Project - Email to Fax Pilot - Streamline Customer Communications

The engineering department would often need to send drawings via fax that were sized to fit 11x17" paper. These drawings could not be reduced in size, nor could they be re-sized for faxing as they would become illegible. I was tasked to find a solution that did not include scanning / resizing.

Goal:

• Reduce the time spend managing faxes, enable desktop faxing, and allow the ability to send faxes sized 11x17

While investigating solutions, my contact at Ricoh suggested I try out a cost effective new product (still in development) that was being made available in the North American market. I agreed, and the company became the first North American deployment of a Ricoh 5000L Fax Machine, capable of sending a Fax to a customer in an Email using Microsoft Exchange, and having a scan body up to 11x17.  Depending on the capabilities of the other fax machine, this fax machine was able to fax (up to) 11x17 documents.

Prior to deployment I prepped the machine by installing the network card, and configured the Exchange Server. Ricoh technicians assisted in the deployment. The email was stored in the usual locations on the client (in Exchange), and could be moved to any custom folders as desired. Incoming email that could not be routed to an individual was forwarded to the department manager for sorting.

A simple interface was used to assign multiple fax numbers to an Email address, or to adjust / assign fax numbers as needed. A custom cover sheet was crafted to accommodate company logo, name, and other standard fax disclosures.

This pilot project was successful, with the company using this initial solution for well over 7 years.  The product became a staple to the Ricoh product line.