Show 004 - Unified Messaging, Fax basics

Faxes. The technology has been around since the 70's. Most businesses today still rely on faxed documents being sent and received, even though we live in an age of high speed data transfer and the internet.
As digital storage prices has reduced over the years, large capacity storage devices are being utilised to store data such as contracts, articles, document templates, and more recently, scanned documents for archival purposes.
Prior to this, the only solution to keep records of documents was to have the hard copy shelved in binders or kept in filing cabinets. Now, documents can be scanned and email around, and stored on different types of digital media.
The term "paperless office" has been thrown around for a while, but businesses still have a need to have certain documents printed for whatever reasons. On the flipside to that, there are documents that are received by fax where printing is not necessary, and that storing it for future reference is one way to help cut down on paper usage in the office.
How is this achieved? Unified Messaging.
Unified Messaging is the integration of various communication services to be accessible from a single point, such as your email address.
Here's how UM handles an incoming fax:
- A fax is received on the fax line which is connected to the phone system
- The phone system sends the fax to a computer, usually a server with Microsoft Windows Exchange Server installed
- The server then emails this to an email address as an attachment
- The staff member receives the email and downloads the fax attachment onto their computer.
And that's basically it!
The added bonus to this is that you can backup your faxes and have stored off-site, or even password protect them.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Business
• Communications
• Unified
• Messaging
• Basics
• Fax
• Paperless
• Office