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A Chick's View On How To Choose The Right Fax MachineJun 05 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Assess your needs. Do your homework. Don't make any impulse purchases.
Preamble About four months ago, one of the people on our project (let's call her Sally) decided that they wanted to be able to work out of their home instead of coming into the office on a daily basis. Because we're short on space and we wanted to accommodate this person's personal situation, we were all too happy to oblige. Now normally, I wouldn't be involved in any logistics as far as working with individuals to procure hardware and software for their position. Unfortunately, our Administrative Assistant left and the company had not reached the point where she had been replaced. My boss said: You want Sally to have the right technology, you need to take care of it yourself. So today, I'm here to tell you about the things you need to consider when purchasing a fax machine. The Mission In all honesty, I never thought that having to make a decision about a fax machine was rocket science. After all, it's just one of those things that sits there and transfers data back and forth between you and someone else. So when I initially approached it, I took our big catalog of "approved hardware purchases" and started flipping through it. There were literally hundreds of choices. I was overwhelmed and didn't know which one I should purchase. I put on my logical hat, took a step back and approached it like I would any other type of mission. First, I talked with Sally and we assessed her needs. What did Sally need a fax machine for? So many times in the business world, we just assume that if every one has something then every one else needs it to. In times of budget tightening (yes other times too) we can't afford to just throw away money on something that doesn't get much use. How often would she be using it? There's a difference between casual use and heavy, multi-purpose use. What size paper would she be sending and receiving? The more flexible you need your input/output to be, the more expensive the fax machine. How clear would the images need to be? In Sally's case, some of the images she would be receiving contained fine detail. If unable to read this, it would jeopardize her ability to perform her duties. Are the fax machine calls local or long distance? Here in Indiana, we are not charged air time for local calls however, we are charged for outgoing long distance calls. If Sally had a need to make several faxes to areas outside of our main calling zone, we probably would want to look into machines that offered many more features like stored memory and redialing options. What type of technical and customer service support did she need? Something important to consider, especially if you're purchasing for just your home use is to find out what type of technical and customer service support exists. Most good manufacturers will provide you with not only lengthy instruction manuals but also with web links to some of their most frequently asked questions. Will Sally need to stay in front of the latest technology? If you haven't figured this out, technology changes daily. If she needed to keep up with the Jones', I would have considered a leasing versus a purchasing option. Other Things To Consider In addition to assessing her needs for a fax machine, we also went through a list of other hardware needs. My goal was to see if we could combine multiple needs into one machine. The Need Is Defined Sally's Must Haves: 1) Must be able to accommodate 8 1/2 x 11 and 11 x 14 paper. 2) Would only be used 2-3 times a day. 50% of the time, calls would be outside of our local calling area. 3) Must have good to excellent resolution. Sally's Nice to Haves: 1) The ability to forward her faxes to another destination. 2) The ability to store more than 50 pages into memory for printing or sending at offpeak hours. 3) Something not to large but definitely heavy duty. Other hardware features Sally would like to have: 1) The ability to copy. 2) The ability to scan in her work. Finding The Right Product Now that I had my 'business requirements', I set out to find the right piece of equipment. First thing I did was walk around to our other fax machines on our floor. I noted the brand and the model number. I had experience with almost every fax machine on our floor so as I noted the manufacturer information, I also made a comment on things like paper jams and slow to send. Second, I went to multiple manufacturers web sites to check out their latest offerings. Here are some of the sites of the larger manufacturers: Brother http://www.brother.com/usa/fax/fax_cntr.html Panasonic http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/fax/default.asp Sharp http://www.sharp-usa.com/products/FunctionLanding/0,1050,7,00.html Canon http://consumer.usa.canon.com/multifunction/index.html Hewlett Packard http://www.pandi.hp.com/seg/fax_copier.html To say the least, I was impressed by the presentation of information. I found out that most of the models we have here on our floor aren't even sold anymore *gasp*! After I jotted down a couple of models that met our needs, I went to various web sites, including epinions, to get information on the performance of the product from a consumer perspective. Let me tell you, this was one of the most valuable pieces of information. It eliminated several models off the bat. We got our list down to a small number and then, I made phone calls to our vendor reps. Let's just say that negotiating price is one of my talents :). If you're choosing a fax machine for yourself and you don't have the luxury of a corporation to pay for it, find your right model and look for those deals. Several places on the web (like http://www.bizrate.com) can do price searches for you and on a weekly basis, keep an eye out on those ads that come in the Sunday paper. Remember to read the fine print - that deal may have lots of caveats attached to it (mail in rebate, x off with the purchase of another product, etc...). I struck a deal, sent through the paperwork to our procurement area and the machine was delivered within seven business days. Three months later both Sally and the project team are thrilled with the performance of her new fax toy. The End Well, I'm not a technical chick, and I don't play one on t.v. but I do hope that the tips I've given you assist you in your search for the right fax machine.  |
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