by Victor J. Alfieri

Created on: March 08, 2009

Your eyes are closed. The sound of the waves crashing lulls you into a semi-daze, heightened by the frozen drink in your hand. The wind occasionally carries the noise of kids playing down the beach to your ears, but that's OK. When your eyes are close, you are alone.

No offices, no 5:00 traffic jams, no meetings. It's just you and the wavesuntil your cell phone starts ringing incessantly. You try to ignore it, but it rings again, and again, and againand again. You grab the phone with intention of silencing it, but see it's your boss/partner/client/lawyer on the line.

Life bombards your senses immediately upon hitting that button. Gone are the kids down the beach or the crashing surf. Frantic pleading, yelling and actual chaos has broken through your defenses. Never mind that this is the first vacation you have taken in two years. You are needed because the ABC document has not been signed.

With a few short words, you disconnect, punch a few buttons and the document is on it's way through an encrypted fax line with an electronic signature. After a short phone call to confirm receipt and a nice toss of the phone into the ocean, you're back to your silent reverie. A major crisis was handled before the condensation on the drink could reach the sand.

This is the future, no this is NOW! Welcome back to life people!

With the ability to send faxes via e-mail, among many other new technological advances, business can be done in the board room, the class room, at the beach or the summit of a mountain. Business people, both large and small, are no longer tied to their desks, their computers or their old fax machines.

Construction companies can get permits while on site. Realtors can receive offers in writing while still at their open house. Lawyers can receive documents while on their way to court. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

While sending faxes via e-mail can be extremely convenient, there are other benefits that you should be aware of in order to make a truly informed judgment:

No more fax machines (That saves on both initial cost and maintenance).

Only print the documents or individual pages of a document.

You won't have that tell-tale "toner mark" on your hands.

You don't have the cost of a dedicated phone line.

No more busy signals, paper jams or "Fax Failed" confirmations.

Storage is all electronic and easily backed up.

The savings on your budget and office space (may just be enough for that trip you've fantasized about for two years.).

The old school ways of business are dying a hard death. Take a walk down Wall Street or Main Street and you will see the signs of it. It will be the companies and individuals who come up with innovative thinking and out-of-the-box ideas that will come out of this difficult time successful. So, do you want to be the one tied to the old fax machine out in the ocean or the one on the beach?

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