To put it bluntly, the cloud is re-defining business. Cloud computing is helping to encourage enterprise evolution as it increases the amount of tasks that can be performed from a greater number of locations.
"A company often resembles its communication and technology system," wrote New York Times contributor Quentin Hardy. "In the era of cloud computing that the tech industry is moving into, that seems to suggest that companies will have smaller departments, quickly analyzing data and endlessly experimenting. That means change is on the way at the many companies that will adopt cloud computing over the next few years."
Technology has a way of influencing how people work. One moment in history where this has been apparent lies in the rise of the fax machine. Faxing has come a long way from its origins, and today it sees continued use in countless industries. But perhaps the fax machine needs some re-thinking. One way in which other business tools have been influence by the cloud is in the conversion of physical resources to software-defined portals. Not only is this possible with the fax machine, but it is already being done with cloud faxing.
Cloud expected to boom in 2015
Investments in new technology are important for any enterprise to make. Recently, this means paying specific attention to the cloud. According to ITProPortal contributor Sam Pudwell, a study performed by Equinix found that 74 percent of businesses are expecting the budgets for cloud-based initiatives to grow significantly in 2015. Similarly, 77 percent are planning on deploying several clouds within the next year.
Similar upward trends have also been noted by International Data Group. IDG discovered that cloud investments have already increased by 19 percent since 2012 with an average investment of $1.6 million. It stands to reason that much of this growth is being fueled by the continued realization of what the cloud is an how it is effectively leveraged in business. More often than not, this means re-evaluating daily operations for areas where the cloud can be of significant assistance.
"What's needed is the ability to step outside your business and think about the new opportunities that are available to you as a cloud-enabled business," stated accounting software company Xero in an article for The Guardian. "For a start, you can be completely mobile and work from anywhere. That ability in itself raises many new ways of working with your customers, flexing your work/life balance and creating teams of people who aren't tied to one specific location."
Without a doubt, this is the kind of thinking that will ultimately lead people to cloud-based faxing.
Cloud Faxing requires modern upgrade
There are numerous industries where faxing is not just advisable, but it is required by law. Finance, healthcare and even areas of the government all have to use faxing for one reason or another. This is due to the significant differences that exist between security in fax servers vs. email. Attaching a document to a message and sending it off via email has proven time and again to be a bad idea.
Faxing may be essential, but it doesn't have to be bound to legacy hardware in order to be executed. Using a cloud-based fax system, employees can have all the mobile convenience that email provides without any of the weak encryption methods that leave it susceptible data breaches.
It is important to embrace the cloud in whatever ways possible. It is becoming the status quo for a number of enterprise functions – especially communications. Realizing this will ultimately lead businesses to the knowledge that cloud-based faxing should be implemented in all offices moving forward.
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