People talk a lot about junk e-mail, better known as spam. But junk faxes are just as big a problem for some companies as spam. In fact, junk faxes may be an even bigger headache because fewer blocking solutions are available.
One solution companies, even small ones, can utilize to avoid junk faxes is the fax portion of RingCentral (News - Alert) Online, a suite of on-demand, Web-based communications services. RingCentral Fax combines the advantages of faxing with the power of online communications, and includes capabilities to easily block junk faxes as well.
TMCnet asked Ralph Alvy, a Santa Monica, California-based chiropractor, how RingCentral Fax has helped his business operate more efficiently. Alvy operates his practice as a sole proprietor, providing chiropractic services on his own with no other employees.
For faxing, Alvy has a dedicated, toll-free RingCentral fax number that he gives out to patients as needed. He also has a local office fax line that is no longer given out, but for people who may still have it in their records is permanently forwarded to the RingCentral fax number.
When a fax comes in, Alvy explained, he is notified in two ways. First, a text message alert is sent to his cell phone, specifying that a fax has arrive and how many pages it contains. Second, the fax document is sent to his e-mail address as a PDF attachment. He can then read the fax by opening the PDF attachment on his PC, or by logging into his RingCentral account on the Web. If needed, the document can be printed from either location.
Not only is RingCentral fax convenient for Alvy, it also saves him time and money by blocking junk document, which he defines as unsolicited sales faxes.
“It used to be serious problem when I had all faxes sent directly to my office fax machine, Alvy said of junk faxes. “I had to weed through a stack of junk faxes just to find an essential report.”
Since signing up for RingCentral Fax, Alvy said he has seen a more than 90 percent reduction in junk faxes sent to his local office fax line (and forwarded to his RingCentral number).
To keep junk faxes from making their way through the system, Alvy can sign into his RingCentral account on line and mark the phone numbers of junk fax senders as “blocked.”
“From that point on, when someone sends a fax to me from that number, they will get a message that they can't call my particular area, and then they receive a hangup,” he told TMCnet. “I don't get the fax and RingCentral doesn't charge me for that call. I always get the sender's phone number because they're either sending their fax to my local office fax number (which I never give out), which is forwarded to my toll free RingCentral fax number, or they're sending the fax directly to my toll free RingCentral fax number (which I selectively give out).”
Having the ability to block junk faxes, Alvy said, saves him both time and paper. RingCentral’s online fax service is helping the chiropractor continue successfully operating his business, which has been in operation for 26 years.
To learn more about blocking junk faxes, please visit the Fax channel on TMCnet.com, brought to you by RingCentral.
Mae Kowalke is senior editor for TMCnet, covering VoIP, CRM, call center and wireless technologies. To read more of Mae’s articles, please visit her columnist page. She also blogs for TMCnet here.
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