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Future-Proof Business Ideas: Tools You Need to Know About

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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

Article overview:

Why You Need to Future Proof Your Business

Failure to adapt to modern innovations and movements can leave any business struggling. Without thinking about the future, you can get trapped in the past, and quickly become outdated. Eventually, you’ll find competitors overtake you as a result, and that’s when you get into real trouble.

Future-Proof Business Ideas to Be Aware Of

Future-proofing your business is simple. There are many tools available to keep your brand relevant and ready for change. These include introducing online faxing, cloud-based software, developing mobile applications, data compliance solutions, and task automation.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

The business landscape is always shifting. It’s constantly finding new ways to attract customers and improve the way things work. Failure to keep up with trends, and stay ahead of the curve, means you end up floundering. We’re all familiar with famous examples, such as Blockbuster Video, that couldn’t keep up with the modern world; crashing and burning as a result, with Netflix taking over their crown.

But how do you stop yourself from being the next Blockbuster Video? You look to ways to protect yourself with future-proof business ideas that support survival in our new age of business, and beyond.

Online Faxing

You’d be forgiven for thinking that fax is a product of a bygone era, given its prevalence in the mid-to-late 20th century. However, far from being a dead-and-buried communication platform, fax is still alive and thriving to this day, with billions of fax documents sent every year from millions of machines all around the world.

Fax continues to be an important part of many business infrastructures because of the numerous advantages it holds, which includes easy submission of visual files, fast transmissions of records and other essential files, as well as the ability to quickly share legally-binding documents. Despite the value of fax though, fax machines are not supportive of modern work. They are slow, cumbersome and vulnerable to data threats. When looking for future-proof business ideas, getting rid of fax machines is going to be on the list. But, how can you eliminate fax machines if fax is so important?

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Switching from fax machines to digital fax helps future-proof your business. It allows you to maintain fax communication — a platform that remains an integral part of many industries and economies and will do for years to come — and update technology to enable work processes that are much more suitable for current business environments. This move also helps protect your business from the upcoming ISDN switch-off by removing reliance on soon-to-be-obsolete landlines.

Cloud-Based Collaboration Tools

Modern working is all about flexibility. Businesses are more versatile and spread out than ever before. Why? Because remote work is on the rise, as is the employment of international staff from locations all around the globe. We’re in an age where connectivity isn’t about being in a room with each other — it’s more often about coming together in a digital space. There are many benefits to having such a dynamic workforce, but there are difficulties too. Old-fashioned systems don’t support this modern workflow, so how do you protect your business from problems with things like teamwork and collaboration when colleagues could be working together while in different parts of the country, or even on separate continents? One of the best future-proof business ideas you can invest in is cloud-based collaboration tools and software. These can be as advanced as specialised industry products like eFax, or as simple as word processors like Google Docs. Cloud services work through offsite management, which means you don’t need to be connected to the same hardware to work together. It makes long-distance collaboration incredibly straightforward, as though you are working in the same office together, even if you are miles apart. As we move further towards a working world that relies on remote connectivity, cloud collaboration is becoming increasingly important for future success.

Mobile Applications

Recent years have seen a big shift towards the adoption of mobile apps as a consumer experience. Mobile customers are twice as likely to buy using an app than a website. The volume of app downloads is also rising rapidly, and with people spending on average over three hours a day on their phone, being visible and easily accessible on a consumer’s smartphone is becoming a critical part of brand awareness.

To stay competitive in the modern business environment, you need a mobile application. When looking for future-proofed business ideas, jumping on the application movement should be a priority for any company. Apps might not be the newest of technology, having been made prominent by Apple over a decade ago, but as they become more wide-spread and cheaper to develop, being without one puts your business at a disadvantage.

Data Compliance Software

In 2018, the world changed. GDPR launched across Europe, with wide-reaching impacts for the rest of the world. Data protection has always been a critical issue for businesses, but following the introduction of the GDPR laws, it became even more significant. Failure to comply with current regulations can lead to disaster. British Airways was hit by one of the biggest fines in history for compliance issues, and if you thought you were safe being a small business, think again. Many small businesses have fallen afoul of new data protection laws and seen penalties as a result. The key to remaining on the right side of GDPR is complying with regulations. However, the rules are complicated and with so much data to monitor, it’s all too easy to let things slip. If you want to keep your business safe both now and in the future, you need support. Data compliance software is a tool that can do just that. Designed around the idea of not only protecting data but keeping you aware of your legal responsibilities, it helps you conform to regulations and stay ahead of potential changes to data laws.

Task Automation Tools

The cost of business has steadily increased year-on-year, with Brexit instability not making things any easier. Yet while prices go up, revenue streams fall. Disposable income is down — people are struggling just as businesses are. The very survival of your business could depend on optimising expenses and making sure no money is wasted. Future-proofing might simply be about making the pennies count.

There are lots of things you can do to help make money go further. One such future-proof business idea referenced earlier in this blog is the introduction of digital fax. Cheaper and more reliable than fax machines, it can stamp out unnecessary costs while maintaining essential functionality. But besides digital fax solutions, what else can do this? That idea of being able to do something cheaper is ideal. But no business wants to compromise on quality or operational capability — and cutting costs almost always implies this will be the case.

Automation tools are key to achieving this goal. Examples of automation include virtual assistant technology, which allows you to experience the benefits of a personal assistant through automated software, without the high costs associated with staff completing these actions. Instead, your workforce can be utilised more effectively, with simple and time-consuming tasks absorbed by automation. This allows you to gain maximum ROI from your recruiting investments by enabling staff to focus their skills on more impactful tasks and projects. You may also be able to avoid costly hires althogher.

How to Receive Fax Online: Your Quick Guide to Receiving Fax

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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?

Article overview:

Why Would You Want to Receive Fax Online?

Online fax represents an evolution of outdated fax technology, allowing your business to achieve fax communication success without the drawbacks of old hardware. Giving your business the ability to receive fax online can boost productivity, reduce costs and increase security.

How to Receive Fax Online

It’s easy for your business to acquire the ability to receive fax online. Subscription to eFax online fax services gives your brand all the tools it needs to achieve more advanced digital fax solutions.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

What Is Online Fax?

Traditional fax works through a very simple yet outdated process. You input a physical document into your fax machine. The hardware then converts this physical document into encoded analogue data that it transfers to another machine. The receiving machine converts the encoded data back into the original image and produces a new physical document. It cannot be argued that this wasn’t an effective tool for business communication when it was first introduced. For decades, it’s enabled important information to be shared quickly and effectively. But in the 21st-century, this practice has become obsolete.

Online fax is the evolution of traditional fax. It takes the process from analogue to digital, allowing your business to receive fax documents through internet-ready devices rather than traditional fax machine hardware. You can use digital fax even if the sender still operates old-fashioned fax machines. They send you a file using the conventional fax hardware and your digital platform converts it into a readable format that your computer devices can open.

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The Benefits of Receiving Online Fax

So if online faxing allows you to receive a fax from a fax machine, why not carry on using a fax machine? There are a few key benefits to using digital fax over traditional fax, and these include:
  • Improve fax security — Fax transmissions are not encrypted, which means sensitive documents can be intercepted. Fax machines themselves also produce a variety of security risks, from being easy to hack to producing unprotected paper documentation that can be viewed by unauthorized individuals. Online fax secures fax documents behind access controls and digital file encryption. When you receive an online fax, you achieve much higher levels of security appropriate to modern data protection demands.
  • Manage your documents better — When you receive online fax, the file is stored in an online document management system. Here, it can easily be accessed for later referral or data sharing. This is not the case with paper documents printed by a fax machine. These items are easily lost, difficult to store and can become damaged. They are also only available from one location, making them inflexible for remote work or use by multiple individuals.
  • Cut down on operating costs — Fax machines place a heavy financial burden on your business. The machines themselves are expensive. Then you have to pay for resources like ink, toner and paper, alongside maintenance fees and phone line rental. Digital fax requires only a single monthly subscription cost — a much more cost-effective method of receiving fax.
  • Improve your workplace productivity — Fax machines are time sinks. It takes a lot of time to receive a fax and print it, especially if its a large file. If the machine is already in use, the reception of your file can be delayed even further. This is not a problem with online faxing, as files are received instantly and accessible by multiple users at once.

How to Receive Fax Online

Receiving fax online is an incredibly simple process. It doesn’t require any new hardware or software; you don’t even need to provide training when introducing it into your business. To receive fax online, all you have to do is:
  1. Sign up to eFax services and register your account
  2. Select your new fax number or port your old fax number to your eFax account
  3. Provide your clients and partners with your eFax account fax number
  4. Log in to eFax’s online portal or download the eFax app to view your digital fax.
It’s that simple. Access to our service is near-instant after registration is complete. Your business can ditch outdated fax practices. Start receiving fax online today with eFax and enjoy all the benefits our new-age solution has to offer.

Is Fax Transmission Secure? No, but Yours Can Be

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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.

Article overview:

Why Your Fax Is Not Secure

There is a misconception amongst businesses that fax machine transfers are more secure than digital ones, but this isn’t the case. Complete with a lack of encryption, risks associated with paper documents and some very unique vulnerabilities, fax is far from safe.

How to Secure Your Fax

Fax documents can be sent to much higher security standards if they use the right platform. eFax online faxing provides businesses with the solution they need to maintain fax without the risk factors of fax machines.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

Is Fax Secure? The Three Major Problems with Traditional Faxing

In the wake of the very wide-spread and very public Sony email hack back in 2015, it was revealed that CEO Michael Lynton started using fax machines to transmit sensitive information. His decision was based on the idea that fax machines are more secure than digital options when it comes to data security. This notion is, unfortunately, misguided.

Fax machines are outdated analogue technology. This certainly protects them against most modern ideas of data infiltration, purely because the tech is so old, it doesn’t operate on the same sort of systems that are threatened by 21st-century issues. However, that does not mean fax is secure. It is far from it. The fax machine is prone to some very damaging data protection vulnerabilities that cannot be avoided, putting any business that uses them at risk of major legal infractions.

With GDPR now thoroughly integrated into the modern workplace — and massive fines already being doled out — it is critical that your business protects itself, and its customers, against data breaches and loss. But how does the fax machine work against this goal?

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The Three Major Problems with Traditional Faxing

When it comes to data protection issues associated with fax machines, three big problems that mean your fax is not secure, and never really can be.

1. A Lack of Data Encryption

Unlike digital transmissions, fax machine transmissions are difficult to access remotely, which is where a lot of the confidence in their security comes from. However, this doesn’t mean that information is safe. Fax documents are sent without any form of security or encryption. This means that while in transit, they are susceptible to access. Anyone who can access the phone line you are using to transmit files can very easily steal the information you send. If the phone line of your recipient is compromised, the data can be stolen on their end, too.

2. Easily Accessible Physical Documents

Fax machines produce paper documents. Paper documents are known to be data security nightmares. The first problem occurs immediately upon printing. If the fax machine is in a public space — even if that means it is accessible to fellow employees — the document instantly has the potential to be viewed by an unauthorised individual. You then have to store the document safely, which becomes difficult, as common filing cabinets are often accessible by multiple individuals and vulnerable to more unauthorised access.

Further to this, you must then consider the potential for loss of data. You may misplace a physical file, just as a British security agent did when they left documents about terrorist suspects on a train, or it could be stolen. The existence of paper documents creates a myriad of problems that fax machines only exacerbate.

3. Known Hardware Vulnerabilities

Fax machines are decades-old technology still operating in the modern era. As such, they were not built to withstand malicious attempts at infiltration that newer pieces of hardware and software are designed to fight back against. The complexities of the different vulnerabilities that fax machines face are worth their own article. But in short, because technology has evolved beyond them, it’s even easier for attackers to exploit their archaic practices to gain access to your business systems. Fax machines have no protective methods or firewalls, yet are often connected to your entire computer system. Using these vulnerabilities, hackers can effectively use your fax machine as an open backdoor to gain entry to your business IT network without much trouble at all.

How to Secure Your Fax

So your business faces a dilemma. Fax might be a very important part of your communication platform. But you cannot carry on using fax machines given the dangers they pose to your document security. Fortunately, there is a way to both keep faxing and secure your business. Digital faxing, otherwise known as online faxing or cloud faxing, presents a solution to the problems faced by fax security. It enables the transmission of fax documents to continue while protecting your business from the issues with fax in the following ways:

  • It Encrypts Your Data — Data encryption is incredibly important in modern business. It protects your information from being accessed by attackers and also demonstrates you’ve tried to put measures in place to secure data in the event of a breach. Without data encryption, you are vulnerable. eFax comes complete with advanced TLS encryption protocols, providing you with the peace of mind you need.
  • It Removes Paper from the Fax Process — With digital fax, fax documents are no longer left out in the open on trays, in unsecured cabinets and other vulnerable locations. Instead, documents are stored on secure servers behind access control features and logins. Only those with permission to access the data can access it. Online fax greatly reduces the potential for unauthorised access, loss and theft.
  • It Eliminates Vulnerabilities — Those fax machine vulnerabilities that make it easy for hackers to infiltrate your system are not present with online fax technology. As the solution operates on new systems, the outdated protocols that enable such problems to exist in the first place aren’t available for attackers to take advantage of, completely removing the problem.

5 Fax Security Risks That Will Make You Ditch the Fax Machine

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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.

Article overview:

5 Fax Security Risks

The fax machine faces five major threats to security; threats that could prove disastrous for your business. These are:
  1. Vulnerable Technology
  2. Unauthorised Document Access
  3. Missent Information
  4. Loss of Data
  5. No Data Encryption

How to Avoid Fax Security Problems

Avoidance of the problems associated with fax machines is simple. Online fax offers an alternative solution that enables fax without the security risks of outdated technology. Secure your fax while removing fax machines by switching to online fax.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

Five Fax Security Risks

If your business uses fax machines to send and receive documents, it faces five massive fax security risks that could jeopardise data safety. In the current age of GDPR — where data protection breaches could mean total business collapse — it is essential good practices aren’t ignored, and bad practices are stamped out. But what are the fax security risks affecting your business?

What do you need to know about?

1. Vulnerable Technology

Modern-day Fax machines might look slightly different from their 60s counterparts, but in essence, the technology remains the same. Transmission protocols required to send fax are almost identical to the devices sold decades ago — meaning they are horribly outdated. Hackers have become aware of just how easy it is to take advantage of the older tech to gain access to business systems. Exploits like the faxpliot make it simple for attackers to bypass security measures such as firewalls protecting newer hardware and infiltrate your IT networks via your connected fax machines.

2. Unauthorised Document Access

fax-security-risks

When a fax document is transmitted, it either ends up in a print queue or prints and is left on the fax paper tray. If the fax machine is in a public area, it becomes accessible to whoever can enter that space. This means documents you send and receive have the potential to be viewed by unauthorised individuals. Let’s use the example of a physiotherapist sending patient information to a doctor’s surgery. If that fax arrives in an unattended reception area, a member of the public could potentially pick up and read the file. This scenario is extreme, but it’s not unrealistic. More commonly, a business may send over client information for the eyes of a particular individual, but it is intercepted by another member of staff who shares fax machine use.

3. Missent Information

Up to 90% of data breaches are the result of human error. Out of all the reasons behind human error data breaches, data faxed to the wrong recipient is the second most common cause. It’s all too easy to accidentally send a fax to the wrong recipient. Also known as the “fat finger problem”, a misdialed number can send your document to the wrong person. You may also get confused with fax numbers as they cannot be stored and saved to a particular contact.

4. Loss of Data

Fax machines create paper files, and paper files are notorious for being vulnerable to loss and theft. Simple mistakes can lead to massive problems, such as when confidential files stored by the Australia government were lost and then later discovered in a secondhand shop. It’s all too easy to misplace a piece of paper or have somebody snatch it up without you noticing. Fax machines are one of the few items left in the office environment that produce paper documents containing sensitive data. They are also one of the largest reasons for this continued problem.

5. No Data Encryption

Fax machines communicate using an analogue line — lines that are fast becoming obsolete thanks to the ISDN switch off. Data sent through analogue lines cannot be encrypted — the technology just does not allow for it. This means anyone who can access your line can hijack the information. The result is that fax machine communications become very susceptible to local attacks and direct data theft.

How to Remove Fax Security Risks

All of the above problems exist because of one overriding factor: fax machines are outdated. They are old technology designed to support business communication during a bygone era. Yet they remain, in a modern world where they just don’t fit. What’s needed is an alternative that can meet the demands of the 21st-century. An alternative that still provides the functionality of the fax machine that so many businesses depend on.

Online fax services offer that solution.

Online faxing enables businesses to continue fax communication without the need for fax machines. Fax documents are sent and received through digital devices like smartphones and computers, eliminating the risks associated with the fax machine. The result is you can keep the fax systems that are so important for success, without having to worry about the dangers present when operating fax machines.

Is Online Fax Secure? How Digital Faxing Transforms Data Security

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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?

Article overview:

Why You Need Better Online Security

In the wake of GDPR, it is now more important than ever to take your digital data protection practices seriously. Infractions lead to major fines and penalties that can destroy a business. This possibility means you need to take every possible step to protect your company.

How Online Fax Secures Your Brand

eFax online faxing protects your business in two ways:
  1. It demonstrates to lawmakers you are investing in better practices to aid security
  2. It reduces the chance of your fax communications causing data breaches

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

The Importance of Digital Security

It has never been so important for businesses to take care of their digital files. Data protection has been a topic of significant interest for years, resulting in countless legal cases and media stories — even collapsing businesses. However, the introduction of GDPR has meant it’s gone to a completely new level.

Found in violation of data protection laws, British Airways was fined over £180 million in July of 2019 by the ICO. While your business is unlikely to see bills that high following a breach, the penalty limits of 20 million Euro or up to 4% of annual turnover certainly aren’t to be scoffed at either.

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The fact of the matter is, British Airways was penalised so heavily because the company was said to have “poor security arrangements”. The ICO doled out what is currently the second-largest data protection fine in history thanks to British Airways not taking its security seriously enough. By making an example of BA, the ICO demonstrates how the prevailing attitude towards safety places a significant role in punishments.

What this means is you need to think about the best ways to protect your data. If you don’t, and you get caught out, the consequences will be far worse than if you’d at least tried and were still the victim of a breach.

Why Online Fax Helps Your Business

Fax machines are security nightmares. They are vulnerable to hacking, they pose the unnecessary risk of unauthorised access and it’s all too easy to missend data. These problems are well known and well documented. So if you continue to use fax machines and your faxed data becomes the centre of a data breach, the governing authorities in charge of setting penalties aren’t going to look favourably on you, given you are using a platform that is notoriously bad for data protection.

Online fax can support the argument that you’re investing in better options to secure your data. The platform takes faxing, enables its continuation while introducing new and essential measures to better protect the information involved in transmission. But how is online fax going to appease data protection lawmakers, and how does it help reduce the chance of breaches in the first place?

Is Online Fax Secure? The Key Ways Online Fax Supports Business Security

  • Access Control — Unauthorised access to fax is a major problem with traditional files. You can’t easily protect a paper file from viewers who shouldn’t see the file — unless you lock the document in a secure safe. Draws, desks, filing cabinets— they’re all too easily accessed by other individuals. That’s not even mentioning the trouble of receiving documents in the first place. When a machine receives a document, it has the potential to be viewed by anyone who has access to the machine. Online fax is different. It protects fax behind access control systems and logins. To see a fax, you need to have appropriate permissions. So your fax documents are no longer at risk of being viewed by those who shouldn’t see them.
  • Data Encryption — Analogue fax transmissions cannot be encrypted. This makes them vulnerable to local interception as anyone who can access the phone line used to send them can steal the data without much trouble. Online fax is very different. eFax technology uses the internet to send faxes, meaning the data is encrypted with advanced TLS level protocols. This sort of security makes it much, much harder for would-be thieves to access data within fax documents.
  • Digital Contacts — It may come as a surprise, but missent information over fax machines is one of the most common causes of data breaches. Misdialing remains a massive problem, both due to accidentally hitting the wrong digit and mixing up fax numbers. Online faxing, however, removes this problem. Contacts are saved to your account, with pre-approved and assigned fax numbers. This measure makes it incredibly difficult to accidentally send your fax to the wrong person or business.
  • Paperless Documents — Paper documents are notorious security risks. They are prone to be misplaced, forgotten or stolen. This creates all sorts of problematic scenarios for your business. However, all this can be done away with. Online fax removes the need for paper documents, thus eliminating the dangers posed by the format.

How to Introduce Online Solutions to Secure Your Fax

Given the importance of faxing to business, and the importance of good data security, you’ll want to consider moving your fax solutions over to online services as soon as possible. So how do you achieve this? Integrating eFax into your business is easy. Simply sign up to eFax services through our website. You can easily port over your current fax number or choose a new one. Registration is quick and straightforward, and once complete, gives you immediate access to digital faxing. You can switch from fax machines to online fax right now, and start reaping the benefits of our upgraded security in a matter of minutes.

Is Fax Still Used? Important Fax Statistics You Need to Know

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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.

Article overview:

Is Fax Still Used?

Faxing remains a popular method of business communication, despite its age. Millions of fax machines are still in operation, with more bought every year. It comes as no surprise, then, that billions of documents are sent annually, especially considering the platform’s popularity overseas.

The Downside of Fax Machines

But the news isn’t all positive. Fax machines cause high amounts of data breaches and are expensive to operate. While faxing continues to see high usage, many of the systems often used to carry out faxing have become inadequate.

The eFax Solution

With fax being such a prevalent part of business communication, your company needs to find ways to fax without introducing the disadvantages of associated hardware. eFax online faxing offers a solution, removing fax machines while enabling complete fax functionality.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

There Are Around 43 Million Fax Machines In Operation

While many talk about the death of the fax machine — and despite the fact it now appears in museums of technology as hardware of a bygone era — the fax machine is far from gone. The reality is that fax popularity remains to this day, with over 43 million fax machine units still in operation across the globe. Primarily used by businesses, the fax machine is alive and kicking, and it continues to be a vital part of many communication networks. In the UK, for example, the NHS maintains over 8,000 units alone. It’s difficult to work with the healthcare service — or any other sector that regularly uses fax — if you don’t have fax capabilities.

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Millions of Fax Machines Are Sold Every Year

Far from being on the decline, fax machine sales are actually holding steady. While there has been a drop-off since their rise to prominence a few decades ago, sales figures levelled out in the new millennium and continue to sit in the millions year after year. The largest purchasers of fax machines are in the USA, followed by Japan, Germany, France and the UK. However, these aren’t the only nations buying fax machines, and they account for only around half of the total sales made. Fax machine purchasing is spread out across the planet, which means fax technology remains relevant in most-all international markets and economies.

17 Billion Fax Documents Are Sent Annually

43 million fax machines are in use around the world, with millions more purchased annually. What does this mean for fax? It means that over 17 billion individual documents are sent every year. These staggeringly high rates demonstrate just how prevalent fax use still is. Simply put, fax as a practice is still one of the most widely used communication methods anywhere in the world. Rather than being a dying system, fax remains a major part of the commercial landscape — and, with these numbers, it looks set to continue on this trend for the considerable future.

International Transmissions: Up to 50% of Communication Is Fax

Fax is clearly still a prominent method of communication between businesses, although in the UK, it definitely isn’t as popular as other methods, such as email. However, in some international economies, fax is one of the most widely used methods of data transmission available. In Japan, for example, some sectors see over 50% of information transferred via fax. Given its immense popularity, faxing is of vital importance to any business looking to operate within international markets.

The Average Paper Fax Costs Over £1 to Send

You may consider the cost of a fax as being essentially free. After all, a fax is often charged at your landline rate — which is typically free on most plans. However, there are other costs to consider. While paper fax document transmissions may be cheap on the surface, the associated costs can actually run up very high. In total, when taking into account labour costs and resources such as ink and paper, each fax is going to cost you well over £1 per submission. Given that you may be sending hundreds or thousands of fax documents, these costs can mount up fast.

Fax Machines Are Responsible for High Rates of Data Breaches

Research has shown that 88% of data breaches are caused by human error, which is alarming for businesses that use old-fashioned legacy fax machines. Why? Because fax machines are involved in a surprising number of these breaches. Data collected has discovered the top two causes of data breaches are:

  1. The loss of physical files (including paper faxes)
  2. Information mis-sent via fax machines

With fax transmissions being so prevalent and GDPR laws now presenting a significant risk to any business caught in breach of legislation, it’s important for brands to consider their fax options. This leads us to our next statistic:

Over 11 Million Businesses Have Switched to eFax Online Faxing

At eFax, we have over 11 million business subscribers using our services each and every month. Online faxing has seen a massive rise in popularity in recent years due to its benefits over the use of physical fax machines. From increased document security and reductions in human error to much lower costs and superior workplace productivity, it isn’t surprising to see that so many businesses have adopted our innovative fax solutions. With fax looking set to remain a vital channel of communication well into the future, it’s likely that more and more businesses will start to update their fax systems to our — or similar — digital services.

Business Fax Options: Which Is Right for You?

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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.

Article overview:

What Are the Business Fax Options Available?

For business fax, you only really have three choices: traditional fax machines, online faxing or removing fax altogether. Each has a distinct impact on your business, and not always for the better.

Should You Keep Faxing?

Fax is an important method of communication; without it, your business could suffer. The removal of fax is not an option for most-all organisations operating in high-value industries or sectors.

Which Business Fax Option Should You Choose?

Online faxing has numerous benefits over legacy fax machines, including improved efficiency, cost-effectiveness, mobility and security. When compared, there really is no competition. The ultimate fax option for your business is always going to be digital faxing. It’s the modern alternative you need.

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Business Fax Options: What Choices Do You Have?

As far as business fax options go, your choices are fairly limited. Fax is a unique method of communication, which means there are very few ways you can go about sending or receiving a fax. That doesn’t mean there aren’t great opportunities out there when it comes to business faxing, but you do really have only three options to consider:

Legacy Fax Machine

Online faxing is the next step in fax technology, taking the functionality of legacy machines and adding modern innovations.

No Fax Functionality

You can remove fax as a practice altogether and look for an alternative.

Don’t Ditch Fax: Why You Want to Keep Your Business Fax Options Open

Ditching fax is not something we could ever recommend to anyone but the smallest of businesses that don’t engage in any sort of communication with other businesses or partners. Why is that? Because despite being old technology, fax remains an important part of the corporate landscape across the globe.

In many international economies, it continues to be a juggernaut of connectivity, and while it might be losing popularity in the UK, faxing has nevertheless retained a place in many industries, with no signs of the platform budging anytime soon. The result is that you’ll find over a billion fax documents are sent every year. If you don’t have fax functionality, you can’t fax with the millions of other companies that maintain fax systems. When considered alongside other benefits, such as easy submission of visual documents and improved legality of files, there are clear advantages to including fax in your communication systems.

Other options, like email and snail mail, just don’t provide the functionality and versatility your business needs.

The Legacy Fax Machine: 6 Reasons to Avoid It

Since it’s important to maintain fax communication for your business, you may consider buying a fax machine — or continuing to use one if you already own the hardware. But this isn’t going to support optimal business progression and success. There are numerous reasons legacy fax machines need to be left behind, and here, we outline six of the most important:
  1. Fax Machines Are Slow — You can only send one file at a time using a fax machine. That one file can only be managed one page at a time. If you have many pages to send as part of one transmission, it can take you a long time. During that time, nobody else can send or receive a fax, either, slowing the entire workplace down.
  2. Fax Machines Are Immobile — You cannot move a fax machine, which means they simply don’t support remote work practices. As many workers move towards flexible working attitudes, a fixed piece of hardware like a fax machine is not going to offer optimised task completion.
  3. Fax Machines Are Not Secure — In the modern era of GDPR, data protection is vital to all businesses in Britain. Fax machines just are not capable of offering the security you need. From major software flaws to a high potential for human error and unauthorised document access, fax machines present a real danger to your data compliance processes.
  4. Fax Machines Are Unreliable — Fax machines often use old analogue-based systems to operate, which makes them far less reliable than modern alternatives. The result is downtime for your business communication when the connection is lost or unstable, and even the potential for documents to go missing in transit. That’s not even mentioning the problems with printing, paper jams and hardware issues that fax machines have become notorious for.
  5. Fax Machines Are Costly — Paper, ink, toner and maintenance; all these regular costs add up. Add to this the cost of the hardware itself, and the hours of work lost to the inefficiencies and reliability issues with fax machines, and you can start to understand the real cost of these machines.
  6. Fax Machines Are Obsolete — BT has announced that 2025 will see the removal of ISDN and PSDN from its services. Since fax machines often rely on these services, the ISDN switch-off means that fax machine hardware in the UK will soon become almost completely obsolete. While other methods of data transmission will be available, the primary and most optimised communication channel will be completely removed.

Online Fax: The Future of Fax Communication for Your Business

As fax machines don’t offer your business with a modern solution worthy of investment, yet a lack of fax functionality is going to leave you without necessary communication channels, you are left with one option: online faxing.

Far from being the best of a bad bunch, though, online fax solutions are highly beneficial for your business, providing a wealth of important advantages that can help your company develop and grow. Online fax does exactly that; it takes faxing online. You can send and receive fax documents as you would with a fax machine, but everything is done through a digital process. There are no physical files; instead, all fax documents are handled digitally.

What this means for your business is that you can achieve the vital fax connectivity required in the current working world. But you can also remove the fax machine completely and enjoy all the benefits of a digital service. These include:

  • Data encryption that supports GDPR and other data laws
  • Better security measures, such as access controls and document management systems
  • Access via smartphones for flexible and remote working
  • Reduced costs through the removal of expensive physical assets
  • A lack of reliance on outdated technology, ensuring continued relevance in the modern working environment
  • Enhanced reliability through cloud-based technology and online technical support
  • Increased business productivity through multi-access services and quick file uploads.

When it comes to business fax options, there is little doubt that online fax services are the ultimate choice for your company. Offering all the functionality of the legacy fax machine while removing the negative qualities and even enhancing the process, these innovative cloud-based systems are the future of fax.

Is Fax Obsolete? The Fax Machine is Dying, But Faxing Isn’t

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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.

Article overview:

Why Fax Machines Are Obsolete

Outdated and unsuited for the modern working environment, fax machines have proven to be ineffective and inefficient compared to digital alternatives. With in-built security flaws and excessive resource wastage, there is no place for them in your business.

Why Fax Isn’t Obsolete

While fax machines may be obsolete, faxing as a practice remains of critical importance to business communication. Without the ability to fax, your business will lose out on vital functionality required for optimised development. There are just too many benefits of fax to give the platform up.

Faxing without a Fax Machine

Online fax solutions provide businesses with the ability to remove obsolete fax machines from their working environment while continuing to send fax documents. Just because the original hardware behind fax has run its course doesn’t mean you can’t continue reaping the benefits of the platform.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

The Slow Death of the Fax Machine

The fax machine is obsolete technology. There is no getting around this fact. Conceived in the 1800s, popularised in the 1970s and supplanted in the late 90s by digital innovations, the hardware really does deserve its place in museums. But why are fax machines obsolete?

As we move further into the digital era, it has become painfully obvious that outdated fax machine hardware is just not up to the task. The technology has many faults and flaws that stop it from supporting modern work environments. From issues with data protection compliance and dangerous security flaws to simple cost-efficiency concerns and a lack of versatility when it comes to enabling better workflow, there are plenty of reasons the fax machine is becoming obsolete.

And that’s not all. Many organisations in the UK are now pushing for the removal of fax machine technology, spurred on by the axe the fax movement. Add to this the fact that Britain will soon be facing the ISDN switch-off, forcing businesses to abandon landlines vital to fax hardware, and it becomes clear that fax machines will soon be a thing of the past in the United Kingdom.

Why Does Fax Still Exist?

If fax machines are obsolete technology, a relic soon to be removed from the British business landscape, why are billions of fax still transmitted annually?

Fax itself is not a poor choice of communication. Contrary to what you may have heard, it’s a powerful form of document transmission that holds a wealth of benefits for businesses and organisations. Instead, the problem is that the way we do business now is very different from how it was during the golden era of fax machines. Security of data is more important; mobility is key to success in the modern day, and new technology offers better opportunities for improved productivity.

The fax machine is certainly obsolete, but faxing isn’t.

The first important faxing benefit to consider is that while fax machines are dying off in some places, in other areas and industries, they still thrive. Many international economies maintain high volumes of fax machine usage, as do entities like the NHS. To communicate with these entities effectively, your business needs fax.

Fax also supports your business in other ways. The practice is considered more authentic in terms of legal documentation than other methods of document sharing, such as email. The sharing of visual files quickly is also highly important for many industries, for which fax still provides the ultimate solution.

What’s Next for Fax?

Businesses cannot afford to remove fax from their communication repertoire if they want to provide true versatility and enable comprehensive connectivity with all potential clients, customers and partners. They also don’t want to remove fax, either, given the benefits it can provide. But we also can’t argue with the fact that the fax machine is a piece of legacy hardware that no longer has a place in our modern world.

So where does that leave us? It leaves us with online faxing.

Online faxing is no obsolete technology. Instead, it uses very modern techniques and tools to provide your business with the fax functionality it needs. This includes advanced data encryption, computer and smartphone compatibility, cloud-based document sharing, electronic signature verification and more. It does all this while still providing the same basic functionality as a fax machine. You can quickly and efficiently send visual documents. You can also easily receive them, whether sent from other digital fax services or via email or fax machine hardware. Become fax-capable without outdated fax machines. There is no solution like it, and it’s exactly what your business needs.

Do I Need a Fax Machine? Why Fax Is Still Important for Business

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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.

Article overview:

What Fax Offers

Fax documents are still used by many businesses and organisations around the world to communicate vital pieces of information. The use of fax offers your business many advantages, including diverse accessibility, legal authenticity and convenience.

Why You Don’t Want a Fax Machine

While you want to send fax, fax machines are archaic pieces of technology that do not benefit your brand. Their use within your business can present a myriad of unwelcome disadvantages, such as security weaknesses, low cost-efficiency and poor reliability.

What to Look for in the Best Online Fax Service

Online faxing presents your business with the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of fax communication without the problems associated with outdated fax machines. Axe the fax machine but not the fax.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

Is Fax Still Around?

Fax machines have been around since the 1800s, although they only really became prevalent after their mass production in the 1970s. Whichever way you look at it, though, it’s hard not to consider fax machines as old technology.

The legendary Nokia 3210 — a mobile handset many would now consider ancient tech — was released in 1999; decades after the fax machine rose to prominence. To give you an even greater perspective on the age of the technology, fax machines are displayed as historic technology in the National Museum of American History. Surely, then, fax machines are not something your business should be concerned with.

Why Do I Need Fax?

Despite its age, fax continues to be an important part of communication for businesses across the world.

Billions of fax documents are transmitted annually, with numbers holding steady year on year. This is in part because faxing remains highly popular in many international economies, such as Japan, as well as that it has become deeply entrenched in many industries and sectors. The NHS, for example, maintains over 8,000 fax machine units. Removing the technology would mean an expensive overhaul of its communication systems, so instead, the technology remains; a statement that can be applied to many other areas. It’s because of this that without the ability to fax, businesses are unable to offer the comprehensive communication functionality required to connect with organisations and brands all over the globe.

Besides enabling important lines of communication, fax has a handful of other significant benefits. Of particular note is its ability to support the authenticity of legal documentation. Due to the methodology of submission, fax documents are considered more viable in legal processes than emailed files, especially when it comes to signatures and dates.

What Is the Problem with Fax Machines?

So that settles the argument, doesn’t it? In answer to the question “Do I need a fax machine?”, the answer is obviously yes.

But hold on.

The reality of fax machine technology is that it is — to quote healthcare secretary Matt Hancock — part of a downright dangerous system that jeopardises security and efficiency. Fax machines are notorious when it comes to data protection and compliance with data protection laws. It’s all too easy to accidentally fax the wrong person the wrong information and end up in breach of the law. Fax transmission errors are the second most common cause of data breaches when considered in the context of human error. In fact, the only more common issue is lost or misplaced paperwork, which also happens as a result of fax machines producing paper documentation unnecessarily.

Other major problems with fax machines are that they are all-too-easily hacked, they cost your business excessive resources and they greatly reduce efficiency. In short, the technology is just not suited for modern business. It was built to support practices that are now long-gone.

Consider the fax machine the steam train of the communication world. While the infrastructure is still there to support it, it’s had its day and as an entity, it was long overdue a change. If we simply got rid of the steam train without replacing it, the transport network would have crumbled. Trains are necessary, but the steam train had to go.

How does this relate to fax and fax machines? Because fax must remain, but like the steam train, the vehicle must be replaced.

How to Fax without a Fax Machine

Online faxing is the evolution of the fax machine. It allows businesses to send and receive fax documents — even from fax machines — without the need for the outdated hardware. All transmissions are handled digitally and submitted through the internet. Fax is sent using the eFax online portal or fax app.

What this means for your business is that you can introduce or maintain fax communication. You can take advantage of all the benefits of fax, from international data sharing to enhanced legal document authenticity, without any of the associated disadvantages that come with ownership of outdated fax machines.

While many call for industries to “axe the fax” — this process is entirely unnecessary and even harmful. Just as with the steam train and rail network, it’s time to upgrade the current fax system without totally removing a powerful piece of infrastructure that is actually highly beneficial.

Axe the fax machine, but not the fax.

How to Choose the Best Online Fax Service: Finding Your New Provider?

Posted on by Scott Schweigert

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.

Article overview:

Why All Online Fax Services Aren't Equal

Why consider which is the best online fax service for your business at all? Surely they all offer the same basic services?

Like fax machines themselves, you get different experiences and benefits depending on the product you buy. The best online fax services help your business grow and develop, while inferior solutions offer only basic and undeveloped solutions.

But how can you tell which services are good, and which aren’t?

What to Look for in the Best Online Fax Service

Finding the best fax online fax service for your business isn’t as difficult as it might seem. While there are many options to choose from, very few offer what you really need.

The best online fax services will include several important benefits, such as cost-effectiveness, strong reliability and vital security features. Looking out for online fax that consists of the right tools for your business helps you support better communication.

Learn More! Read the Full Story Below

Where to Look for Online Fax Services

There should be only one place you are looking for an online fax service. Online fax experts should be qualified in all digital platforms. If you cannot locate them through online methods, you can immediately eliminate them as contenders for your business. Brands advertising in outdated spaces are not the kind of solution providers you want. You might as well keep using outdated fax machines, too. Search for the best online fax services using the internet and you’ll only find those who really understand the online space.

Why Are Online Fax Services Different?

As is typical in any industry, what’s on offer from one company is likely to be different from another. Some of these differences may be subtle — others glaring. When it comes to finding the best online faxing service, the variety of solutions on offer can change depending on several factors. These include:

  • Budget Services

    You will find a range of different price brackets available, from absolute barebones free submissions to overkill packages with a string of unnecessary add ons.

  • Small Business vs. Large Business

    Not all businesses offering online fax services are the same size. You’ll find some small businesses providing what they sell as a “personal touch” that perhaps lacks the resources and backing of larger firms.

  • Industry Experience

    The people behind the service can often be the difference between the best online fax services and the worst. Experience, expertise and credentials are crucial. You’ll find teams vary from business to business, with the best providers often staffed by the most qualified individuals.

  • Software Complexity

    There are different degrees of complexity when it comes to online faxing. Some services offer very basic file transmission. Others — like eFax — push for more bespoke tools and functionality to enhance the user experience and take services beyond simple digital document sharing.

How to Find the Best Online Fax Service: The Complete Checklist

Given the differences in solution providers, finding the best online fax service might sound like a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be. This checklist will help you perform a quick analysis of the product on offer, so you can work out if the service is right for you:

Specialised Services 

Some online fax services will come bundled in with other solutions. You don’t want this. The best online fax services will always be specialists. Brands that have devoted their time and resources into bringing you one thing and one thing only: Online fax.

Focus on Security 

Data security is vital in the modern era. All fax you send needs to be secure. The best online fax services are going to push for the ultimate in security with data encryption and security monitoring. You should avoid those that don’t offer this service. 

Balanced Cost-Benefit Ratio

Expensive services are unlikely to offer you good value for money. Cheap services won’t give you the versatility you need. Evaluate costs and weigh up price vs the product. The best online fax service will provide a balance between fees and utility. 

Dedicated Customer Service

Some of the more cheap-and-cheerful online fax services are basically just a website with a few fax features. For a business with responsibilities and customers, you need more. Find an online fax provider that offers genuine customer support. 

Credible Industry Expertise 

A quality and stable product is built by experts with experience and knowledge of their industry. Look for signs that demonstrate credibility, such as accreditations, reviews and history within the online faxing business. 

Accountable Reliability 

For some businesses, faxing is critical to success. You need to be sure your fax is always up and running. This means you need to know there is a team behind the service you use dedicated to looking after your platform and supporting your needs.

Opportunities for Scaling

Businesses regularly face ebbs and flows. The solutions suitable for you today may not be appropriate next month or next year. The best online fax service doesn’t lock you in, and will allow you to adapt; scaling for both increased and decreased fax volume.

Commitment to Updates

Developments in technology mean there is always room for new opportunities when it comes to online services. Your fax service needs to be making updates and growing instead of sticking with the same old tools year after year.

Strong Functionality

Online fax can offer so much more than just file transmission. The best online fax services are going to provide additional features to enhance business communication. These features include tools like a fax app, access controls, document management and more.