Historically, enterprise communications have not been as efficient as they need to be. For a long period of time, employees of businesses all over the world have needed a number of different machines and programs to connect with co-workers, vendors, customers and more. The process of switching between multiple interfaces and pieces of hardware is a cumbersome one, which is why there are so many people interested in breaking down communications silos. These barriers can be especially detrimental to internal collaboration.
"Within larger organizations one of the biggest obstacles to innovation is poor internal communication," wrote Business 2 Community contributor Paul Sloane. "A 'silo' mentality develops so that departments guard information and ideas rather than share them. People work hard – but in isolated groups. Internal politics can compound the problem with rivalry and turf wars obstructing collaboration. It can reach the ridiculous stage where the enemy is seen as another department inside rather than the competitors outside."
The best way to overcome these challenges is to update standard channels of connection. One platform that especially needs to be considered is fax. While faxing has become the butt of countless jokes riffing on the '80s, the technology is still very useful today. In fact, fax machines are still required by law in many industries due to how secure it is compared to email. Email may be a popular mode of communication, but it is easily hacked and rife with shortcomings that make it inappropriate for certain missives.
One way in which an organization can continue to leverage fax machines in a modern way is to turn to the cloud. Cloud communications have become increasingly popular for their ability to keep people connected while they are on the go. Cloud-based faxing takes a useful concept and makes it applicable in the 21st century.
Cloud-based fax part of quality UC strategies
Unified communications initiatives have become a necessity. The modern workforce is not so much interested in having every channel as they are finding new ways in which they can be used. Cloud-ready fax solutions are assets that meet this criteria.
Take email, for example. While faxing remains a de facto connection in many instances, email is still widely used and acceptable when documents are not inherently sensitive. Some intended recipients outside of the organization may not have a fax machine, or could be experiencing difficulties with their legacy solutions. If this is the case, those employees sending faxes can push copies of the missive to email addresses. This makes sure that, no matter what, everyone gets the information they need to do their jobs effectively.
Embracing the future
The fact of the matter is that faxing is still an essential technology. That being said, it is important to recognize that it is still a medium that can be updated to get with the times. By implementing cloud-based faxing, organizations can break down the silos that hinder progress and keep employees moving forward.
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.
