Is faxing obsolete?
With the introduction of new technologies, from cloud computing to email, many business executives find themselves wondering if fax machines are a thing of the past. Many people are giving up telephone lines in favor of cell phones. Physical fax machines can feel like a cumbersome and outdated method of communication.
What many business owners may not realize is that traditional fax machines are not the only way to send or receive faxes. Not only that, but fax technology is often the go-to choice for transmitting critical documents.
Let’s take a closer look at how digital faxing integrates with today’s fast-paced digital landscape.
What’s the Latest Development in Fax Machine Technology?
Faxing itself is not obsolete, though traditional fax machines are perceived to be. Digital online faxing is the latest development in fax technology, and when it comes to developments, this one is major.
Digital fax systems allow users to fax from computers. This eliminates barriers to faxing — from the high costs of physical fax machines to the way manual machines bogged down workflows — while keeping all the benefits of faxing.
But there’s more to digital faxing than reproducing traditional faxing methods in a digital space. Many online faxing services have multi-functionality. They may include stand-out features like electronic signatures, document editing, and annotation capabilities, all of which can help transform digital faxing into a versatile tool for document management.
Digital faxing platforms are also made to integrate into other business systems and software. Depending on the system, this may look like automated date entry or easy integrations with file management systems. It also integrates seamlessly with cloud services, allowing users to store and manage files in an entirely digital format.
These advances in technology mean that digital faxing actively simplifies workflows, making the smart fax technology of today significantly more usable than the manual fax machines of yesterday.
How Faxes Are Being Used Today
Although some businesses continue to use traditional fax machines, many more are investigating how to get an online fax number. Online faxing allows businesses to fax from computers with the touch of a button.
Let’s take a closer look at how today’s businesses use faxing as a preferred form of digital communication.
Security and Regulation Compliance in Healthcare
Healthcare providers are among the top users of fax machines. This is because healthcare providers are required to adhere to HIPAA regulations.
Unlike other forms of digital communication, such as email, fax lines securely transmit personal health information from one point to another without accessing the information themselves. These end-to-end transmissions use a virtual fax number rather than a physical fax number, allowing for faster transmission while still adhering to HIPAA standards.
Confirmation of Receipt for Legal Firms
Law firms rely on digital faxing to receive confirmation of document receipts. Also known as fax confirmation pages, the importance of these documents within the scope of the legal sector can’t be overstated.
Fax confirmation pages confirm the date that documents were sent, the number of pages in the document, and whether or not the document went through. They also include a timestamp showing the exact time and date a document was transmitted. This timestamp not only provides a clear chronological record but can also be crucial in legal proceedings where timing can be pivotal.
Proving that you sent an email doesn’t have the same amount of clout in a court of law because it is much harder to prove that an email actually arrived at its intended destination when it was supposed to. It’s also a lot harder to tamper with fax confirmation pages than with information about emails, which is why fax confirmation pages tend to hold up in court more readily than email confirmations.
Reliable Paper Trail for Government Agencies
Many government agencies are required by law to keep a reliable paper trail of their activities.
Traditional fax machine use can slow these agencies down and clog physical phone lines. But government agencies that embrace faxing in a digital format get the same paper trail without the headache. Digital faxing even allows government agencies to send and receive faxes internationally.
Because online faxing is so much more secure than other forms of communication, these government agencies don’t have to worry that they’re sending sensitive information digitally. Necessary parties can receive federal documents near-instantly without any HIPAA, FERPA, or other legislative breaches.
Security and Privacy for Businesses
All businesses have some information that needs to be kept secure or private, from banking information to inventory tracking information. Investing in a smart fax machine online allows these businesses to receive faxes via email rather than leaving incoming faxes on a publicly accessible fax machine.
Digital fax information is both transmitted and stored in an encrypted format. This means that proprietary business information is kept much more secure from hackers than if it were simply sent in an email or instant messaging service.
What Are the Benefits of Online Faxing?
Online faxing isn’t just a convenient way to send and receive information. There are numerous benefits to this document transmission format.
Intuitive and User-Friendly Platforms
One of the benefits of online faxing is that it’s user-friendly.
Say goodbye to standing at a physical fax machine, fighting with it about paper jams and toner issues, and hello to a faxing system that works the first time you try. When you switch to a digital faxing system, you won’t have to spend a lot of time training new personnel in the technology. Online fax systems are built to be intuitive. The user interface walks users through the process, allowing them to send their first faxes within moments of opening the application on their computers or mobile phones.
Customization options allow users to create templates for cover sheets, configure notification preferences, and incorporate different branding options.
Some online faxing services even offer collaborative features. These features allow users to leave annotations or notes in the faxes so that team members who access the documents can have more information.
Convenient, Unlimited Access and Versatility
Many of the industries that benefit most from online faxing can also use it as an opportunity to move away from physical filing systems. Online fax platforms provide users with unlimited access to their documents. This makes it easy to track down an audit trail, locate files, and determine how to store documents in a digital format.
Unlimited access to faxes also means that multiple users can open the same fax. In the medical sector, this may mean that both your provider and your nurse can look through faxed files simultaneously. In other businesses, it may mean that two people can reference the same faxed documents simultaneously before those documents are ever entered into the official computer system. This convenient access to documents simplifies workflows and ensures that employees are never stuck waiting for each other to finish a document before they can take action on it.
Cost and Time Savings
People asking whether faxing is obsolete are likely focused on the idea of manual fax machines.
Manual fax machines are outdated, expensive, and time-consuming. Individuals trying to use a manual machine have to stop their workflow to walk to wherever the machine is. People working in a busy office environment may have to wait in line to use the fax machine, at which point they need to wait for each page to transmit.
Over the course of a week or a year, this level of waiting and interruption can cost businesses hundreds of labor hours. And that doesn’t even touch on the costs of the machine itself, serving and repair fees, paper, toner, and more.
Online faxing eliminates these problems. Environmental waste, long wait times, and costly supplies all go out the window, leaving users instead with the affordability, security, and convenience of an all-digital system.
Highly-Secure Document Transfer
Online faxing works by encrypting information, sending it over a virtual phone line, and keeping it encrypted until an authorized user goes to access it. It uses a dual-layered encryption system, often employing public and private keys, to create a formidable barrier against unauthorized access.
Whether it’s legal documents, financial records, or proprietary business plans, the online faxing platform acts as a digital fortress, shielding these documents from the prying eyes of cyber threats. And this does more than just safeguard documents on a technical level. This high level of security also helps businesses build trust with clients and partners.
Leverage Internet Faxing for Modern Business With MetroFax
If you’re asking the question “Is faxing obsolete?”, the answer is: “Not at all.”
Secure faxing online can help a business transmit critical information, including medical records and legal documents, without interrupting a high-speed modern workflow. Faxing platforms empower businesses to expedite their communication methods while staying in compliance with all state and federal privacy regulations.
Get started with internet faxing when you learn more about MetroFax today.
