Why do we still have fax machines? If you think about it for a minute, a fax machine is really three devices in one: a scanner, a printer and a telephone. Today, it’s common to see “all-in-one” printers, which not only act as printers but also as copiers (scanner/printer) and fax machines (scanner/printer/telephone). But a dedicated fax machine seems like a throwback to the 1970s.
A dedicated fax machine isn’t cheap, either. Most inexpensive models use what’s essentially a wide carbon-paper ribbon to print, and since they’re specific to each brand and model, they’re not terribly cheap (the ones for mine are $20 each). Most offices also dedicate a phone line to their fax machine, which costs an additional $30 per month, plus paper. Then there’s the cover sheets (who used the last one, dammit?) and the general hassle of getting up to either send a fax or see if one’s arrived.
Sending a Microsoft Word doc or Portable Document Format (PDF) file via email has largely replaced sending documents via fax. But even if you have to use faxes to communicate with your less tech-savvy customers, the latest all-in-one devices hook up to your wireless office network, so an incoming fax can be either printed or turned into a PDF file and emailed to one or more recipients. They also let you send a document to the “printer” and have it sent out as a fax.
For less than the monthly cost of the dedicated phone line, you can also subscribe to a service like GreenFax.com, which will provide you with a fax number (toll-free or local) for $12.95 per month. You fax by sending an email, and incoming faxes are translated to PDF and emailed to up to five recipients. Plus, it archives all your inbound faxes for free.
So why do dedicated fax machines still have a place in most offices? The problem is your signature. If someone sends you a document to sign, whether by fax or email, you’re going to have to print it out, sign it and fax it back. Ugh.
This is exactly what happened to me last week. I received (as a PDF attachment) a formal job offer from AlterG to become its brand-new chief software architect (yes, I’m excited). To accept the offer, I needed to sign and return the document within a few days. My initial response was to print out the signature page and fax it back. But wait a second: I’m a technology expert—a chief software architect, even. How can I possibly be sending a fax to seal the deal?
I decided to educate myself (and now you) about electronic signatures. Even though it may seem like a new problem for lawyers and courts to contend with, the earliest questions about electronic signatures came up in the 1860s, when telegraphic messages were used to signify agreement to contract terms. In 1869, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that such messages were legally enforceable. The validity of faxed signatures was built on that precedent.
In 1996, the United Nations got the ball rolling when it published the Model Law on Electronic Commerce as a template for national laws. In the United States, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws brought forth the United Electronic Transactions Act (UETA), which 47 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C., have adopted. Illinois, New York and Washington state have their own takes on electronic transactions, but all 50 states recognize some form of electronic signature as binding.
One of the key provisions of UETA is that, somehow, “…the electronic signature be linked or logically associated with the record….” In the case of my job offer, the clearest way of doing that would be to insert my “electronic signature” into the PDF file. Now, I’m technically skilled and could do this easily with a copy of Adobe Acrobat or another program that allows manipulation of PDF files. Fortunately, there are also solutions for people who have no idea what PDF stands for and just want to sign the darn thing.
I used DocuSign, mostly because it was both free and stupidly easy. I emailed the PDF document to ink@docusign.com, which sent me an email back with a link. Clicking on the link presented a Web page with my document open and a toolset including options to insert a date, my printed name and my “signature.” I inserted my printed name and date by clicking on the document and dragging the element to the appropriate spot on the signature page. I had a couple options for inserting my signature. I tried drawing one with my mouse, but gave up and picked a rendering of my printed name using one of several different handwriting fonts. Remember, it’s not the appearance of your signature, it’s your intent to sign the document and the linking of whatever mark you choose to the document itself.
I clicked that I was finished signing, and DocuSign asked me for the recipient’s (my new boss) email. All done, and it took about five minutes. You can store a copy of your signed document with DocuSign, download one, or email it to yourself (always nice to see what your recipient will see). The final doc does include a small commercial for DocuSign, which was OK with me.
EchoSign was recently acquired by Adobe (the nice folks who invented PDF), which makes a lot of sense. It also has a free “get this document signed” feature like DocuSign, but it’s harder to find, and you have to upload the document in question. When will companies learn that, if they have a web-based service, it had better be incredibly easy to access it via their home page?
Note that I used this method for a document sent to me. Your customer can use the same approach for a document you send to them. If you do a lot of faxing because of signatures, I strongly recommend you take a look at using electronically signed PDFs and dump that old fax machine once and for all.
