Fax from Lotus Notes

Lotus Notes is frequently used in large enterprises and governments, and many of our users have wanted to be able to send and receive MyFax faxes from within Lotus Notes. (We've already provided integration with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office 2003.)

This notes integration makes it easy for users to send faxes (using information from within Notes) with tracking and bill-back capabilities for reporting and accounting.

We were fortunate to have the input of a great lead customer who worked closely with us to develop the requirements and test the early versions of our integration. We're not allowed to disclose the company name, but we've found this to be a great working relationship. Thanks Dave!

Steve

New Features In MyFax

This week we introduced a new release of MyFax internet fax service. Don't worry - it doesn't cost you anything, and you don't need to do anything to get the upgrade! There are no upgrade fees, and no extra charges, and you don't need to download any new software.

In separate posts, I'll describe some of the new capabilities, and I've provided a quick list below.

Importantly, each and every change that we've made has been in response to a customers' request. We work really hard to listen, and incorporate your ideas into MyFax - making it a better and more valuable service, without increasing the price.

Here's a quick summary of some of the new capabilities:

• Faxes are now stored online for up to 31 days - and its free.
• Fax from inside Microsoft Office 2003.
• Integrated with Lotus Notes.
• More filetypes can be faxed, so you can fax Microsoft Visio drawings, *.snp , and *.mht
• Improved quality and performance, with an SLA to back it up.

Do you have ideas for making MyFax better? Just let me know.

Steve

Internet Fax increases Privacy

Learn to Use That Fax Machine highlights a lawsuit that was triggered by a doctor that faxed confidential information to a fax machine at the patient's place of work. The information fell into the wrong hands, the patient lost his job...and the lawsuit follows.

What's the moral of this story? That people should have the decency not to read other people's faxes (and that there are too many lawsuits, but that's a different discussion). If you don't want to rely upon the kindness of strangers, then you might want to use MyFax...

MyFax provides each customer with their own, private fax number, and delivers all faxes directly into your personal email. This means that all of your received faxes remain private.

MyFax also helps make faxing more confidential. Use your Outlook address book to choose the fax number, and avoid misdialing. Double check the fax confirmation, and make sure it went to the fax number you wanted it to. Automatically add a customized fax cover page.

For secure applications, consider using encryption, or VPN connections for larger customers. That will help meet your HIPPA fax requirements.

Helping Out

We try to help out in the community where we can, both as a company, and as individuals.

When Hurricane Katrina struck, we provided free fax services to the American Red Cross to help their communications.

We also gave free faxing to MyFax customers in the affected areas, who clearly had more to worry about than their internet fax service. (But one notable customer insisted that she pay anyway, because MyFax let her continue her business even while she was uprooted.)

Closer to home, we're rallying for the fight against cancer. Cancer has touched people close to us, and inspired our team to get active fundraising. Today we sold MyFax T-shirts; next week is a barbeque. You can help too - visit the American Cancer Society or Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life .

And if you want to buy a MyFax T-shirt just drop me a note!

Three ways to avoid irritating travel charges

I was travelling last month, and was surprised to get hit by fairly large "off-net" roaming charges with my new phone. (Note to self: read the fine print).

It reminded me of all the hidden charges that add to the cost of travelling, and my Top 3 List of Ways to avoid the irritating costs of travel:

1) Use your cell phone. (Well, first get a plan that includes roaming!). Hotel charges are wildly expensive.

2) Take the hotel shuttle when you can, and avoid the taxi charges (plus tolls, tips, minimums, etc.)

3) Don't eat breakfast at the hotel. It's convenient, but you're held hostage. Walk next door - the fresh air is good for you!

Many customers choose an online fax service like MyFax when they're travelling - and the only other alternative is to pay your hotel $3 per page or more. If you can get your email, you can get your fax - or you can download your fax from our secure web site.

Road Gladiator has some more good tips.

Top 5 Tips for Job Hunting with MyFax

Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters by David Perry and Jay Levinson is a good guidebook to using guerilla tactics to get a new job. I subscribe to Levinson's Guerrilla Marketing newsletter which usually has some simple and effective ways of promoting products and services. The book applies the same approach to marketing yourself to new employers.

GM for Job Hunters recommends using MyFax to get your resume noticed. Email applications often got overlooked - and they certainly all look the same when they are sitting in a cluttered inbox. Faxes generally get hand delivered to the hiring manager.

Here's 5 tips for using MyFax effectively in your job hunting:

1. Use the fax cover page effectively. The cover page gets read - make sure it includes your best pitch.
2. Be brief. Effective resumes use white space to draw attention to key points. This is especially critical when faxing your resume - lots of dense text looks unappealing.
3. Be specific. Use the hiring manager's name and department. Remember that many fax machines are still shared, and unaddressed faxes only reach the recycling bin.
4. Don't spam. By email and by fax, spam is bad. Focus your sales pitch.
5. Follow up. Phone the day after you send the fax. Get voicemail? Draw attention to the fax.

Faxing and Regulatory Compliance (SOX, HIPPA)

There are many good reasons to use MyFax - it's 75% cheaper than regular fax machines, lets you get your faxes anywhere, simplifies your office, etc.

With increasing scrutiny on corporations - and the regulations to go with it - comes another reason for using MyFax: compliance. Sarbaanes-Oxley, HIPPA, PIPEDA etc. all drive a need to control and track the flow of information, and fax machines can be a gaping hole.

Here's a recent article on the topic, at Compliance Pipeline: Faxes: The Achilles Heel in your Compliance Armor.

Here's more information on how MyFax helps with regulatory compliance and privacy.