The MTN group has found the ideal way to reduce paper consumption and storage, streamline service accountability, save on costs of materials and labour and promote productivity and efficiency while improving the bottom line - all in the interest of customer service.
Its solution is large-scale electronic faxing using Fenestrae`s Faxination messaging server, distributed in South Africa by Server Tools.
Pioneering the move in South Africa, MTN intends to extend its use of Faxination to mission-critical areas of its business. Graham Dunstan, MTN`s imaging project manager, points out that apart from materials consumption and storage, Faxination will address personal accountability issues.
"It is never easy to prove that someone has actually sent or received a fax," Dunstan notes. "The electronic solution provides a mechanism whereby a recipient is accountable for a faxed message which can be stored and tracked electronically."
Faxination is the only fax server that is fully integrated with Microsoft Exchange and Mail servers. It provides true fax-mail integration and cost-efficient faxing by storing incoming faxes as electronic images rather than physical documents. It also reduces transmission costs by automatically selecting the optimal transportation route for outgoing faxes, combining with Exchange`s administrative facilities to monitor and manage message activity.
"The software can handle eight simultaneous calls," says Dunstan. "This is now being upgraded to be able to handle in excess of 80 simultaneous calls. We intend to replace a large number of fax machines in the company which currently process more than 20 000 documents monthly." The system is already in use in Johannesburg and Durban and will shortly be installed in regional offices in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein.
Faxination was implemented by SBS, a Server Tools-certified reseller in partnership with Server Tools and an MTN IT team. Anthony Davis, sales director at SBS, comments: "Since faxes are received electronically and are integrated with the company`s existing messaging system, distribution is almost instantaneous and always accurate, not to mention the money saved on printing materials and the time saved on manually sorting through and sending documents by fax."
MTN is also developing an online interface to Faxination that will enable users to send faxes over the MTN intranet.
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