Faxing for most sounds like outdated technology, especially when the members of the workforce are young. There are many organizations (especially in healthcare, government, and legal industries) that are still using faxing when sharing documents, and they are going to expect you to conduct business this way. How can you have faxing functionality without having to deal with the work that comes with having a physical resource burden?
Virtual services such as iFax (also known as “electronic fax”, “online fax”, or ”eFax”) is a solution that helps you with faxing in the current electronic world. With virtual fax, you can upload electronic documents to an inline fax portal, and then it is going to be converted and securely send the document to a fax number. When you receive a fax, it is going to arrive in an electronic attachment on the email address you select.
(Un)delivered Documents – Email vs. Email
Emails can be easily blocked, especially when the business has security filters that scan and reroute emails to junk or spam folders. There are some that have powerful filters that will not even allow incoming emails to go to the spam or junk folder. They delete the file the moment it is received.
When you attach a file and send it to the company, then there is a good chance it is going to end up in their spam or junk folder, or even deleted. If this happens, then your business partner might end up missing an important document, and this can result in delays.
Using a fax app can help you avoid this problem. When you send a file using an online fax service to a fam machine, it is not going to be scanned and categorized as spam. The file is going to reach the recipient.
This email problem doesn’t apply when it involves exchanging files within the company. Most send documents using emails and this is why systems don’t deem the emails as being suspicious.
Email vs. Online Fax
Email usually has a lot of security issues because they are used by many organizations and people. They can be easily forged or hacked. They then gain access to confidential information of the company.
When attaching files to an email, things get even more complicated. When you receive or send contracts, official material, or medical documentation, you can end up catching malicious software or spyware and this can infect your computer or even the entire business network.
This is why most companies in the medical, economic, and legal sectors choose online fax over email. When using online fax services, the files are safeguarded by SSL encryption. The encryption is going to keep your documents and sensitive data safe when you use a web browser.
How can you know whether there is SSL encryption? The first thing is making sure that the web address begins with HHTPS and not HTTP.
What are the benefits of a virtual fax service?
- Fewer Resources Required
When you have virtual fax, you don’t need to get a fax machine that takes up space, and therefore there is no paper or ink to purchase. You also don’t have to spend on repair and maintenance of the fax machines. Virtual fax uses the Internet, you don’t have to pay for a dedicated phone line for faxing.
- Location Flexibility
Using virtual fax allows to send and receive faxes from anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection. The Faxes go directly to your email inbox. If you are out of the office for a business trip or working from home, you can still access important documents by having them faxed. This is the same case when sending faxes. You can upload electronic documents and send them out.
- Convenience
With virtual faxing, you don't have to wait at the office max machine when you want to send or receive it. You just have to go to your email inbox and see what has come in. If you want to send out a fax, then you just upload it electronically and send it with a click of a mouse. You also have the option of sending out the same fax to more than one number at a time. Incoming faxes can also be received by many people in the distribution list.
- Going Green
When using the traditional fax machine, every new fax is printed out, even spam, which leads to a lot of waste. There are studies that have shown that in the United States alone, fax machines consumes 200 billion pages of paper every year. This is a lot. With virtual fax, nothing is printed, so you don’t need to print anything unless you want the document in a physical copy.
- Greater Security
Documents are safer on virtual fax over the traditional fax because the documents are not going to lie there in the open. Virtual fax uses encryption when sending and receiving the fax, and the only person to see it is the one receiving it. If you want to look at the fax, you have to log in using your email and password.
- Easier Recordkeeping
It is easier to store faxes when using virtual fax because you can sort and file documents electronically instead of keeping physical copies of documents. Some scan the documents they received so they can store them electronically. The fax portal allows you to see outgoing and incoming faxes.
