eFax is a completely digital fax system that allows businesses to send fax documents over the internet.
There is no fax hardware required, nor do you need special setups. Fax is sent from your computer, smartphone or tablet using our online solutions.
Through the use of digital technology, eFax can offer a range of solutions that fax machines cannot. It can also provide numerous benefits over the legacy hardware.
Faster communication, less downtime and more cost-effective solutions for your business. These are all advantages to be gained from eFax.
We all know what a fax machine is and what it does, but what about online faxing? Before we can look at the difference between fax and eFax, it’s important to understand what eFax actually is. eFax is both a brand and a term used to describe online or “electronic” faxing. Both offer the same solution: faxing over the internet.
Online faxing is a straightforward practice that eliminates the need for the legacy fax machine. It allows you to send and receive fax documents over the internet using phones, computers and tablets. Instead of transmitting physical paper files, our system operates using digital documents like PDFs. You upload your document to your eFax account and send it using our custom-built online portal. This process means you don’t have to print off documents to fax them. However, if you want to fax a physical document, you can always capture it using smartphone cameras for easy upload to our service.
Now that it’s clear what online faxing is, we can look at the difference between fax and eFax:
Fax Machine | eFax | |
Flexibility | Immobile and heavy hardware units that often require landline connection to operate | Accessible anywhere with an internet connection. Allows for flexible and remote faxing |
Resources | Requires ink, toner, paper and maintenance, resulting in high costs from regular usage | A totally digital format that only requires access to digital devices. Low cost and light on resources |
Features | The ability to send and receive fax documents from other fax machines | Large file transfers, submits fax to multiple recipients, simultaneous access for several users and more |
Legal Uses | Send and receive legal documentation through submission of signatures and reliable date stamps | Send and receive legal documentation through electronic signatures and date stamps |
Scalability | Purchase machines and find office space for new units to increase fax volume. Or remove old and unused units if volume decreases | Immediately purchase a higher number of online fax credits to keep up with demand, or reduce subscription size to fit your needs |
Document Management | Print and store all required documents in physical units such as filing cabinets | Save and archive received and sent documents on secure cloud servers for easy access |
Security | Limited security options, leading to the potential for unauthorised third-party access | Advanced encryption, 24/7 live security monitoring and access controls to files |
The above highlights the difference between fax and eFax, and the disparities in the technology that now exists. Old-fashioned fax machines were unrivalled in their day. But developments in digital solutions now mean online faxing offers a much more viable fax system for businesses. Switching from legacy fax machines to eFax means you can better support your brand’s communication goals through these powerful benefits: