Use of Facsimile (Fax) in Businesses

Facsimile (or FAX) has established itself as an effective means of rapid transmission of images such as pictures and drawings. Fax involves scanning of graphic information, converting it into signal waves and then taking these signals to the destination and produce a copy of the image at the destination. The signal waves are transmitted in any of the communication media like telephone lines, radio, satellites, etc.

Till recently Fax has been considered a specialist service used primarily in the newspaper industry to transmit composed pages between locations. Availability of desktop inexpensive Fax machines during the last few years has totally revolutionised office communication scene. Today it is possible to send ally document like letters, agreements, invoices, purchase orders, etc, rapidly and economically to anybody in the world instantly. The capability of processing image and pictures provides a new dimension to the applications to which this technology can be put to use.

Modern fax machines provide several additional facilities some of which are listed below:

1. Resolution and speed selection to improve the quality of message reproduction
2. Paper size selection
3. Automatic dialling and answering
4. Automatic document feed
5. Encryption facility to allow the transmission to be encrypted (deciphered or encoded) for security purposes
6. Some Fax machines can be used as photocopiers
7. A fax machine can transmit and receive simultaneously
8. Time and date stamp for accounting
9. Jumping cover white space to reduce the time of Fax operation

We notice that Fax machines are becoming popular in our country on account of the availability of reliable equipment at affordable prices and also significant improvements in the communication facilities available today. Fax machine operates using normal telephone lines, and improvements in STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling) and ISTD (International Subscriber Trunk Dialling) services permit very convenient and reliable transmission across cities and different countries. In many situations, these are expected to replace telex services gradually.

The merits of fax service are as under:

1. All types of drawings. documents, etc.. which may be handwritten, typed or printed may be transmitted through the telefax system.
2. Transmission over long distances is possible.
3. The coppy produced by the telefax receiving machine may be used immediately.