It seems like many communications providers are adding faxing solutions to their product suite these days. But have you ever wondered what a hosted fax solution actually is? In this blog, we’ll give a brief overview of the technology, as well as the industries that can benefit from it the most!
What is a Hosted Fax Solution?
Often called a virtual fax solution, or cloud fax, a hosted fax solution is a fax solution that gets rid of old, clunky hardware and makes faxing virtual. A hosted fax solution uses both a phone number and email to send faxes. No need for bulky machines! To send a fax, all someone must do is attach a document to an email and send it to a specific address.
You can also easily receive faxes. Any fax sent to your dedicated phone number will be converted to a secure PDF and delivered to an email you specify.
Common Use Cases for a Hosted Fax Solution
As we briefly mentioned, there are many industries that rely on dial-up faxing to accomplish their day-to-day operations. Unfortunately, dial-up is notoriously finicky and suffers from many limitations. Which is why switching to a hosted fax solution is the perfect solution for the following industries.
Legal
Law offices regularly use faxing to send sensitive legal information such as briefs, contracts, and trusts. They prefer faxing over email for three main reasons:
- They’re notified when a fax is received, allowing them to have a “paper trail” of receipts in case anything is misplaced or mishandled.
- Faxing machines are incredibly encrypted and difficult to hack
- Faxing is dependable, functioning even when there’s no internet connection
But the problem remains that fax machines themselves are slowly going out of date. So how can law offices maintain security? With a hosted fax solution. A hosted fax solution provides the highest levels of encryption, maintains constant connectivity with backup power sources and internet failover, and lets law offices be more flexible with their faxing.
Healthcare
Healthcare providers are required by law to adhere to the guidelines set forth in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Their top priority is protecting patient information and faxing was the perfect way to do it.
But as more and more hospitals and doctor’s offices shift to electronic health records (EHR) software, switching to a hosted fax solution would be greatly beneficial. Not only are many hosted fax solutions HIPAA compliant, but they can also integrate with EHRs! This maintains high levels of security while increasing the efficiency of internal and external communications!
Finance
Much like the healthcare industry, the finance industry must abide by certain rules and regulations when transmitting sensitive data – specifically those set forth by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). And traditional faxing helped them do just that. But hosted faxing solutions can help them do it better! Not only do they offer the highest levels of security and transparency, but they’re also being upgraded consistently, ensuring that you receive the best service possible.
Manufacturing
Many manufacturing companies use faxing to send time-sensitive documents like invoices and purchase orders. But the struggle has been making sure people are there, at that specific location, to receive those faxes. What if someone is on the road or at a different plant? That’s where hosted faxing solutions come in. Hosted faxing allows users to receive faxes no matter where they are. These solutions can also integrate with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, allowing manufacturers to fax right from the systems they already use. Simple, safe, and convenient!
Get Faxing with Unitel
Interested in sending secure communications from anywhere? Unitel can get you started! Our hosted faxing solution is secure, reliable, and flexible – perfect for industries of every shape and size. Want to see for yourself? Reach out today for your free demo!