Second Opinions

Phase Out Your Fax

By Sheryn Bruehl

WHEN MY partner and I first opened our small office, we opted to use a multi-function device as a primary piece of office equipment. I had insisted that we have a laser printer for business correspondence, but we also bought an inkjet multifunction fax/printer/scanner for the rest. The line "But we can just use the fax machine as a copier!" is now a running joke in our office. That said, I actually think your plan is a good one.

First, the cost of laser multi-function machines has dropped dramatically, making them financially feasible for even the smallest office. Inkjet or ribbon cartridges are only barely acceptable for low-volume fax receiving, and not at all acceptable for even backup copying or regular printing needs. It simply takes too long to print each page, the quality (while close) is not as good as laser, and the cost per page is much, much higher.

Second, the performance standards of all the parts (usually fax, scan and print) are comparable to their standalone counterparts, and the combined cost is generally lower than buying each separately.

Right now, a Brother MFC-9600 laser printer/copier/scanner/PC Fax/Video Capture device runs about $535 at shopper.com (one of the best places to find the lowest street prices on hardware). Given that, at worst, it is only going to cost a couple of hundred dollars more to buy a multi-function device than a standalone fax, if you can afford it, you'll eventually be very glad that you did.

If you aren't scanning regularly now, you'll also be able to use it as a primary scanner until you are sure enough about your document imaging project that you want to invest in a stand-alone scanner. Or, you could use it as a second printer (perhaps a letterhead printer) to take some of the load off your primary printer.

Back-up Only

Third, you are clear on the fact that the multi-function machine would be a back-up for your primary printer and copier.

Having a back-up copier is a tremendous convenience, even if you only use it once or twice a year (ditto for a back-up printer). It is a law of nature that your copier will only fail or start producing horribly marked up copies when you are screaming to get a brief, pleading or proposal done in the last 30 minutes of the day on a deadline; and/or that the attorney needing five quick pages copied while racing out the door for a hearing will have to wait behind the secretary making 12 copies of a 60 page discovery response that jams every time it hits a different type of paper.

However, if you are trying to do all of your printing, copying and faxing with a single machine, the logjams will be even worse. Furthermore, if you have difficulty with the machine, you'll be out of luck on all fronts. In a pinch, you won't be able to copy your original, print another, or fax the original instead of mailing a copy.

Alternative

Fourth, you are very wise to be considering PC faxing instead of standalone faxing. Faxing is one of the biggest time-wasters in a law office, and eats more billable time than almost anything besides coffee/smoke breaks and looking for files.

By the time you print the document (and possibly reprint it, since it invariably spits out on the wrong paper the first time), fetch it from the printer, carry it to the fax machine, wait for someone to finish sending or receiving the fax in front of you, then dial and wait for it to connect and send, then go back to your office (provided the interruption doesn't also get you embroiled in a half-dozen other tasks and conversations on your way), you've wasted at least five to 10 unnecessary minutes on the project.

With PC faxing, you simply send the document directly from your word processor, exactly as you would normally print it, type in a phone number and any cover message, hit "send" and you are done in seconds, without ever interrupting your train of thought and workflow.

Figuring that you do that two or three times a day, and save just 20 minutes each day as a result, each attorney in your office can save roughly $12,500 in billable time per year (at $150 per hour) by making just that one change in your office workflow.

Finally, I recently purchased a Brother MFC-9600 laser printer/copier/scanner/PC fax/video capture device for my home office, and love it (with a few caveats). It took only a few minutes to set up and worked perfectly right out of the box.

The only difficulty I had was really my own fault. I was trying to set up a print-server (not the printer itself) when I installed the software for the MFC on my computer. It wanted to continue installation and customization of the MFC once the computer was rebooted, but that would only work if the machine was hooked directly to my computer, which I didn't want to do until after I finished installing the print server.

Ultimately I had to stop and do it before I could continue my original project (setting up a wireless network, of which the print server was a part).

The reason for my difficulty is that the Brother MFC 9600, like most other Brother machines, is not networkable out of the box. If you plan to connect it to the network, instead of directly to a machine, you'll need to purchase and install an additional internal network card (Brother NC-8000, around $260 to $275 at www.shopper.com) to get full functionality, including scanning and PC faxing. If you only want to print from the network, and use the machine as a standalone fax, you can simply connect it to an external print-server, which is what I did initially.

In my situation, because the MFC is shared among three computers (two laptops and a desktop distant from the unit itself, all connected via a mixed wireless/wired network), connecting the printer to a machine is not practical. I will end up purchasing the network card eventually in order to use all of the features.

For now, print-only functionality and standalone faxing is a workable solution for my needs because the device is within arms length of my workspace, and is not shared during working hours. However, in a busy office, I would recommend the extra expense, since you've already seen how much just a handful of trips from desk to fax machine will cost you in the long run.

My only real complaint about the device is a practical one: print jobs often get left on the printer, and incoming faxes just land on top of them, so they tend to get lost in the pile. At least with my standalone fax, the presence of paper in the tray lets me know that I've received a fax. I'm thinking of adding a second paper tray (about $125 street price) and filling it with colored paper so that I can tell the difference between incoming faxes and regular print jobs.

As for Brother's reliability in general, I can't give you any information on Brother's support, because I've never needed it. That first machine we bought almost seven years ago (also a Brother, and the one we still laugh about) is still functioning flawlessly as a standalone fax machine and the primary fax for four attorneys. While that first machine was networkable, we never used the PC faxing/scanning functions because its location made connecting it to the network impossible, and I've never gotten that corner properly wired to do it.

I actually bought that Brother as a replacement for a Canon whose software mucked up my network so badly that it took me months to straighten out the gremlins it left behind. It installed easily, and has never needed maintenance of any kind, beyond regular replacement of the ribbon cartridges it uses to print, which last long enough to satisfy me that it is cost effective to continue using it.

I don't have any reason to believe that the new Brother laser machine will be any less reliable, and I'm thrilled with its speed, quality, and ease of installation. So, good luck with your purchase, and congratulations on the wisdom of taking such an effective cost-cutting, time-saving step in automating your practice.

Sheryn Bruehl, a member of the LTN Editorial Advisory Board, is closing her law practice, Bruehl & Chapman, P.C., to start a new company, LexMagic L.L.C. It offers marketing and other event promotion for the legal community. She has offices in Norman, OK., and Milwaukee.