The phrase, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" may still apply in certain industries - agriculture comes to mind - but it does not have a place in telephony. When technology begins to age, costs can significantly rise while productivity is hampered.

As a result, it is important to determine when any telephony or other technology product needs to be replaced. The best way to go about this is to answer specific questions:

• What is the cost to the company for support and maintenance?
• Is employee efficiency hampered by the legacy feature?
• Does the current product support unified communications, including VoIP or Outlook?
• Would workflow be improved with a migration to new technology?

Before taking another step in any direction, consider the advice of Tom Linhard, president of FaxCore, a Denver-based fax server application provider. Linhard suggested that companies perform a cost analysis based on two or three years and compare the results to the cost of buying FaxCore (News - Alert).

Linhard noted that a company migrating to FaxCore is often able to justify the cost based on comparing the cost of the company's annual support and maintenance program to that of their current solution. FaxCore, which offers FoIP and fax over IP services, has acquired many new customers in the past year as a result of this type of cost analysis.

Even with an aggressive pricing model, FaxCore has a very feature rich product offering. One of the differentiating factors for FaxCore is the bundling of features in standard offerings competitors provide at extra cost. The company also ensures integration with leading Microsoft solutions such as Exchange, CRM, SharePoint and SQL.   

The latest Dialogic/Brooktrout solutions are also supported by FaxCore products, enhancing the ROI of the solution. When a company enjoys faster transmission speeds, they can also save on phone charges. Energy savings are also possible with the implementation of a FoIP solution in a virtual environment.

"Companies need to rely on their 'satisfaction quotient' as the ultimate decision criteria," Linhard told TMC. "In other words, when does a combination of high maintenance costs and limited features drop below the acceptable satisfaction level?"  

Do you know whether or not it is time to replace your fax server? Have you done a cost analysis? If your technology is older than the rest of your system, time to take a closer look. If you want help in the process, click here to connect to a FaxCore representative.