The Best Fax Machine in 2020 Isn’t a Machine
eFax cloud-faxing solutions provide your small business with the functionality of fax machines without actually needing old-fashioned hardware. You can replace your outdated fax machine with your current smartphones and computers, sending and receiving fax from modern devices.
Why Is the Best Fax Machine Not 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Fax machines as hardware are outdated.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.
Introducing the Best Fax Machine of 2020: Your Mobile Phone (Or Computer)
The best fax machine of 2020 is not the hardware you are used to. Fax machines have been around since the 19th-century and rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s as a way of sharing visual documents quickly. Since then, the technology behind fax machines has changed very little. However, that doesn’t mean the methods of sending fax haven’t seen any evolution. While the fax machine hasn’t changed much, digital technology has — and solutions like eFax now exist to send fax without a fax machine. Instead of a fax machine, you can now use eFax solutions to send a fax from your phone or computer.
How Your Phone Becomes a Fax Machine
When you compare your compact mobile phone to a fax machine, you might wonder how the two technologies could ever be transferable. Fax machines are large and bulky pieces of hardware you feed paper into, and that spit paper out — and your phone is, well, a phone.
How does your phone (or computer) become the best fax machine for your business?
eFax technology is available through the internet. You can access our services online via our website or through our mobile application. From either platform, you can upload visual digital documents (such as Jpegs or PDFs) and transmit them as fax files just as if you were feeding a physical document into a fax machine.
The recipient can then see these visual files as attachments on their digital devices. Or — if your recipient uses a traditional fax machine — our system will convert the digital file into a physical one, and allow them to print it. The system also works in reverse. A customer or client can send your business a physical file from their old-fashioned fax machine. eFax solutions will then convert that file into a digital document and display it on your device as if it was uploaded as a computer file.
Why the Best Fax Machine Is on Your Phone
- Document Management Facilities — eFax includes a document management centre available anywhere you have internet access. Here you can view previously sent and received fax files for easy referral and control. You don’t need to bring your paper fax everywhere you go for access requirements. Your fax is always with you.
- Fax on the Go — Thanks to the ability to access eFax anywhere with a wifi or cellular connection, you can also send and receive fax anywhere. Even the most modern fax hardware is not portable — but eFax is.
- Paperless Document Access — With digital solutions, your business does not need paper document trails anymore. You can take steps towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly organisation with this new type of fax machine.
- Multi-User Submission — eFax allows you to send the same fax transmission to many recipients at once, instead of having to resend it over and over again. This feature improves convenience and saves valuable work hours.
- Multi-Access Channels — Fax machines can only be used by one person at a time. eFax, however, can be used by multiple personal at once, as many users from different devices can connect to the services at the same time.
- Data Encryption — Fax machines do not protect data transmissions, but eFax does. We encrypt all data sent and support the secure submission of important and sensitive business data.
- Large Instant File Submission — Using fax machines to send large files takes a long time. You have to feed in all of the pages you want to submit one-by-one. With digital fax, you can upload large documents (up to 3GB) in seconds. Sending large files becomes as simple as sending single pages.
Why Not Keep Using Traditional Fax Machines?
There are numerous reasons why phones and computers are now the best fax machines for 2020. However, their advantages and access to all required fax capabilities are not the only reasons why you should consider them over old-fashioned fax machines. The outdated hardware has numerous detracting factors that mean fax machines are not only lesser to digital services, but also potentially harmful to business operation too. These factors include:
- High Business Costs — Traditional fax machines require lots of resources, including ink cartridges, paper, maintenance, and their own paid phone lines. Fax machines themselves are also expensive. Even budget options will cost around £200.
- Increased Risk of Human Error — Fax machines are notorious for the “fat finger problem”. This occurs when somebody misdials and submits a document to the wrong fax number. Misdialled numbers can lead to information being sent where it shouldn’t and breaching data protection. Human error is the primary cause of data breach, with fax playing a major part in that.
- Easy to Manipulate — Fax machines are old technology and not built for the demands of the 21st-century — however, they do link up to 21st-century hardware through your IT network. Exploits have been discovered that allow hackers to use malicious software to access your computer network using connected fax machines lacking security functions like the firewalls on modern devices.
- The Upcoming ISDN Switch off — In 2025, British Telecom (BT) will shut commence the ISDN switch off. This removes access to all hardwire landlines; the kind fax machines are reliant on. The result is, fax machines become more difficult and expensive to operate. Switching to eFax now saves on inevitable hassle.
- Unauthorised Accessibility — When fax documents print out, they become paper files that are easily accessed by unauthorised parties. These documents can also be misplaced, lost or stolen. Even high-value documents get lost accidentally, which means business files are certainly not exempt from mistakes.
The best fax machine in 2020 is your phone or computer, there is no doubt about it. These multifunction devices are all you need to send and receive fax without reliance on outdated hardware. Discover immediate digital fax solutions when you sign up to eFax today!