Small Business Server Fax features cost savings for Business

Small Business Server includes many useful features as an all in one Server solution ( for 75 employees or less ). An often unheralded SBS capability is the Fax Service. This built in full featured fax platform can be a genuine cost saver for small businesses. SBS Fax is commonly more capable and cost effective than a dedicated fax server device (Canon, Minolta, etc…), SBS routes faxes to numerous endpoints, and it is simple to use. To get up and running with the Fax Service, Small Business Server requires setup of one (or more) server class fax modem(s). The wonderful world of SBS built in functionality takes care of the rest.

SBS Fax Service can save money in a variety of circumstances. One typical scenario is when a business uses a subscription based Online Fax Service and pays monthly. While limited usage on these services makes sense, many businesses continue sending faxes above the free usage and ultimately are being billed for their sent faxes at 10+ cents/page. As the faxing increases, so does the bill from the fax provider.

So what are some of the details of going the SBS route? With Small Business Server, it is possible have 1, 2, 3 or up to 4 separate fax lines by installing as many as 4 fax modems (server class multi-modem cards are also made with 2 lines or 4 lines on a single PCI card). A business with SBS pays only for the phone services per line, the modem cards and initial installation. When there is a large volume of faxes, over the long term the savings can really add up.

Estimating Fax Cost Savings Using Small Business Server Fax Service

To consider possible cost savings, remember these factors when comparing fax services vs. Small Business Server:

LOCAL: For incoming faxes, inbound calls are unlimited (this is local or long distance of course), so the cost of receiving faxes will never go up. Outbound local fax calls ( faxes locally or within the zone 1, 2, 3) become more affordable because the cost is generally a few penies per minute when using a dedicated phone line. Compare that with the “per page” price of a fax service! Since a modern fax machine can receive at least 2-3 pages/minute, using a phone line to SEND means your receiving 2 to 3x the value rate.

As an example, lets compare the “per minute” cost of faxing locally to a “per page” cost like the fax services charge. Taking a ZONE 3 call rate of 6 cents per minute, divide that by 2 pages per minute average, and you have a cost of 3 cents per page. This example yields 3 times the savings compared to a fax service ( based on typical billing 10 cents/page ).

LONG DISTANCE: If a company is regularly faxing long distance or nationally and hitting close to $100 in fax fees, I personally suggest considering an unlimited national calling package. Unlimited long distance is quite affordable these days for one or two lines. Whatever long distance (or unlimited) plan you settle on, compare your current fax service bill directly to the phone plans cost. Any company that is moving a lot of pages via fax (think Escrow Services, Real Estate,  etc….) should be able to save a bundle.  At the time of this writing ( 2009-08-16 ) even a rate based long distance plan with AT&T is only 5.0 cents per minute. Still more affordable than a fax service when you remember that a fax services charges are ”per page” at about 10cents.

The Flexibility of the SBS Fax Platform

One of the reasons some companies choose a fax service is because of the flexibility (receive via email, etc…). Let’s look at the flexibility of the  SBS Fax Service platform for SENDING ( Incoming ) and RECEIVING ( Outgoing ):

“ Incoming faxes ” can to be routed to 1) email 2) any printer on the network 3) a SharePoint document library 4) a network shared folder …and sent to 5) mobile devices using the Email features of Small Business Server. You can also send ” Outgoing Faxes ” from any computer on the network by using built in Windows functionality. The ability to ” Send Fax from a Computer ” is much more flexible than manual faxing. Faxing from computer means workers do not have to print pages, walk around the room, hand write fax covers,  etc… All this saves time ( and-money !! ). Finally, sending large complex faxes ( multiple scans of multiple document sources combined with documents, pdfs, spreadsheets residing in computers ) is made easier, faster, and more versatile because of a computers ability to combine file sources. Add today’s Multi-function Copier – Printer – Scanner integrated into the network ( WIGITAL does this btw ) and you’ve got a powerful end to end solution.

In review, SBS 2003 or SBS 2008, with a little setup, a company scanner and a some education gets any business moving with the SBS Fax Service. You can SEND from any computer on the network and RECEIVE faxes for storage in Email (ex. Outlook), Exchange Public Folders, Web based Fax Libraries (ex. SBS Remote Web Workplace using SharePoint), network folders, and more. You can automatically  send faxes to Mobile devices. You can build a more efficient and cost effective fax system.

To learn more or to ask questions,  say hello at http://www.wigital.net/contact-us.

For technical info, please read on….

Fax Server for Small Business Technical Overview

There are a variety of ways to approach the Fax features in Small Business Server. We suggest contacting an IT Pro for setup. To become more familiar with the platform, consider reading the following guides from Microsoft and Packt Publishing:

SBS Fax Guide Downloads

These guides are freely available:

Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring and Using Fax on Windows Small Business Server 2003

Chapter 4 – Exchange Server 2003 and Fax Server – from Packt’s SBS 2003 book

For professional inquiries about the SBS Fax Service , please call WIGITAL

Viewing Faxes on the Desktop

Windows Picture and Fax Viewer articles describe how to use built in Windows features to view, save, print, and manage received faxes.

For Windows XP

• Windows XP – Windows Picture and Fax Viewer overview
• Windows XP – Windows Hidden Image Viewer ( PC World March 21 2005 )

For Windows Vista

• Windows Vista – Pictures and Video Help and How To
• Windows Vista – Explore the Features of Windows Photo Gallery

NOTE: there is a known issue viewing some faxes on Windows Vista using the built in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. This appears to be an issue with fax machines sending faxes in standard resolution of 200×100 dpi.  Commonly reported problems include

• Printing a fax flips the image 90%
• When unchecking “Fit to Window” some TIF faxes are still rendered and print in Landscape (despite the fact that the printer is set to use portrait page)
• Manually resizing the fax corrects the issue for printing but then alters the physical dimensions of the fax

Popular solutions to the Vista fax rendering issue include:

1. This TechNet article submitted by Sabir Chandwale ( which uses MDI, the  Microsoft Document Imaging program ) : receiving Fax on SBS 2003 using Windows Vista Clients .
2. download IrfanView or any other quality image viewer and use instead of Vista’s Windows Picture and Fax Viewer.

Please note this is a ” Vista only ” issue.

Viewing Faxes on Mobile Devices

Both Small Business Server and Essential Business Server are designed to work with mobile devices using Microsoft Exchange which is included with these solutions. For SBS faxing, this enables any fax directed to a User or Group to be received on a mobile devices via email. Once received, the next step on mobile is opening the fax to view it. Not all mobile devices natively support viewing TIFs. Fortunately there are freely available TIF ( the native FAX format ) Viewers for download:

Apple iPhone TIF Viewer

• iPhone App Store examples are QuickOffice and iFile( requires iTunes on PC )
• non App Store example DocViewer
• non App Store example FileAid

Windows Mobile 5, Mobile 6, Mobile 6.1 TIF Viewer

• XN View Pocket (info)
• Download : Windows Mobile TIF Viewer – XN View xScale Download Page ( latest versions )
• Download : Windows Mobile TIF Viewer – WinMo 5 and WinMo 6 – XnSmartPhone.cab

• Download : Windows SmartPhone 2003 TIF Viwer – XnSmartphone2003.cab

Sending a Fax from the Desktop

Windows Desktops also have built in faxing (i.e. SEND )capabilities. Fax sending is included in Windows XP, Vista Business, and Windows 7 Pro. You can learn more:

• Windows XP Faxing
• Windows Vista Fax and Scan

Windows faxing capabilities are expanded by Small Business Server. Learn about the SBS Fax Interface on TechNet :

• Using Fax in Small Business Server
• Send a Fax as Email in Small Business Server

Managing Fax in Windows Small Business Server

Lastly, managing the SBS Server is usually the IT Pro’s job, but some people just gotta know more. Start here >>

• Managing Fax in Windows Small Business Server

…and for legacy info SBS 4, 4.5, etc.. read these

SBS: How to configure the Shared Fax service to route incoming fax jobs to a common inbox
SBS: How to route incoming faxes to a mailbox other than the administrator without Microsoft Outlook on the SBS server

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Thanks for reading. Please comment for the community. If this information has helped you, please link back here. It helps us as well as others who may need the information.

Thank you.
Mark Raborn
WIGITAL