Friday, August 20, 2010

Efficiency is All About Workflow

Over the last year and a half I've had a pretty hectic life - working and studying full time. It was a unique experience, which tested the limits of sleep deprivation, productivity, and work/life balance. It was also unique because it allowed me to experience what small business owners go through in terms of starting and growing their businesses. What I came to realize in the context of the day-to-day life of a small business owner is that time is the most precious of resources.

Saving time requires you to identify the many little things that can deviate your attention from far more important things - like growing your business! It's called being efficient, and as many small business owners will tell you, it's easier said than done.

The MyFax service has, over the years, gone far beyond just offering you the ability to send and receive faxes with your email, the web, or your smart phone. We continuously listen to our customers, and we've gladly delivered with innovative integrations with some of the most popular software applications and mobile phones in the market, including: Microsoft Office and Outlook, Salesforce CRM, Act!, Lotus Notes and, just last week, the iPhone.

In addition, we also created the MyFax Print-to-Fax Assistant. The Print-to-Fax Assistant is a print-driver that lets you send faxes directly from within any Windows-based application by simply selecting File>Print>MyFax.

The MyFax Print-to-Fax Assistant further integrates MyFax directly into your current workflow by allowing you to manage fax communications and document management workflow even more efficiently. Here are some examples:

Two of the most popular office document applications outside of Microsoft Office are Google Docs and OpenOffice. Each offers a suite of free products similar to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Visio. The fact they are free and offer similar functionality has made them popular among small business owners.

Once you have installed the MyFax Print-to-Fax Assistant and you are working within any of the aforementioned programs, rather than saving the file and closing the program, you simply select Print and Choose MyFax. The Print-to-Fax Assistant will then open, and from there you can send your document to multiple recipients by either manually entering contacts or uploading contacts from Outlook. You can even include cover pages and billing codes.

The MyFax Print-to-Fax Assistant is free to all MyFax customers and can be downloaded from MyFax Central. You can see it in action yourself by viewing our video tutorial. Either way, we hope you enjoy the extra few minutes in the day you'll save because of it!

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