Faxing—it sounds archaic, but it’s still being used and is now modernized. Sure, with the invention of the internet, emails, and other digital communication applications, fax machines have supposedly gone obsolete. However, surprisingly, it’s, once again, rising in popularity. And, it’s called online faxing at present. Ideal for business-to-business communication, online faxing continues to be used for document digitization, transmission, storage, and management. If you’re an entrepreneur looking for a better paperwork transmission system, then you might want to consider online faxing.
What is Online Faxing
In a nutshell, online faxing is a digital tool created as a modern replacement for fax machines. It was first made available in 1996 when the world slowly began to use the internet more. Fax machines are no longer needed with online faxing, and documents are accessible through an online portal. However, it’s still possible to send documents to fax machines using the web or email. Now that you know what online faxing is, how does it work exactly?
How Online Faxing Work
A business won’t need to use fax servers, modems, and dedicated software with online faxing. Instead, there are third party fax service providers on the internet that’ll convert emails to faxes and vice versa for you. You can use online faxing by subscribing to the services of any of these service providers. Another technology that now comes with faxing is cloud storage. When a user sends a fax using any available method, their documents are stored in the cloud. Now, if you wish to use online fax, there are multiple ways to achieve this.
How to Fax Online
Here are the different ways online faxing can be done:
- Using Email – If you’re sending faxes using your email, you need to know the fax email of the recipient. Their fax service provider will provide this email. Then, you simply do the same thing you would when sending a fax using email.
- Using Microsoft Office – Using Microsoft Office to send a fax is pretty straightforward. In fact, it’s pretty similar to sending a fax using email. First, you click the file tab then select share. From there, Microsoft will give you the option to send it as an attachment as a word document or pdf. Then, you simply do the same thing that you would when you’re sending a fax using email.
- Other Methods – It’s worth noting that each online faxing service provider has their own mobile applications, computer software, add-ins, and websites. Therefore, the specific ways one can send faxes can differ based on your service provider. Most software systems used by these companies, though, are pretty intuitive and straightforward.
Still, you already have email and cloud storage, so why still use faxing in 2021 amongst other technologies?
Faxing in 2021… Why?
Wondering why you should still fax some paperwork in 2021? Here are some good reasons to ponder:
- It remains trusted for transmitting important documents – Because faxes come with documentation, it’s almost effortless to know the details regarding the transmission of the documents. For example, faxes come with confirmation slips. It allows the sender to see when the document was received. Moreover, it can verify if the intended recipient did indeed receive it or not.
- Most businesses are still using it to communicate with one another – Over have switched to online faxing. Evidently, despite the assumptions that faxing has become obsolete, it’s still used today. Furthermore, this situation is an illustration of the network effect. The network effect explains that a technology continues to be used simply because it has a big user base.
- It’s easier to create a paper trail – As mentioned, faxes come with confirmation slips along with details regarding the transmission of the document. In addition to this, the cloud storage feature that comes with online faxing has made document storage and management more straightforward. These two features have made creating a paper trail much easier helping businesses track their transactions and correspondence.
- Fax has become modern – One of current society’s biggest fears is what would happen when the internet dies. Nonetheless, until then, they wish to integrate the internet into their everyday lives because it’s simply more convenient.
Faxing fulfills both of these needs because fax machines can be isolated and integrated with the internet. >Along with this, there other advantages that come with using faxing specifically for businesses.
Advantages of Faxing for Your Business
Online faxing has advantages, including the following:
- Security and Reliability – One disadvantage that came with traditional faxing was that the intended recipient might not receive the document. That’s because someone else might pick it up from the machine after it’s been printed. With online faxing, that’s is no longer an issue since the recipient may receive it directly on their email. It’s especially helpful if the recipient doesn’t have access to their fax machine temporarily. To send a fax, a person will have to include the recipient’s email and their specific fax number. It makes anonymity and sending important documents to the wrong person highly unlikely. Additionally, faxing confirms if the recipient did indeed receive the document. Therefore, faxing has proven to be very reliable and secure. It’s especially beneficial for business-to-business correspondence and transactions which include a lot of paperwork.
- Flexibility – As mentioned, sent online fax go directly to the recipient’s email and is stored in the cloud. It allows the intended recipient to receive the document without being near a fax machine. Furthermore, these files are accessible and the recipient can use any fax machine that’s closest to them. Such flexibility is especially beneficial for companies that have employees that work from home wherein document transmission is challenging.
- Simpler Paperwork Management – Since businesses will deal with a lot of paperwork, storing and organizing it is essential. Online faxing helps make sure all your paperwork can be found in one place—the cloud. Furthermore, you may use the online portal and your email to organize your paperwork. Overall, online faxing helps with having a simple and smooth paper workflow.
- Scalability – Ideally, your business will grow at a sustainable rate. Along with this, you’ll need your system to keep up, including your paperwork management system. Fortunately, internet fax services are scalable and able to accommodate your business’ growth. When your business grows, you can always open more fax lines, add users, send more or less faxes, and more.
- Cost efficiency – Often online services allow you to choose a service that fits your needs. Additionally, some use a pay-per-use pricing model. It ensures that you don’t pay a cent for any service that you’re not using. In addition to this, it is much cheaper than maintaining an infrastructure for managing your paperwork. With hardware requiring recurring materials and maintenance, online faxing is more efficient and cost-effective.
Conclusion
Evidently, online faxing proves to be a valuable tool for businesses big and small. Despite assumptions that faxing has gone obsolete, it remains modern and relevant, thanks to the internet. Nowadays, more and more companies are using it for paperwork management. It’s definitely worth considering for those that want to achieve a more reliable paperwork system.