Despite its continued use, the fax machine is an incredibly siloed technology. In an age where every other form of communication is being unified, faxes continue to be sent through dated physical interfaces. Having cloud-based fax integrated into enterprise communications can be both efficient and time-saving.
"The cloud is becoming pervasive, but in a good way," TechAdvisory.org posted on its website. "Many office functions that were largely inefficient or had unsolvable bottlenecks have been made more viable and usable. One function that has largely been left behind by both businesses and technology though is the fax machine. Sure, you can get machines that send to email, but they are largely out of the budget of most small businesses. There is a better option however."
There are plenty of benefits to seeking out these cloud fax services for business. Here are some of the biggest:
1) Streamlined operations
Having to print out a document just to be able to send a fax seems almost unnecessary on today's digital landscape. Yet this is the process that one must go through when the cloud is not part of the equation.
"Employees who send/receive faxes are more efficient, as they don't have to get up to check for received or sent faxes," TechAdvisory.org stated. "Most cloud fax solutions also allow you to send more kinds of documents than traditional fax machines, so there's no need to convert most documents into a format that can be sent by fax. This means more time to spend on other tasks."
This enables a sort of efficiency that was previously not possible. Cloud fax services for business can keep people working without waiting around.
2) Security
Not only is the cloud an agile way to handle faxing, but it is also inherently safer. Faxes are sent and received in an encrypted manner, making them less prone to being intercepted and abused. They are more secure, in fact, than both traditional fax and email. There are fewer chances for a missive to reach an unintended target, which has caused more than one inadvertent enterprise data breach.
3) Email to fax
Modern success is often defined by mobility. People need remote working capabilities to satisfy demands in their personal lives. This means that a fax machine will not always be present when it needs to be. This would have, in the past, caused significant complications, but fax over IP solutions allow faxes to be transmitted as emails when certain recipients are without the proper hardware.
"Cloud fax solutions usually work by replacing the traditional fax machine with your computer," TechAdvisory.org wrote. "The solution acts as a virtual fax machine that can translate an email with an attachment into a fax, then send it over traditional phone lines to other fax machines. Incoming faxes are sent to a traditional phone/fax number, where the cloud picks this up and translates the fax by submitting this to your email. Essentially, your faxes become emails."
