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Increasing Mobility with Fax Technology By Anthony Garritano OTTAWA-On any given day, Mortgage Alliance Canada independent broker Mark Herman and his underwriting partner Katie McDowell could be working out of any one of four offices - or even a client location. This high level of mobility would create a challenge for anyone to keep up with his or her paperwork. But it's particularly difficult for mortgage brokers, because much of the time-sensitive documentation they need to get loans started and keep them moving is sent and received via fax. It didn't take Mr. Herman long to realize that a traditional fax machine tied to a single location presented too many barriers and limitations for his team to work efficiently, so he began seeking alternatives. After looking into several options, Mr. Herman landed on the optimum solution, the MyFax Internet Fax Service. "Between customers and lenders we receive 7,000 to 8,000 faxed pages a year," Mr. Herman says. "Those documents could be needed at any of our four offices. It was nearly impossible to keep track of everything and make sure we had the right documentation in the right place at the right time. The cost and time involved in copying and filing alone was astronomical. And even then there was a good chance we'd have to drive from one office to another to pick up some other document. It just wasn't very practical." MyFax touts that it breaks through time and convenience barriers by allowing users to transmit documents via the Internet, making it possible for a transaction to be completed remotely. MyFax also protects client privacy, with confidential information going directly to an individual's e-mail rather than sitting on a fax machine for a period time where anyone walking by can view it. "With more than one office and a lot of clients that prefer to do work in-person, I'm always on the road and rarely around when a fax comes through on the company fax machine," Mr. Herman said. "Most of the time the faxed information is time-sensitive and needs to be reviewed before quickly being sent to the bank. That's difficult to do unless you're near a fax machine all of the time. Since becoming a MyFax user, not only has my company become more efficient, but we have reduced the costs from having multiple fax machines, phones lines, paper and toner." Being out of his primary office most of the time, Mr. Herman is able to remotely access important faxes in real-time via his laptop e-mail. He and his employees keep their laptops password protected so the faxes coming through via e-mail are kept secured. "Not only do I have access to all of the incoming faxes while I am on the road, but I have all previously received faxes at my fingertips as well," Mr. Herman said. "With paper faxes, we would have to bring dozens of sheets of paper in various files along with us. With Internet faxing, I save all of the faxes digitally to the proper client folders on my laptop so they're there when I need them." MyFax also simplifies long-term storage. Mortgage brokers in Canada are required by law to save client files for five years. At the volume levels the company receives, complying with the law would require 10 bankers' boxes each year. Since the MyFax documents are all electronic, he can place each client's records on a single CD, which saves space while making it easier to pull up old records if needed. "In today's mobile society, having important documentation tied to a single physical location is impractical," said Joseph Nour, chief executive of Protus IP, the provider of the MyFax Internet faxing service. "MyFax allows users to get the information they need while working the way they need to work. It really brings faxing into the 21st century."

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