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Fax Machine Alternatives: Why Online Faxing is More Reliable?
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In today’s world, flexibility and convenience are important for sustainable businesses. You need solutions that cut down on the time and resources spent on daily tasks.
Connecting with customers, clients, vendors and partners sometimes means sending sensitive information. As a professional, you need the ability to respond quickly with a communication service that is secure and reliable. Whether you need to send an invoice or medical chart, faxing is often still considered the industry standard for sending documents.
However, traditional faxing is becoming outdated. While email still has plenty of security issues, fax machines present their own set of problems. So, what is the alternative?
This post will compare online faxing to traditional faxing. While plenty of businesses still have their office fax machines, there are other alternatives to consider that are more convenient, secure and cost-effective.
What is Online Faxing?
Online faxing involves sending and receiving fax messages via the internet on any device, from PCs and laptops to smartphones. If you’re questioning what does integrated fax mean, it enables users to send and receive faxes at any time from any internet-connected device.
If you ever thought there should be some kind of cross between email and traditional faxing, this is it! Online faxing allows you to send documents electronically from anywhere, at any time. Electronic faxing is a lot like sending an email with attachments. Unlike email, electronic faxing is more secure and reliable. And, unlike traditional faxing, electronic faxing can receive, send and store documents in the cloud.
Online faxing makes it possible to edit, save or sign documents without ever printing them out or scanning them in. You can do everything right on a convenient platform for your computer, iPhone or Android. Plus, with online faxing, your messages are delivered directly to your contact every time.
All you need is an email address and internet connection to create your account on eFax. Popular email service providers include Google Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Microsoft Outlook. After signing up, you will be able to send electronic faxes within minutes. Your virtual fax number will still look and act like a fax machine to everyone on the outside. Even though you will send and receive virtual faxes that look a lot like emails, outside accounts will still be able to interact with your account from their machines.
Top Fax Machine Alternatives
Relying on physical fax machines is often costly for the business and inconvenient for employees. A few fax alternatives include:
Mobile Faxing: Employees can download an online fax app or integrated fax software on their mobile phones to send and receive faxes online. Online faxing on a smartphone enables users to send and receive faxes at any time.
Scan and Email: This fax integration alternative enables users to scan, save, and email documents to their recipients. This is also an option on their smartphone, by quickly taking a photo of the document and emailing or faxing it to a contact.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP): FTP transfers files from one site to another via the Internet. The protocol is useful if customers need access to a document, as a user can upload the document to the site and invite the client to sign in and download the file.
Google Docs: Another alternative to fax machines is to save and store documents in Google Docs. Users can save a document in Google Docs then give trusted contacts a sharable link to view, edit or comment on the document. Google Docs’ Share option also enables users to publish the document online for contacts to access.
Traditional Faxing vs. Online Faxing
So, what is the difference between traditional faxing and online faxing? The most significant difference comes down to the equipment required. Traditional faxing required a dedicated phone line, a bulky faxing machine, toner and paper. You had to be able to print out documents to sign or edit them and scan documents to send them to anyone else. When sending a fax, you had to send everything to another fax machine connected to a dedicated fax line.
With online faxing, you have far more options and flexibility. Electronic fax from your computer, phone or tablet. You can easily scan paper documents by just taking a picture with your phone or tablet and uploading it as an attachment to your fax. You can make every edit you need to make right in the app or fax account without ever printing the document out. You can even save your signature and quickly add it to your future documents.
Ready to experience the convenience of online faxing? Sign up for eFax now and get started in minutes!
Cost of Faxing
There are four ways you can change the cost of faxing for your business. Let’s consider how you can reduce operational costs with online faxing.
| Fax machine | eFax | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware/supplies | For traditional faxing, you pay for the fax machine, ink/toner and paper. | With eFax, you don’t pay for any hardware or supplies. eFax is entirely cloud-based with free online storage for backing up your faxes digitally. |
| Setup costs | You may need to install a new phone line for a traditional fax machine. | No infrastructure to install. |
| Recurring fees | Every month you will get a bill for the faxing phone line if you use a traditional fax machine. | With eFax, you will pay a similar monthly or yearly service fee. You will have options on what kind of service you need, so you aren’t paying for more than you will use each month. |
| Maintenance | Keeping up with a fax machine, printer or scanner can be costly. You may need to schedule yearly maintenance or face replacing your equipment more often. | With eFax, you will not have any maintenance because everything is done online via the cloud and on the devices you already have (phone, tablet, desktop or laptop). |
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How to Improve Faxing Security and Compliance?
Traditional faxing is very limiting when it comes to security, mobility and compliance issues. To offer more reliability and responsiveness, your business should shift to electronic fax.
1. Stop Risking Document Security with Printed Copies.
Electronic faxing allows you to send essential documents on the go without sacrificing your security or risking a data breach. Traditional faxing means you are tethered to an office where a fax machine is located. When you send or receive an important fax, sensitive information can be left strewn around the machine and at risk for security issues.
eFax makes it possible to send documents securely without printing any excess copies. With eFax, you will have access to secure copies of your faxed files automatically stored on the cloud.
2. Access Your Faxes Securely—From Anywhere.
Because eFax can be accessed from a phone, tablet, laptop or desktop, you will be able to fax from anywhere at any time. Simply log onto your eFax account for secure access to your fax archives, contact book and fax inbox.
3. Practice Industry Compliance with Encryption and Delivery Receipts.
Every industry has certain expectations about how businesses will protect their clients’ and customers’ privacy. You need to protect certain information, and eFax can help. While faxing offers limited security, eFax keeps all documents secure on the server where only authorized users can access them. Traditional faxing also isn’t compliant, while electronic faxes can be transmitted and stored according to the requirements of many industries.
| Fax machine | eFax | |
|---|---|---|
| Doc security | Limited. Sensitive documents can be left on office fax machine. | Faxes are held on secure server for your access only. |
| Compliance | Not compliant. Paper faxes with sensitive data be viewed by unauthorized personnel. | Electronic faxes transmitted and stored securely. |
| Delivery Receipts | Prints out a delivery confirmation, which can be picked up by anyone in the office, including unauthorized employees. | Provides a delivery receipt with time and data stamp to prove the fax reached the intended recipient at a specific time, which is beneficial for legal purposes. |
Efficient Faxing Solutions for Your Business
Reducing the busy work of your daily schedule is a key way to cut costs and improve productivity. You can streamline your document sharing and collaboration by using eFax.
Not only does eFax allow you to save, edit and organize faxes right within the platform, but it also can be easily used on mobile devices. Send and receive faxes right from your phone or tablet for easy on-the-go faxing.
No more waiting for the fax line to open up! With eFax, you can send a fax off and know it will enter the queue, receiving a delivery receipt when the fax arrives. This method helps you keep an accurate record of faxes and makes it possible to organize them for future reference.
Reduce wasted time by skipping the trip to the office or the process of printing out your faxes. Instead, use eFax for streamlined communication that integrates easily into other platforms. Send and receive documents in original, digital formats to save time and preserve document integrity.
| Fax machine | eFax | |
|---|---|---|
| Fax process | Time consuming and inefficient: – 1. Scanning and/or printing doc 2. Feeding doc into fax machine 3. Dialing recipient fax number(Possibly redialing if busy) 4. Waiting for transmission confirmation 5. File or shred faxed pages | Simple and efficient: – 1. Open new email message 2. Enter recipient’s number in “To:” field 3. Type message in body for cover page 4. Attach fax fileHit send |
| Documentation | Inefficient and prone to error. Maintaining accurate records of faxes (for record keeping or audits) requires filing and storage of each fax. This requires employee time, and physical storage space for the files. | Simple and effective. All electronic faxes sent from or to your business are stored on secure cloud servers. Anytime your staff needs to retrieve an old fax (including its metadata), they can find it quickly and easily online by searching via keywords, date ranges, or other parameters. |
Can You Really Fax On the Go?
One of our favorite faxing features with electronic fax is the ability to fax from anywhere at any time. You can set up a fax on your device that is a lot like an attachment on an email. With the eFax app, all your documents, account information, contacts and signature options are saved onto one convenient account. You can quickly send or receive your faxes whether you are on your commute to work or running errands for the day.
Never miss an important fax again! Modern customers expect you to be ready at all times of the day, and eFax makes that possible. Be prepared for faxes at any time with alerts on mobile to help you catch incoming faxes.
Is Online Faxing Right for Your Business?
There are several options for communication—including traditional fax. While some businesses will stick with conventional fax machines, others realize they are antiquated equipment, and newer solutions are more effective for business.
Whether you need flexibility, lower costs, increased mobility or better security, eFax can help.
Our platform is easy-to-use and requires virtually no time to onboard or integrate. Get started now, and don’t waste another minute on your old fax machine. We are here to help if you have any questions.
Remember, not all online faxing solutions are the same. You may find that some platforms have a lot of negative reviews that comment on deliverability issues or lack of customer service. eFax prides itself on being an industry-leading faxing platform. Our award-winning customer service is here to help you 24-7, and our intuitive platform makes it easy to get started.
Even if you aren’t ready to give up your existing fax machine, you can still try eFax to see why our customers love us. Our platform will make it much easier to send important documents to your customers, clients, partners or vendors.
If you don’t love your experience, you can always go back to your old methods. We feel sure that you will realize quickly how much more cost-effective and efficient electronic faxing is with eFax.
FAQs
Fax machines have been replaced by electronic faxing methods, which use the Internet to send and receive fax messages. These new faxing solutions include online fax, mobile phones, scan and email, the file transfer protocol and productivity tools like Google Docs.
Yes, traditional fax machines are outdated. Modern employees spend less time at their desks, making it less convenient to fax their clients and colleagues from physical machines located in the office. So they prefer online solutions like integrated fax apps that offer the flexibility and security benefits of faxing.
Traditional faxing is expensive, as fax machines need to be stocked with paper, ink, and toner for employees to send and receive messages. It’s also costly to regularly maintain fax machines and pay for repairs whenever an issue occurs.
If you’re questioning what is integrated fax, then online faxing is similar to traditional fax. Online faxing allows people to send and receive fax messages at any time and from anywhere by sharing fax documents via the Internet from any device, rather than relying on physical fax machines.
Online fax works by enabling users to send and receive fax messages via the Internet. This integrated fax meaning sees employees use an internet-connected device, such as a laptop, PC or mobile phone, an internet connection and an online fax service like eFax. The online fax service assigns users a fax number to securely send and receive fax messages via the Internet.
Online Fax
