Due to the fact that these machines must physically print a document, correspondence can only be read by employees in the office. However, this simply isn't how work is done these days. To begin, more staff members than ever are working from home. Companies relying on legacy fax systems cannot allow these people to telecommute, meaning workers can't complete tasks when they're a little under the weather or need to stay home for various reasons.
On top of that, the world is increasingly becoming a mobile place. The Pew Research Center found that more than two-thirds of American adults own a smartphone, which means the majority of employees in any given office will have access to one of these devices. Smartphones are great for a multitude of personal reasons, but they also allow staff members to get work done wherever they are. People have gotten used to answering correspondence on their commute into the office or while out with friends, and relying on legacy fax systems doesn't allow for this.
FoIP virtual fax solutions, on the other hand, works very well with the mobile employee. Workers can access FoIP messages directly through their phone, allowing them to keep up with the latest messages regardless of where they are. What's more, being able to view documents through an Internet connection enables telecommuters to perform their tasks better.
Enhance enterprise communication, collaboration and compliance efforts with a proven FoIP solution from FaxCore. Contact FaxCore today to learn more about their 'Partly-Cloudy' fax solutions.
