Who uses fax machines anymore? Are fax machines still relevant? Who wins in the battle of efax vs. fax and what are the benefits of online fax?
Some might find it hard to believe, but yes – fax services still exist. However, it’s not as antiquated as you might think! Faxing has evolved from traditional, physical fax machines to a more secure, cost-effective online cloud faxing service that’s used all the time in various industries across the world. Online faxing is much faster and eliminates the downtime that you might spend waiting to send or receive a fax through a physical fax machine and landline. Plus, with online faxing, there are no busy signals! You can send and receive faxes simultaneously without clogging the system or having to wait for a dial tone.
Many industries like healthcare, education, manufacturing, hospitality, nonprofits, and finance rely heavily on HIPAA and PCI DSS compliance for their online fax communications to ensure the safety of any confidential client information or payments that they handle.
What is online fax?
Online fax is the digital transfer of documents or communications. While some companies may still use old-school fax machines to print physical copies of the documents, online cloud faxing transfers the files digitally via the internet. You don’t even need a fax machine to send a fax online! All it takes is a phone, computer, or tablet and an internet connection that allows you to access InterFAX’s online portal. From there, it’s as simple as logging in to send an email. Online faxing is an incredibly efficient, streamlined process that offers a wide variety of benefits.
6 major benefits of online fax
1. Minimize security risks
When documents are sent or received via online fax, they are stored securely in the cloud instead of being automatically printed and potentially left unattended on a physical fax machine. Users must log in to send or receive the faxes, which prevents the physical copy that might contain confidential information such as Social Security numbers or even credit card information from accidentally being picked up in a stack of papers and landing in the wrong hands.
Upland InterFAX’s best-in-class online fax solution encrypts both incoming and outgoing faxes, adding an additional security layer for the transfer of sensitive information. InterFAX’s services meet rigorous industry compliance standards and are HIPAA-compliant. InterFAX also offers secure, PCI-DSS compliant services for credit card transactions and aligns with Sarbanes-Oxley, GLBA, GDPR, as well as being recognized as ISO 27001-accredited.
2. Reduce costs
With online faxing, no fax hardware is required and printing isn’t necessary. Files are simple to send and receive within our online portal, which means your company saves on the cost of paper, ink, and printing. While traditional fax machines create physical documents that you must file away and store in large, bulky filing cabinets, online faxing creates digital files that you can easily save and organize in a database or specified location online.
Our fully hosted online technology offers guaranteed continuity and unlimited scalability. You won’t need to install any hardware, update software licensing, or add extra phone lines, which helps lower your IT burden and eliminate those pesky filing cabinets that take up valuable space in the office!
3. Fax from anywhere
With InterFAX, users can send and receive faxes online through email, a native web interface, mobile devices, or other digital scanning tools. Instead of faxing being tied to one device in a specific office or location, online faxing is entirely mobile and that flexibility makes it easy to use from anywhere in the world.
Switching to online faxing makes it super easy for remote employees to send or receive documents and access the critical information they need to keep services moving. No one should have to wait by a fax machine when you can send and receive faxes instantly with InterFAX.
4. Customize to your needs
With our flexible developer API, InterFAX is easy to integrate into any fax environment or existing process you already use. You can build it, scale it endlessly, and get faxes wherever they need to go. InterFAX integrates with leading CRM, ERP, and email platforms, including MS Outlook, Salesforce, SAP R/3, and more.
5. Increase productivity
With InterFAX, you can enable powerful workflow tools to automate fax routing, reception, and delivery. These tools eliminate the time it takes to file documents manually and give your team more bandwidth to focus on the priorities that keep your business moving forward. Online faxing ensures that the fax communication gets delivered directly to the intended recipient, which eliminates any downtime or potentially misplaced communications.
6. Access global support
While this isn’t true for all online fax providers, it’s certainly true for InterFAX. In fact, it’s what sets us apart from our competitors. Our highly knowledgeable support team is available to help with whatever challenges you may face. Our support team is international and offers resources in multiple languages and dialects. No matter where you are, you can count on having reliable, friendly support to help if you run into any problems. Not only that, we have documentation and help sites that address all of our integrations and features so that you’ve got all the resources you need at your fingertips.
Faxing has evolved from physical fax machines to a more secure, cost-effective online cloud faxing service used all the time in various industries across the world.
Make the move to online cloud faxing.
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Want more info? Learn more about secure online faxing with InterFAX and then sign up for a demo to see it in action.