Outsource Your Business Communications

Effective communication with customers is important for every business. If you have only a few customers, it's simple enough to keep in touch on your own through e-mail, postal mail, fax, mobile phone text messages, and of course voice calls. But if you and your staff need to communicate regularly with hundreds or thousands of customers, you may need more than a couple of desktop computers.

You could invest in technology resources--a more powerful, collating printer or a new fax server, perhaps. And many small printers can handle printed mailings.

But if you use several communications media--print, faxes, and e-mail--that you'd like to coordinate through a single service, consider FlyDoc, a Web-based service from Esker, a company that specializes in document delivery services on demand.

You start by entering your mailing list. FlyDoc can import lists from Excel spreadsheets or CSV (Comma Separated Value) text formats. For postal mailings, you'll need to download and install the FlyDoc printer driver, which will format and transmit your completed document to FlyDoc's worldwide network of mail facilities. FlyDoc provides convenient Microsoft Word templates, but you can use any word-processing application you wish. When you're finished, just click Print and then choose the FlyDoc icon, which will appear alongside those for your other installed printers.

You can print in either black and white or color, on a single side or on both sides of the paper. You can choose from three standard double-window envelope sizes, but there's only one paper option for your sheets: letter-size, 24-pound white.

Once you've submitted your document, FlyDoc promises to print, stamp, address, and send your documents via first-class mail within 24 hours. The first page costs as little as 36 cents per copy for black-and-white printing and 48 cents for color; subsequent pages cost 18 cents for black and white or 30 cents for color. The largest envelope available can hold up to 70 pages. Postage and taxes are additional.

One nice aspect of FlyDoc is that it does not require a minimum number of letters. Being able to pay for individual pieces means you can use FlyDoc to send customer invoices, or personalized letters created using the mail-merge feature in your word processor.

FlyDoc Faxes and E-Mail

Most computers make sending out a few dozen faxes easy. But assigning larger jobs to FlyDoc avoids tying up your fax line for hours. Also, FlyDoc Manager can tell you which faxes were not received and must be resent. Fax service costs from 10 cents a page for recipients in the United States and Canada to $1.60 a page for far-flung destinations. FlyDoc also supports mass e-mailings. You can either use the printer driver to submit your document or create your piece after logging on to FlyDoc's site.

FlyDoc is fairly easy to use, with helpful multimedia tutorials. You need to install only one piece of software, and its on-demand aspect is handy. Dedicated printing services may offer more paper options, but you may find that the convenience of managing all your communication with one service makes FlyDoc worthwhile.