I am dealing with a company who has 4 offices nation wide.  Each
office keeps hard copy paper files for the entire month, then at the
end of the month each office sends their paper files to a 3rd party
who scans the documents and makes them available in PDF format.  Our
company then has their own servers where the PDF files get posted so
all 4 offices can access the digital files, thus being able to rid
themselves of the paper files.

I was thinking this process seems inefficient.  I have heard that
there are fax to email services and fax servers where you can fax the
paper files to a toll free number and it produces a digital copy for
you instantaneously.

Question #1:  I am looking for someone to provide me information on
which services would be best for my company's needs.  We are concerned
with quality, as we would like the digital image to be as close to the
original as possible.  We are also dealing with about 2,000 pages per
office per month, so we need a company who provides high volume along
with high quality. We are not concerned with sending faxes, just
receiving digital images of our files.

Question #2: Also, based on the information provided in question #1,
would it make more sense for my company to bypass a third party
completely and set up our own fax server?  What is involved here?  We
do not have an IT staff and would need to outsource the installation
and maintenance

I use YAC (You're Always Connected.)

I live in the UK but I guess that there are similar services wherever you are.

This is GREAT for faxes received because the sender pays the cost of
accessing a premium phone number. The image quality is top class.

I rarely ever send faxes but I could use YAC or my fax/printer/copier.