Though it may be a bit difficult to believe, the conventional fax machine will soon be celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. Nearly six decades ago, faxing made its grand entrance into the business world and eventually into people’s homes. Along the way, it revolutionized the way people send and receive documents. Of course, phone-based faxing ultimately transitioned to online versions. From there, it evolved into cloud faxing.
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Exploring the Benefits of Cloud Faxing for Today’s Businesses
While traditional faxing offered several benefits in its own right, its potential has only grown during its progression into its modern form. Cloud-based fax solutions like those available from mfax.io can bring an array of assets to the table for today’s businesses as well as their clients. Take a look at some of the advantages companies can expect when they make the switch to cloud faxing.
Cost-Effectiveness
For one, traditional fax machines often come with lofty costs of operation. Those include paper, ink, routine maintenance, and dedicated phone lines to make them work among others. With cloud-based fax services, businesses can eliminate those expenses. All today’s fax solutions require is an internet connection and a subscription. Faxes are sent and received digitally, so there’s no need for standard phone lines. Traditional fax machines are no longer necessary, either. That paves the way for significant savings for all types of businesses.
Saving Space
In addition to saving money, businesses can save space with cloud faxing. Conventional fax machines take up quite a bit of room. Though they grew smaller over time, much like other machines, they still require a certain amount of space. Since cloud faxing requires no bulky machinery, businesses can save room by making the transition. That can lead to more organized workspaces and extra space for other equipment to name a couple of possibilities.
Time Savings
Saving time is another advantage of cloud faxing. Conventional faxing can be time consuming, taking a minute per page or more. Of course, that’s assuming nothing goes wrong in the process. In many cases, interruptions in transmission cause extensive delays. Refilling paper and changing ink cartridges take up even more time. Cloud-based faxing offers near-instantaneous transmission with little chance of disruptions no matter where documents are being sent or how many pages are being transmitted.
Flexibility
Flexibility is also a major advantage that deserves consideration. With cloud faxing, people can send and receive faxes no matter where they are as long as they have an internet connection. Faxes can also be sent from computers, tablets, and phones for even greater versatility. This is particularly important for companies that are embracing the ever-growing remote workforce and those that operate from multiple locations.
At the same time, cloud faxing works with all types of fax technology, including traditional machines and standard internet faxing. That means people can communicate across the globe via fax regardless of the type of technology they’re using. That gives businesses a broader reach than they’d have with conventional fax machines and certain other forms of communication.
Going Paperless
We’ve already mentioned that cloud faxing doesn’t require paper, but there’s more to this aspect than saving money and time. Many businesses are adopting more environmentally friendly practices these days. Endless research has gone into this movement, and some companies are revamping their entire methods of operation to reduce their carbon footprint. Still, many are overlooking the amount of paper they use in the office each year. Cloud-based faxing can foster conservation, making it an integral piece of the puzzle.
Scalability
Cloud-based faxing is highly scalable as well. It can be adapted to the needs of both small and large businesses. It can also grow along with companies as needed or be scaled down if necessary. There’s no need to have new fax lines hardwired into the office or taken out; everything is based on digital technology. With different services levels available, companies can choose the one that suits their needs and melds with their budgets.
Improved Security
Security is a primary concern for almost all businesses. It’s a requirement in many industries. Numerous regulations apply to sending and receiving documents that contain sensitive information. They’re in place to protect businesses, their customers or patients, and everyone else in the supply chain. Cloud-based faxing involves several security measures, including encryption and password protection to name a few. Documents sent using cloud faxing are far less likely to be intercepted or decrypted than with traditional faxing.
Reliability
Cloud faxing is also more reliable than standard faxing. With conventional faxing, there’s an ongoing risk of malfunctions, paper jams, and other problems. As noted, disruptions in electrical or phone services can hamper transmission as well. Those aren’t issues with cloud-based faxing. Those who send faxes via the cloud also have the added reassurance of receipt confirmations, so there’s no question of whether their transmissions reach their recipients.
Integration and Automation
Yet another advantage of cloud faxing is seamless integration and automation. These solutions can be integrated with other business tools and software systems. It can also help to automate certain actions to reduce human error. Incoming faxes can be routed directly to the correct department or recipient for greater efficiency. They can be forwarded digitally if necessary. In some cases, businesses can schedule faxes to be automatically sent to their clients, too. All those factors can help improve efficiency and accuracy.
Backup and Disaster Recovery
Cloud-based fax services also offer backup and recovery solutions. They automatically back up and store sent and received documents, using various security protocols if required. That protects them against hardware or software malfunctions, disasters, accidental deletions, and other common problems. That gives businesses another added layer of security and can prevent a great deal of downtime.
Forging Into the Future with Cloud-Based Faxing
Traditional faxing gave businesses an array of advantages even in its relatively early days. As technology progressed, faxing followed suit. That gave rise to cloud-based faxing and even more benefits for modern businesses. Cloud-based faxing solutions can help businesses reduce expenses while saving time and space. They can also provide improved security, reliability, scalability, and flexibility. Cloud faxing may allow businesses to better take advantage of automation and enjoy the added reassurance of disaster recovery as well. All those benefits can help businesses forge into the future and remain a step ahead of the competition.
