In today’s modern world, businesses have several options for communication. However, even after all these years, the old-school fax is still alive and one of the favored channels for exchanging essential documents and information.
What’s more, fax has adapted to the advancing world. Instead of bulky faxing machines, businesses can now fax online. This guide shares the basics of online fax, how it works, and its numerous benefits.
Online Fax: What Is It And How Does It Work?
Online fax is a digital tool created to replace fax machines. Unlike these bulky machines, online faxing involves using a software solution to send and receive faxes. Documents are accessible through an online fax portal, allowing you to share documents with your contacts.
You don’t need fax machines, modems, and servers with online faxing. Instead, you subscribe to a third-party fax provider, providing access to dedicated software to send and receive faxes.
These online fax provider uses cloud technology to transfer digital files. All fax communication is carried out via an online portal accessed by web browsers or the provider’s fax app.
You can write your fax message and attach documents to it. It’s like feeding physical paper into the fax machine, only that the document is uploaded as a digital file. Some providers also allow you to scan and send a physical file through their mobile apps, uploading it as an image or PDF.
Online fax systems allow you to send documents directly to a physical fax machine. Or you can also quickly receive a fax document on your digital fax account from a traditional fax machine.
4 Benefits Of Switching To Online Fax
Now that you know how online faxing works, here are four reasons you should consider it for your small business.
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Convenient And Portable
With online faxing, businesses can use fax services anywhere. This is quite convenient for companies with an on-the-go or remote workforce.
Here’s an example:
Before, a salesperson on the field must return to the office and use the fax machine to process client documents. However, with online fax, they can easily send signed applications and contracts from their smartphone via online faxing. This way, your company instantly gets a digital transaction record and starts processing a new client.
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Cost-Efficient
Traditional fax machines are expensive. The equipment itself can cost you hundreds to a few thousand dollars. Then you also need to contact third-party vendors to handle service calls and maintenance. Furthermore, you must invest in a dedicated phone line for each fax machine, especially if you expect many faxes.
Aside from these upfront costs, other expenses include electricity, paper, ink, and phone bill charges. If your machine starts acting out, an employee may also spend time troubleshooting the machine, which means money is wasted.
With online faxing, you eliminate these costs. The only thing you need to pay for is the fax provider. When employees need to send or receive a fax document, they don’t have to move to the room where the fax machine is. This makes them more productive on the fax documents right at their desks.
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Better Security And Compliance
Security and compliance may be the most significant reasons businesses should switch to online faxing.
Today, businesses must comply with data security laws and regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and other federal regulations. A reputable online faxing provider guarantees compliance with standard data regulations in their software.
Moreover, an online fax system offers better security in managing data and fax documents. With traditional fax, documents often sit out in the open on the fax machine, increasing the risk of being seen or collected by the wrong person.
Online fax, on the other hand, offers encryption for sensitive documents during transmission. Once received, the fax document is only accessible from your account and may be password-protected.
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User- And Eco-Friendly
Generally, traditional fax machines are easy to operate if you’ve grown accustomed to them. However, for the ‘techy’ generation, traditional faxes aren’t as intuitive as it seems. These days, conventional phone lines, especially manual fax machines, are barely used.
Online fax eliminates the hurdle of training younger employees to use and maintain old fax machines. Instead, they can quickly acclimate to online fax from their touchscreen devices, virtual platforms, and cloud technology, which are the norm.
In addition to user-friendliness, online fax is also Mother Earth–approved. In the US alone, more than 200 billion sheets of paper are used by traditional fax machines annually. If 5% of companies switch to online faxing, we can save up to 10 billion paper pages, equivalent to a million trees a year. Reducing paper can also help conserve millions of gallons of water used to produce paper.
Aside from their environmental impact, traditional fax machines are also energy hogs. They are often left on to receive any incoming fax documents that may come in outside of office hours. By switching to online fax, the additional energy impact is virtually nonexistent since fax documents are received even if the device is offline.
Takeaway
As a survivor of the old world, faxing is still relevant in today’s modern business world. Using reliable online fax software gives your small business more security and speed and improves overall communication across the board.