Fax machines sometimes get a bad rap for being outdated technology that has been replaced with email and other high-tech solutions. However, despite its reputation, faxing continues to be a viable mode of communication, as 17 billion faxes are still sent each year, according to Business 2 Community contributor Immanuel Vinikas. In fact, as the years wear on, fax solutions are evolving with the times – and being able to connect your email with your fax machine is one of the most useful evolutions so far.
People continue to find new and quirky ways to use fax machines, as well. For instance, the pop band YACHT recently announced that the only way to get an early peek at the cover art for its new album, “I Thought the Future Would Be Cooler,” is to use a fax machine. According to The Verge’s Lizzie Plaugic, the band is interested in the ways in which technology is innovated, used and then forgotten as the years go on.
“It’s not like technology is something that just develops in a single monolithic way and then as soon as it becomes obsolete it disappears and is replaced by something else,” band member Claire L. Evans said. “We live in a world in which we’re surrounded by things at varying degrees of obsolescence.”
YACHT clearly isn’t with the times – or they would have known that fax-over-Internet solutions aren’t obsolete at all. In fact, these systems play an increasingly important role in offices and hospitals around the world. The evolution of fax technology has taken it from the 1980’s machine to the cloud-based solution we know today – with quite a few advantages along the way.
Fax machines, which can now send information via the Internet, have evolved with the times.Common cloud-based fax advantages
Companies that still rely on fax machines to transmit information should consider the advantages of internet faxing and investing in cloud-based fax systems. Despite YACHT’s view on the obsolescence of faxing, there are several ways FoIP systems provide stronger business intelligence. Here are a few reasons cloud-based fax solutions like the ones offered by FaxCore are an important, beneficial alternative to traditional fax technology:
1. Security enhancement
The physical security of documents is one of the most important considerations of any business, and making sure new equipment offers a secure mode of transferring sometimes confidential information is crucial. Traditional fax machines can present security hazards. For instance, if confidential information is stored as a thermal copy on the fax machine, it may become easy for someone with malicious intent to gain access to those documents.
Here’s where online fax solutions come in. With any cloud-connected appliance, both physical security and cybersecurity can gain strength over traditional technologies. There are many use cases of fax solutions being utilized in security-intense environments. For instance, according to HealthcareITNews contributor Erin McCann, e-fax can integrate with electronic medical records, which are transmitted between healthcare institutions and contain confidential patient information. The security provided by cloud-based fax systems strengthens compliance with regulations set forth by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and helps make sure these EMRs remain secure.
2. Global communication
Fax machines are still one of the most important ways to transmit information for companies around the world. Vinikas made the point that as you do business globally, you may come across companies that haven’t upgraded their communications technology and still utilize traditional fax machines to get the job done. Even in some places in the U.S., there may not be reliable Internet coverage, but working phone lines are practically ubiquitous.
“Storage and maintenance costs can also be cut by switching to the cloud.”
3. Reliable disaster recovery
Cloud-based fax systems offer more reliable data recovery options than traditional fax machines. According to MSPMentor, cloud-connected appliances replicate data and applications to the cloud – applied to fax solutions, this means that your faxes are saved to the cloud and, in the event of a data breach or loss, can be recovered with just the click of a button. Storage and maintenance costs can also be cut by switching to the cloud. As your company grows, so too can your cloud environment, instead of having to invest in new machines and storage technology like you would have to with traditional infrastructure. This helps to ensure the reliability of utilizing the cloud to send, receive and store important faxes.
Enhance enterprise communication, collaboration and compliance efforts with a proven FoIP solution from FaxCore. Contact FaxCore today to learn more about their ‘Partly-Cloudy’ fax solutions.
