Security is a key priority of any online organisation. Here’s what you can do to keep up with new and evolving threats

Since the pandemic struck, there’s been a huge shift to remote working. See what UK IT leaders think about the hybrid workforce model.

Learn about the security benefits of cloud computing. eFax explains how cloud computing can help to protect your business

Stop relying on outdated fax machines, and start sending fax from Mac iOS. Revolutionise your fax process. Learn how today.

Discover how easy it is to find a fax service near you. Learn about the 24/7 accessible online fax solution from eFax.

The fax machine is a legitimate antique. It’s incredible to think that technology born 50 years before Winston Churchill is still not only alive and kicking, but also continues to be widespread — used by millions of businesses across the world. It’s incredible but also concerning. How could a relic like fax continue to play such an important role in the modern era?

Around the world, about 43 million fax machines are used to send billions of fax documents every year. While they’ve all but left the home environment, fax machines are still present in businesses around the globe, in worryingly high numbers. You might have noticed we’re not painting fax machines in a particularly positive light. Find out why we think it’s time to replace the fax machine.

The clear trend of moving from on-premise to the cloud is one that now encompasses fax. Used in business for over one hundred years, fax has received new life with the progression to cloud-based services, and the subsequent improvements to capability, security, cost and efficiency.

Recent eFax research shows that whilst most UK IT decision-makers are accelerating the speed of digital transformation as a direct result of disruption to their workforce caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the vast majority of decision-makers would have accelerated digital transformation sooner if they were aware of the full impact it could make in just a few months.

There are very few cyber security scandals that caught the headlines like the Sony Pictures Hack. Thousands of documents were stolen and displayed online, including emails and messages between executives. In the wake of the hacks, Sony’s management team sought a way to avoid the vulnerabilities of email that caused such great problems. The result was they turned to fax machines.

Cyber security — otherwise known as online security — has become increasingly important to businesses. The question of whether or not it deserves attention is no longer relevant; the question instead is, how much? Cyber criminals, often referred to as hackers, are becoming ever-more advanced in their techniques. Attacks are highly sophisticated and can have a seriously powerful impact on anyone who falls victim to them.

The era of digitalisation is upon us. There is no avoiding the inevitable. It’s time for businesses to embrace the age of the internet and adapt to the current landscape. Being behind the curve isn’t just bad for your reputation — being viewed as old fashioned and outdated — it’s also harmful. Failure to maintain the most modern tools costs your business money. It slows performance, cuts efficiency and presents barriers to both internal and external task management.

The prevalence of the work-from-home lifestyle has been rising with ever-increasing veracity for the past few years. Predictions were that, by 2020, 50% of the UK’s workforce would have flexible and remote working capabilities as part of their employment, with many working from their home office full-time. But circumstances change. 2020 saw a much higher number of individuals find themselves working from home than ever could have been forecast.

It’s a sad fact of modern business that cyber security continues to pose major risks to prospects. Cyber criminals are more active than ever, with around 90% of UK businesses being the victim of attempted attacks; many of which prove successful. Attacks can be absolutely devastating, with hackers sometimes causing millions of pounds in damages.

It is not uncommon to see small business enterprises from the UK trading with customers in countries like the United States, Canada, India, China and many nations across Europe. Businesses reaching out to global markets is nothing new, but may not be something your business has yet taken advantage of.

Zoom is seeing an explosion in popularity. In 2020 thus far, we have seen massive growth in the online video-conferencing tool. Google Trend analytics can help us understand the scale of Zoom’s meteoric rise. Interest in the brand grew by 1900% in April 2020 as opposed to February of the same year.

2020 saw a significant shift in the employment industry. For the first time, remote working became a necessity for millions, rather than an optional tool for the flexibility offered by a select few employers. Figures for work-from-home teams skyrocketed for small businesses and remote employment became the new normality. Yet as the dust settles, and people start to return to traditional office space, will we return to the way things were — or is this an opportunity for your business to grow? Remote working has many promising advantages, but perhaps most attractive of all is the ability to cut small business costs.

It’s old, unwanted and taking up space, but fax isn’t going anywhere. It might not have the gleaming future it had in the 70s, but the future of fax is still bright. Today, eFax looks at why this technology still exists.

Fax retains wide-scale use within business, but many companies don’t want to own fax machines anymore — particularly small companies. Is it possible to be part of the fax communication network without actually owning a fax machine?

Fax machines as hardware are outdated. They are expensive, resource-intensive, and come complete with a series of other disadvantages that make them not just obsolete, but problematic. Replacing fax machines with digital solutions that enable fax provides your small business with an easy-to-use and effective alternative to legacy hardware.

Working from home has never been more popular, but with increased demands comes the need for more sustainable long-distance communication. eFax explains how businesses can retain fax functionality at home without using fax machines.

Technology — when applied correctly — can have a dramatic effect on many aspects of a business — no matter if it’s introduced to small businesses or large companies. From increased productivity and efficiency to reduced costs and higher profit margins, the best technology for business can be a game-changer.

Profitability and sustainability tie in with business performance. If your business isn’t performing well, you can’t hope to see the growth and development every business owner dreams of. So how do you improve business performance?

Doing business internationally is often touted as being one of the best ways to reach new customers and improve net profits for a company. When struggling to make sales or grow your business, global expansion could be the answer.

It’s not uncommon for new business owners to make mistakes on the path to success. Learn from those who’ve come before you and you can avoid problems that have destroyed other startups. From going too fast to ignoring data security, there are many ways you could be harming your business without even realising it. Awareness of problems allows you one thing: to take action!

Data compliance nightmares break headlines every year. From Facebook account information theft to the notorious Sony emailing hacking scandal, we’re all aware of the terrible backlash that can follow major data breaches — as well as the massive financial penalties that businesses can receive as a result.

Some people would argue that fax is yet another generational survivor that should have been laid to rest long ago. Technology from a time long since passed, fax machines are still used the world over, while movements like “axe the fax” seek to put an end to their reign. But do we want that?

The fax machine is old technology. First built in the 1800s and popularised in the 1960s, it belongs to a bygone era. But if they aren’t around anymore, what replaced the fax machine?

The use of old business technology is rife, especially amongst smaller firms and brands. It may seem innocuous, but this kind of tech can be quite destructive. eFax look at why this is — and what you should do about old business technology.

The fax machine is very much a staple of the modern business landscape, despite the fact it’s very old technology. It’s time for it to go — but what alternatives are available to take its place?

Prepare yourself for years of success with this guide to future-proof business ideas and tools designed to support 21st-century companies.

Being able to receive fax online, instead of relying on outdated fax machines, can have a dramatic effect on your business. From improved security to lower operating costs, there are plenty of reasons to adopt this technology. But how do you do it?

In the modern era, data security is utterly essential. From black marks on your reputation to serious legal ramifications, loss of information can be a nightmare scenario. While they may be important, your fax transmissions aren’t helping. eFax look at why fax is not secure, and also how it can be.

Fax machines provide your business with essential communication channels. But they also invite risky practices that could result in serious harm to your brand. Find out what the problems are and how you can solve the problem.

Data protection is something all businesses should be concerned with. Fax machines, though, are known for their problems when it comes to securing information. So what can be done? Is online fax secure? Can it be used instead?

Fax is technology of a bygone era – lost to history like Windows 98 and flip phones? Well, that isn’t actually the case. Fax is still one of the most widely used methods of communication on the planet. In this blog, eFax looks at statistics that showcase why faxing is very much modern technology.

When it comes to business fax options, there aren’t a lot of choices out there. However, that doesn’t mean you still can’t make the wrong one. eFax looks at what’s available to your company, helping you to figure out which direction to take.

Centuries-old technology, the fax machine is well past its prime. But that doesn’t mean fax is obsolete; in fact, far from it. In this blog, eFax explains why fax is still as important as it ever was, even if the fax machine is becoming a technology of the past.

In the modern era of advanced technology and innovative communication systems, do you still need a fax machine? eFax looks at why fax documentation is still important for your business, while the fax machine might not be.

Finding the best online fax service for your business can be crucial. When fax documents are important to your company, the wrong solutions could spell disaster. eFax offer tips and advice on finding the best online fax service.

Fax machines aren’t your only option for sending fax documents anymore. eFax provides a new solution to a centuries-old system. But what are the differences between fax and eFax? Is it worth moving to new technology?

Often described as the future of faxing, online faxing is new-age technology that takes everything you know about fax and effectively makes it better. But how does it achieve this and what is online faxing? Our blog will explain the ins and outs of what online faxing is and how incorporating it into your business could result in substantial benefits.

At eFax, we are often asked a simple but very important question: What is email fax? There is an important distinction between an email fax and a standard email. In this blog, we explain exactly what that is and why businesses need email fax.

Old-fashioned fax machines have provided an essential means of communication between practitioners for decades, resulting in the technology becoming ingrained within the healthcare industry. While some call for an immediate end to faxing in the NHS, eFax believes there is an interim solution that will allow the NHS to ditch the physical fax while buying time to develop fully integrated communication systems.

In 2025, BT will conduct major changes to its services, permanently switching off important communications networks. Discover precisely what is going on, why it is happening and what you can do to stop it causing problems for your business.

Are your paper-based practices putting you more at risk of a GDPR infraction? Discover exactly what risks are facing healthcare in terms of non-compliance, and what you can do to reduce them.

Is your healthcare organisation still using old-fashioned fax machines to transmit documentation? eFax discusses exactly why the future of faxing is in the digital world, and how you can start experiencing the benefits of online cloud faxing today.

Discover the future of faxing, and how upgrading to eFax corporate cloud faxing could transform how you better protect your patient’s data and improve your information governance within the NHS and other aspects of the healthcare sector.

In the modern age of data security, patient confidentiality is essential. But many working in health and social care are facing certain risks as a result of using the fax machine.

Do you have concerns that your healthcare practice, trust or organisation is not GDPR compliant? eFax explains one simple change you can make to reduce your chances of falling on the wrong side of the European Parliament.

Thousands of medical professionals working in the healthcare sector and associated industries rely on fax machines to send documents and files. But these old-fashioned machines aren’t optimised for the modern world. eFax explains why there is a better solution.

Is your IT department meeting the compliance demands of the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

On 25 May 2018 GDPR compliance came into effect and this new regulation means that many organisations are now being forced to change the way they collect, store, process, and protect the personally identifiable information (PII) of EU residents, regardless of the company’s physical location.
This includes, of course, PII transmitted by fax.

With the UK’s paper tax return deadline on October 31st fast approaching, many people and businesses find themselves scrambling to get their affairs together in order to ensure that they will be tax compliant for the coming financial year.

While millions of Britons wait until the very last minute to send their tax returns every deadline day, this is not a recommended course of action. The old adage says, “Fail to plan, plan to fail” with good reason; a record 870,000 people missed the midnight cut-off point for filing their tax returns in the year 2015.

One of the main reasons for people missing out on a tax return deadline is that many are not aware that they are required to submit self-assessed returns before a specific date. To allay such confusion, we have put together the most important points that you need to know.

If you’re involved in the management of everyday office IT, or even if you’re the end user, you’ll be very familiar with the term ‘the cloud’ or ‘cloud computing’. However, if you’re not 100% certain as to what the term ‘the cloud’ actually means, you’re not alone.

Research published by Citrix in 2012 confirmed that most Americans didn’t understand what was meant by ‘the cloud’ and 51% believed that stormy weather would probably interfere with its functionality. As recently as 2016, Dan Phillips, CEO of CloudHealth Technologies told Fox Business that “possibly as little as 10%” of people today truly understand what it is. Need a little refresher? We’re here to help!

A mobile business by definition, the transportation industry has long pioneered the use of mobile technology. Ironically, transport companies regularly find themselves relying on a form of technology which is not renowned for its mobility: faxing.

If your haulage company is like the majority of logistics companies, your customers often require that operational documents are sent and received via fax.

The real estate industry is particularly susceptible to security breaches and hacking. And without the right security protocols and protected communication methods in place, a real estate agent’s clients’ personal information could be breached by unauthorised personnel either intentionally or unintentionally.

Real estate companies need to make sure that their communication systems are compliant with industry regulations as well as in line with security and privacy best practices.

If you work in the financial sector and your responsibilities extend to your company’s IT operations, your colleagues probably ensure that you are kept up-to-date on their latest challenges with the company fax machine.

Here we explore the merits and pitfalls of fax and why cloud faxing is the go-to alternative for the finance industry.

If you’re involved in a pharmacy business, now is the time to assess the suitability of your pharmacy’s hardware and IT equipment and how it stands up to today’s internal and external data security threats.

Under the NHS Act, the Health and Social Care Act, the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act, it is the responsibility of healthcare organisations, including pharmacies, to prioritise the safeguarding of protected health information (PHI).

Operating in an industry that is still highly reliant on paper, pharmacies are particularly vulnerable to these threats. In terms of hardware and IT, the traditional fax is a perfect example of a widely used legacy technology that is placing patient data at risk.

Imagine the following scenario; a young lawyer needs to send the court some important documents that are critical to her case. However, there’s a problem; the court clerk only accepts documents by fax and the lawyer, due to a paper jam, doesn’t get the fax sent in time. Her inability to satisfy the administrative rules have potentially put her case in jeopardy.

When it comes to communicating within the legal and business industries, faxing is still the preferred method of communication.
Despite being perceived as an outdated medium, fax has stood the test of time and is used by many industries as their primary means of data transferal. The reason for this is because of fax’s undeniable security and reliability, as well as its elevated status as one of the most legally binding communication tools available today.

In many different industries, but particularly in the legal sector, fax is the most-used medium of communication. In both business and legal circles, many documents still have to be printed and managed in hard copy. This is especially true for contracts, which require an authorised signature or company stamp in order for them to be deemed valid.

When we think about sending emails, we envision a high tech and complex communications system which doesn’t leave a physical trace. This modern day means of sending messages, the natural progression of traditional letter sending, would beggar belief to those who worked in the business world only a single generation ago, such a game changer that it is.

With no need for paper, ink, toner or printers, receiving an email is a far cry from what business people had to go through when sending and receiving messages via email’s paper-based ancestors. By contrast, what typically comes to mind when thinking about sending faxes is quite the opposite of the streamlined and efficient process that is sending a simple email message. Here, we stereotypically think of a slow and laborious process, involving all sorts of time, labour and physical resources.

From reading our most recent blog post, “How Cloud Faxing Works”, you should have a fairly good understanding of, not only, how cloud faxing can work for your company, but also of the technical rationale behind it. eFax Corporate offers businesses a wide range of flexible fax solutions and add-ons that will positively impact your company’s overall communication processes.

For now, let’s focus on the types of practical solutions eFax Corporate can offer your business and how you and your employees can seamlessly integrate cloud-based faxing into your day-to-day workflow, in addition to sending and receiving faxes through your office email accounts.

For many organisations, cloud-based fax services are a fairly vague concept. Terms such as “internet fax”, “fax via email,” “online faxing” and “the cloud” often appear online, but what many companies don’t realise and fully comprehend is the technical rationale behind online faxing.

In the broadest sense of the term, cloud faxing allows users to send and receive documents through an email program or web portal, without the need for any on-premises hardware or software. Given that email is one of the most familiar tools used in worldwide offices today, moving business operations toward cloud-based faxing services allows a company to seamlessly integrate online internet faxing into an existing email communication thread.

One of the many benefits of working with eFax Corporate is the level of security and data protection that we offer. For those involved with sensitive or highly confidential information, a secure communications network is vital, particularly for the legal, finance and medical industries.

But what many businesses don’t realise is that the level of protection a cloud faxing service offers can vary depending on the type of encryption that is employed.

Healthcare professionals will be all too familiar with the data security procedures involved in patient confidentiality, but your office’s technical equipment may unintentionally putting your organisation at risk.

Healthcare Faxing Regulations

Patient information and confidentiality is strictly protected under the NHS Act, the Health and Social Care Act, the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act. While once an office stalwart, your fax machine can leave highly-confidential patient data at risk of being accessed, lost, or stolen by unintended parties.

Faxing is still necessary for millions of businesses, even in our modern, Internet era. Industries like healthcare, legal, real estate, financial services and manufacturing all rely on faxing, sometimes every day, to operate their businesses.
In addition, multi-function printers (MFPs) are still widely used across the country. In fact, IDC, a research organisation, stated that as recently as 2014, 17 million MFPs were sold annually. This bodes well for many businesses, as MFPs are the perfect alternative to using a fax machine if you need to send a paper fax, but have already transitioned your business to cloud faxing.

A common question we receive at eFax Corporate is: “How can I send a paper fax if we use cloud faxing and have eliminated our fax machines?” The answer is simple: Use your MFP.

IT Managers and CIOs (Chief Information Officers) often come to us looking to find a solution to their faxing problems. Many organisations’ high volume of faxing can add an extra layer of expense to a company’s already growing office costs.

The obvious solution to such problems is to migrate your business’s fax infrastructure to a cloud-based faxing solution. And while most companies know this is entirely possible, either by sending or receiving faxes by email, a web-interface or mobile application, they ‘re often not aware of what the process looks like.

For many years, IT departments around the world used in-house fax servers to help centralise their respective companies’ day-to-day faxing schedules in terms of both management and general monitoring, as well as data security. At the time, this type of system was considered to be high-end in terms of technology. However, as time moves on and technology becomes increasingly advanced, there are signs that this type of fax server architecture is becoming increasingly outdated and less efficient when compared to more modern systems.

Communication is one of the most important areas that every business needs to pay special attention to, irrespective of their size. With the ever-increasing need to send and receive faxes, the installation and maintenance of fax equipment can prove to be costly for any business across the United Kingdom.

However, one of the easiest ways to overcome these problems is to switch to an online service. By replacing your office’s dedicated phone line, machine and array of supplies with a web fax service, you can instantly save your business thousands of pounds. Internet faxing is your ideal communication’s solution and additionally it’s one of the easiest ways to save on office costs.

Bulky, expensive and fixed in one place are often the terms used to describe the fax equipment of the not-so-distant past. Almost half a century after the first “modern” fax apparatus was introduced, the humble machine has undergone a complete overhaul.

Today the fax machine has evolved to cater to a more mobile and decentralised business landscape. Thanks to technology, faxing has now become portable and accessible on all modern smartphones!

In an era of highly advanced business communications, proven by the numerous innovations that emerged in recent years, it would be easy to assume that faxing will soon be extinct.

However, while modernization has indeed made different forms of communication obsolete in the past, faxing still holds a distinct place in business, especially with companies based in the medical, financial or legal industry.

From Land’s End to John o’ Groats, businesses up and down the country rely on efficient and easy-to-use communication systems. Whether it’s email, phone or fax, your communication solution needs to fit your business’s needs. An integral part of how your company functions, no business can survive without a solid communication’s plan.

And whilst 100% essential, a decent communication network can be a huge expense for organisations to bear. Luckily, eFax offers an easy way to keep your overhead costs down, while still enjoying top-quality communications tool and by subscribing to an online faxing service you’ll significantly reduce your expenses.

Traditional fax machines do a great job of sending and receiving faxes, however it can prove to be a costly piece of office equipment to run in the long-term.

Our figures, based on your calculated average usage over the course of one year, show that a single fax machine can cost more than £600 a year to keep running.

The £600 sum includes the one-off costs of buying the hardware, as well as line installation, rental, ribbons and electricity and this is all before factoring in the cost of general maintenance and depreciation over time. Not to mention that the mountains of paper, storage space, filing systems and extra manpower required can all prove to be even costlier than expected.

Business owners across the country are always in search of ways to reduce their mounting communication costs. While phone lines and mobiles are essential for your business, one of the most expensive areas when it comes to communication is fax.

One of the first expenses you’ll encounter when using a traditional machine is the initial installation cost. Calling out a technician to get your machine up and running can make a significant dent in your communication budget and that’s before you even get started.