Business productivity has undergone multiple paradigm shifts in the past few decades. The proliferation of broadband ushered in new opportunities for businesses to save money while also revamping communication technology. Unified communications became an office mainstay, as VoIP and video conferencing supplanted traditional phone lines as a means to keep workers connected regardless of their location. And because of email and quick file sharing, legacy fax services also appeared to be on the endangered office supplies list. However, security and compliance measures have not only ensured the continued existence of fax solutions, they have also turned fax into a necessary part of a company's UC strategy for several timeless industries.
Fax over IP's role in growing markets
By 2020, the UC market will be worth $75.81 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate of 16.3 percent from 2014 to 2020, according to a September study from Grand View Research. Among the drivers of growth mentioned in the research are increased adoption of UC by organizations in health care sectors. Clinics, hospitals, remote care and health insurance are only some of the areas that fall under the health care umbrella, and all of them benefit from UC. In fast-paced patient care environments, nurses, doctors and other medical staff can access and share data more quickly between devices as needed. Likewise, IT teams can more easily provide remote troubleshooting for medical professionals. In terms of record keeping, sensitive medical information can be shared between practices and insurance providers with the help of HIPAA-compliant fax solutions.
In its research, Grand View mentions fax among the services that are integrated with real-time collaboration portals via UC. And while traditional fax machines may have lost some of their clout in the office, FoIP continues to play an important role in secure transfers of sensitive documentation in the health care industry. Email and other file sharing portals are too easily compromised, and the barrage of cyberattacks on big-name health care companies including Anthem – which resulted in personal information of 80 million people being accessed – warrants extreme caution when handling sensitive data.
Likewise, companies in financial and legal sectors that stand to gain from the benefits of UC must have a way to share sensitive information that is safer than email or standard file-sharing methods. And given recent hacks on Dow Jones and Scottrade, professionals in the field are probably a bit spooked. Once again, FoIP provides secure point-to-point sharing of important documents that is just as safe as traditional fax services for companies that need it. And, thanks to encryption capabilities, FoIP can implement stronger security than traditional faxing. For companies that need to share sensitive documentation safely, and want to do so without having to resort to snail mail, FoIP saves the day.
Faxing into the future
FoIP will continue to evolve hand-in-hand with Unified Communications. For example, Grand View cites cloud UC as one of the big drivers of UC growth in the coming five years. And as more companies employ cloud UC strategies, cloud-based faxing will be essential for businesses that demand an extra layer of document-sharing security.
"FoIP will continue to evolve hand-in-hand with UC."
Unified Communications is also changing patient care as we know it thanks to the shifting focus on telemedicine. The telemedicine market is forecast to increase at a CAGR of 18.6 percent over the next five years, according to research from Mordor Intelligence LLP. A variety of UC innovations such as video conferencing and remote health monitoring tools will help fuel telemedicine's takeoff. As this happens FoIP will increase in importance by supplying a safe delivery portal for sensitive medical records, high-value prescriptions and other important documentation.
Many companies, including those in health care, finance and law, will continue faxing far into the future.
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