When you hear the word “faxing” odds are you’re going to be transported back to the 1980s, when real bosses wore shoulder pads and animal print reigned supreme. It’s hard for many consumers to believe that faxing is still around. In fact, some of them have probably never sent a fax in their life.
But faxing is still alive and well! In fact, the fax services market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.03% over the next five years.
How and Why Did Faxing Survive?
Contrary to popular belief, as the telecommunications world evolved, fax services evolved with it. Businesses no longer need loud, bulky machines to send important documents and confidential information to a client or partner. Today, you can scan, copy, and send faxes from any internet-connected device thanks to a solution known as Cloud Faxing. In some cases, it’s as simple as sending an email, except with more security and reliability.
But why is fax still around, especially when email exists? Because faxing is typically far more secure than email. First, faxes are transmitted over a phone network, making it difficult for online criminals to intercept them. And even if faxes are intercepted, fax transmissions are protected by advanced, sometimes military-grade, end-to-end encryption. It would take far more time to decrypt the fax than to break into a secure email attachment.
Many companies still use faxing in their day-to-day operations. For instance, legal firms rely on having a “paper trail” of documents, complete with transaction reports regarding when those documents were sent and when they were received. Those in the medical field also utilize fax to keep Protected Health Information (PHI) as secure as possible per HIPAA regulations. Even the U.S. government still uses fax machines when dealing with certain situations or rulings.
The Benefits of Faxing
While we’ve touched on a few faxing benefits already, let’s go over a few more.
- Preserve Confidentiality. Faxing guarantees you one of the highest levels of security. With digital faxing solutions, the fax is heavily encrypted before it’s delivered, and a special key is sent to the specific recipient. That means if someone manages to intercept it, all they’ll see is gibberish. Only the recipient can decode it.
- Maintain Compliance. Physical fax machines have always been legally permissible and HIPAA compliant. But now digital fax services are too! Sensitive legal and medical information can be sent to the proper person as many times as needed.
- Reliable Delivery. Unlike email, which could sort your messages into SPAM boxes or fail to deliver them entirely, fax delivers files right the first time – getting your customers and clients the information they need at the right place and the right time.
- Track Open Rates. A lot of guesswork goes into emailing. Did they see your email? Did they open it and forget to respond? With faxing, you’re notified as soon as your recipient opens your fax and again when they download your shared file.
- Increase Sustainability. Digital fax services reduce the amount of paper waste in your workplace by sending your files digitally. With over 100 distinct kinds of file formats to choose from, you’ll be able to send your documents the way you want to while reducing your environmental footprint.
Take the Next Step in Your Faxing Evolution with Unitel
At Unitel, we know how important it is to have a comprehensive communication toolset. This is why we offer a digital faxing solution for our customers. We offer the highest levels of security as an easy-to-use online platform you can take on the go, from your smartphone to your laptop. Interested in participating in this faxing evolution? Contact Unitel today to learn more!