Network fax and MFPs – the best of both worlds

We announced last week that we were teaming up with KYOCERA Document Solutions to launch Zetafax Device Edition. KYOCERA is one of the world’s leading document output management companies, manufacturing everything from multifunctional printers (MFPs) to a portfolio of software solutions. They know their customers inside out and they’ve been a great partner to launch with.

Zetafax Device Edition originated from a customer need to keep records of, and easily manage, the hard copy faxes sent from their MFPs.  As a network fax solution, ‘traditional’ Zetafax is great at allowing people to retire their old fax hardware and instead fax directly from their PCs; our ROI calculator can help demonstrate just how great this is. But for some businesses the full picture isn't quite so black and white. MFP devices are often central to hard copy tasks such as printing and scanning, so removing them completely isn't on the agenda. And if you need to fax a physical piece of paper, and your MFP has a fax capability, that means you can send it straight to the recipient without scanning it to your PC - great, right? Not always!

Whilst for the sender, faxing a physical piece of paper from an MFP means that you can send it straight to the recipient, there are downsides, particularly for IT staff and system administrators. There is no archive of faxes – which can cause regulatory compliance issues, user permissions are disparate – costing IT staff time to configure and maintain, and you need to place an expensive fax card and telephone line into each device.

So in creating Zetafax Device Edition, our aim wasn't simply to replace one solution with another; it was to combine the best of both.

Based on our existing Fax Relay add-on, Zetafax Device Edition enables businesses to connect all their MFPs to a single fax delivery point (Zetafax) via their Local Area Network. Because all faxes are managed through Zetafax, all incoming and outgoing faxes are archived centrally – making it easier to trace who sent what to whom. And there’s no need for independent fax cards and telephone lines to be placed in each device, which can save money.

This is all great news for administrators, but as a humble user (like me) there are benefits too. Not only can I send from my beloved MFP, using fax lines (or Fax over IP in a virtualized environment), both delivery receipts and incoming faxes are sent directly to my email inbox, reducing the time spent waiting by the device. If your business regularly sends hard copy faxes, that total waiting time can soon add up to a significant cost, but even as an occasional user, I’d rather wait for the kettle to boil than the fax machine to send.

To see it in action you can check out our new video (below) or visit the Zetafax Device Edition page on our website. For more information please contact your local KYOCERA dealer.

Watch the video.