What Is Online Faxing? How Internet Faxing Works
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.
Article overview:
What Is Online Faxing?
Online faxing is the replacement of the fax machine. It is a digital tool that enables the submission and reception of fax documents through the internet.
There is no fax machine hardware involved at all. All fax communication is carried out using an online portal, which can be accessed by smartphones, computers or the eFax fax app.
Why Make Online Faxing Part of Your Business?
So what is online faxing? It’s the upgrade to fax processes that your business needs. Continue to send fax messages to customers, clients and partners without the need for archaic fax machine hardware.
Take advantage of an internet fax service like eFax and support new opportunities for business growth. Online fax has the potential to help your business develop in new and exciting ways.
Learn More! Read the Full Story Below
What Is Online Faxing?
The question of “what is online faxing” is something we’re often posed here at eFax. The answer is very simple:
Online faxing is a replacement system for legacy fax machines. It is a service that allows your business to send and receive fax documents online through your email, our online portal or the eFax fax app. These submission platforms can be accessed using both smart devices and computers. You don’t need a traditional fax machine at all — you can fax using modern technology exclusively over the internet.
eFax: How Does It Work?
Again, the answer is actually very simple.
eFax uses cloud technology to transmit digital files between businesses. You access our services through whichever platform you choose — email, online portal, fax app or a combination of the three. You can then write your fax message and attach digital fax documents to it. This is like feeding physical paper into a fax machine, but instead, your fax is uploaded as a digital file. If you want to send a physical file, you can capture it using a smartphone camera and upload it as an image. eFax also has additional features, such as the ability to send files to multiple recipients and electronic signature functionality.
While this all sounds like a slightly advanced email system, eFax presents some key and important differences between fax and email.
The biggest difference is that you can use our online fax services to send documents directly to a fax machine. You can also have fax documents sent to your eFax digital account from a traditional fax machine. Email is incapable of performing this action. This process is achieved through custom eFax document converter tools that ensure files submitted by both digital systems and physical fax hardware are compatible with the recipient’s technology.
What Is Online Faxing Going to Do for Your Business? The Five Core Advantages
By introducing eFax services into your business, you also introduce a range of benefits that can help transform many aspects of your company. These benefits are unavailable through the continued use of traditional fax machines. But what are these core advantages?
Flexibility
The fax machine is immobile and inflexible. You can’t move it around easily and it provides poor opportunities for scalability. Need to send more fax? You need another fax machine. Online faxing lets you supercharge your business flexibility. Anywhere you have a connection to the internet, you can send a fax — no waiting to get back to the office to send important files. You can also adapt your output based not on the volume of fax machines available but simply by updating your subscription. Start sending more faxes instantly and scale up fast.Security
The security flaws of fax machines are well-documented. From being far too easy to hack to amplifying the risks of human error, the archaic technology is just not suitable for modern business processes. What is online faxing doing to increase security? eFax digital systems include advanced encryption, adaptable access controls, 24/7 security monitoring, regular service updates to ensure your documents are protected and many more tools designed to secure your business.Reliability
Fax machines have a reputation; a notorious reputation. We’ve all experienced service outages, problems with getting documents to print, input issues, jams, a failure to send or receive files, and more. Online fax does not suffer from these problems. With near-constant uptime, no physical processes to cause problems and advanced transmission channels, you can be safe in the knowledge your fax system is always ready to go and that your document will reach the recipient when you need it to.Efficiency
Online faxing helps rid your business of major inefficiencies caused by fax machines. Facing queues for the fax machine? Wasting time sending large files? Only able to submit one document to one recipient at a time? Always running out of toner or paper? These are just a few issues businesses operating fax machines routinely face. There are just so many ways that fax machines can slow you, your staff and your business down. Online faxing does not have these limitations. Fire off a fax when you need, whenever you need, without worrying about the restrictions physical fax hardware places on your business.Cost-Effectivity
Fax machines are expensive technology. They require maintenance, toner, ink, paper and storage facilities for all the files created by the hardware. Fax machines themselves also cost a small fortune, which makes them expensive to replace or scale. What is online faxing going to do for your business? It’s going to save it money. Say goodbye to all those expensive physical assets. Online fax requires only a low-cost monthly subscription.
Does Your Business Really Need Online Faxing?
What is online faxing going to do for your business besides offering the five core benefits outlined above? It’s going to keep your company active, help you avoid downtime and ensure no loss of communication.
The 2025 ISDN switch-off will force all businesses to update their fax systems. If you don’t change how you send your fax documents by this date, you’ll face downtime in your communication as you find a replacement. If you don’t make a change, you’ll suffer a complete outage by not moving forward with faxing entirely. The result is that you'll have to abandon the platform of fax altogether.
But you don’t want to do that.
Billions of fax documents are still sent every year. The process is entrenched within many industries. If you aren't able to fax, you could lose the ability to communicate vital information. It can also hamper international business. Many countries still regularly use fax as a major form of document transfer.
With the BT 2025 switch-off looming, you may be tempted towards VoIP to avoid losing fax services. However, VoIP is not as optimised for faxing as eFax online fax services. It has its own limitations and does not offer the five core benefits highlighted in this blog because it still uses traditional fax machine hardware.
Your business has to upgrade its fax transmission at some point in the near future or it will lose the capability entirely. This is a nightmare scenario for many. Instead of facing a world without fax or moving to inferior systems, integrating online faxing ensures your business uses the best fax solution out there.
When you’ve got no choice and you have to make a change, why settle for second best?