Keeping a business afloat is hard work. Administrators have to constantly struggle in order to increase profits and improve customer satisfaction, all the while fighting off elements that would see the company go belly up. It's a lot of pressure, but it's also a rewarding experience if you put in the right level of preparation.
Fax over IP is seen as a great tool for secure business communication, but it’s so much more than that. This technology can help protect your company from a multitude of different challenges.
1. Keep correspondence out of the hands of criminals
Of course, one of the first aspects people think about when it comes to protecting their company is data security. Business information is highly valuable on the black market, and as such criminals are motivated to do everything in their power to intercept private communications. This is the exact reason companies are still relying on legacy fax systems, as they aren't as vulnerable as other forms of correspondence.
"Business information is highly valuable on the black market."
That said, the inefficiencies of these systems can't be ignored. Paper costs can add up – a point that will be addressed later – and legacy fax machines simply can't respond to customer requests as quickly as FoIP. In fact, FoIP solutions are more secure than their elderly counterparts.
Due to the fact that documents sent through legacy fax machines must be placed in the incoming message tray, they are extremely vulnerable to a physical breach. All a hacker has to do is impersonate a janitor and wait around the fax machine in order to read any private messages. In fact, security consulting firm Social-Engineer has stated that they have yet to fail at breaking into a company they were analyzing.
If your company needs an increase in overall document security, both in cyberspace and in the real world, FoIP can help. This technology is built around the need for better document privacy and can help make sure criminals don't gain access to company information.
2. Avoid the main problems of junk faxes
Productivity is sacred within the workplace. Keeping employees efficient and effective is the cornerstone of modern business, and it demands protection at all costs. Even minor events can add up to an overall decrease in work output, which is why it's absolutely vital administrators cut out any distractions. A perfect example of this is a junk fax.
Much like spam emails, junk faxes are sent to a wide array of recipients in the hopes that at least one will respond positively. You may think such a small incident wouldn't affect productivity too much, but companies have actually been taken to court for this very matter. In fact, Fairway Medical Center recently led a class action lawsuit against McGowan Enterprises for this exact problem.
McGowan Enterprises began to send out faxes under the name Acute Care Pharmaceuticals in order to distribute advertisements, according to The Louisiana Record. The number of documents being sent was apparently so significant that Fairway Medical Center alleged that employees had to waste a considerable amount of time and effort dealing with them.
Whether or not McGowan Enterprises will have to compensate the entities within the class action lawsuit remains to be seen, but the point here is that junk faxes can be a major drain on productivity. They force employees near the machine to stop what they're doing and check to see if the fax is an important one, which over a long enough timeline can cause detriments to efficiency.
What's more, each document sent is a waste of paper, thereby driving up overhead. FoIP can help solve these problems by cutting down on overall paper use while keeping incoming faxes in a singular user interface, thereby subtracting the need to waste time physically walking to the fax machine.
3. Protect your reputation by replying to messages quickly
Continuing with productivity, legacy fax machines are incredibly inefficient at responding to customers compared with digital forms of correspondence. Very often, urgent messages are left unattended because employees are too busy to check the fax machine to see if any messages have been received.
This is bad news because many clients demand the responsiveness that they've grown accustomed to following the Internet revolution. Thankfully, FoIP allows employees and administrators alike the opportunity to reply to messages wherever they are. FoIP solutions even work with mobile devices, meaning workers can stay current with customer requests on the go.
What's more, these systems have fax tracking capabilities. This means that officials can know exactly when an incoming message was sent, when an outgoing document was received or even when a fax cannot be delivered. Knowing the timeline of correspondence lets officials better service their clients, therefore protecting company reputation and enhancing overall customer satisfaction.
"Steering a business through a rough patch is incredibly difficult."
4. Be prepared for disaster
Avoiding disaster on a personal level is hard enough, but steering a business through a rough patch is incredibly difficult. In fact, the Red Cross has found that out of small businesses that are hit with by a terrible event such as a flood or hurricane, around 40 percent close for good.
Although there are many reasons for this number being so high, one of them is the loss of company data. Information is the lifeblood of any business, and losing it all can make starting again nearly impossible. While organizations should invest in a robust backup system to protect data, FoIP can help with this process through automatic archiving.
When an incoming fax is received, the FoIP system instantly puts it away for later review. In the event of a disaster that destroys the office and any physical records or hardware contained within, archived documents can be accessed and help in the recovery process. What's more, FoIP solutions have an interface that allows for easy searching, which means employees can quickly pull up the data they need to help get the company back on its feet.
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.
