Healthcare leaders are promoting technology to transform workflows into efficient, digital processes. As healthcare organizations aim to increase interoperability and improve patient outcomes, they need to adopt digital tools that enable secure information sharing. Technology like cloud faxing solutions allows healthcare providers to streamline workflows and effortlessly comply with privacy laws.

Despite the availability of advanced digital solutions, many healthcare providers continue to transmit protected health information (PHI) using outdated technology. For example, according to a 2019 survey conducted by the American Medical Association, physicians most commonly complete prior authorizations via fax or phone. Some doctors mail paperwork.

Using traditional fax technology to share PHI with other healthcare providers or insurance companies welcomes compliance risks and workflow challenges. Staff must add steps to their workflow and manually send, retrieve or shred documents. Also, PHI might not land in the hands of authorized personnel when it’s faxed, potentially leading to a violation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Luckily, healthcare providers can eliminate the risks and hassles of traditional faxing methods and instead optimize their workflow with cloud faxing. Let’s look at how a cloud fax service improves healthcare efficiency and patient satisfaction.

Healthcare Workflows That Are Ideal for Cloud Faxing

Optimized workflows simplify communications between providers and enhance patient care. You can streamline administrative tasks and seamlessly gather clinical data by implementing cloud faxing in your facility. Here are healthcare workflows that can benefit most from cloud faxing:

1. Lab Requests

Labs may need a physician’s signature to draw blood or perform other tests so they can get reimbursed by a patient’s insurer. Healthcare providers often do not have labs in-house and have to outsource these services. As part of the process, physicians might print out lab request forms and hand them to patients.

Cloud faxing allows physicians to skip the printing step and digitally sign and send lab test requests. Doctors can also receive lab results securely through their cloud faxing service and not have to worry about the documents getting lost or seen by others.

2. Pharmacy Refills

Pharmacies require a physician’s signature to dispense controlled substances. Some systems may not recognize a digital signature, which can delay medication refills. Advanced cloud faxing technology can remove the barriers associated with outdated systems and improve communication between pharmacies and providers overall.

3. Prior Authorizations

Healthcare providers handle an overwhelming amount of forms and supporting documents to obtain prior authorizations from insurers. Physicians might transmit lab results, imaging reports and patient information to insurance companies every day. According to data released by the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH), healthcare providers could save 14 minutes per prior authorization transaction by conducting these tasks electronically. Cloud faxing is the ideal solution for accelerating prior authorization processes.

4. Imaging Reports

Many radiologists still use traditional faxing methods to send diagnostic reports and images to referring doctors. These materials and their timestamps need to be added to patient files. Cloud based faxing automatically adds audit trails to each transmission and doesn’t require staff to scan documents into their electronic health record (EHR) system.

5. Referrals

Primary care physicians regularly need to send referrals to specialists. Cloud faxing allows physicians to send referrals directly to an ancillary provider’s EHR system. Likewise, specialists can easily transmit patient data to the referring doctor’s cloud fax service. Through cloud faxing, doctors can help their patients get the care they need faster and with fewer headaches.

Benefits of Cloud Faxing for the Healthcare Industry

Cloud faxing for healthcare providers offers greater security than traditional methods, so you can feel assured that your practice is compliant with privacy laws. Cloud faxing is also a much more efficient way to send faxes, helping your practice save on labor and supply costs. Overall, cloud faxing benefits include:

1. Eliminate Inefficient Workflows

Cloud faxing is as easy as sending and receiving an email. It can reduce manual paper handling and all the related inefficiencies.

For example, with cloud faxing, staff can integrate faxes into their EHR system, removing the need to scan documents, manually enter data and shred papers. According to the CAQH, healthcare providers could save over a million labor hours per week by completing manual tasks electronically.

2. Reduce Compliance Risks

Healthcare organizations are required to comply with HIPAA and protect their patients’ privacy. Yet, when practices use traditional faxing methods to send and receive PHI, they put patients’ privacy at risk.

Sending faxes the old way means documents can get lost, sent to the wrong location or left out in the open. Cloud faxing eliminates the risk of losing documents as they travel from one provider to the next. Plus, cloud faxing systems feature HIPAA-compliant safeguards to give healthcare providers peace of mind.

3. Decrease Costs

With cloud faxing capabilities, you no longer have to pay for paper, ink, ongoing maintenance or dedicated phone lines. You’ll also save on labor costs because staff can work more efficiently when they send faxes through the cloud.

4. Increase Mobility

Cloud faxing allows physicians and staff to send or receive faxes anywhere they have internet access from any computer or mobile device. Doctors and nurses can respond quickly to transmitted information because they can access it immediately.

5. Support Interoperability

Today’s healthcare providers can benefit from technology that enables seamless data sharing and promotes interoperability, such as cloud faxing. Imagine a doctor needs to send a patient’s records to another provider immediately. Rather than needing to print out paper copies of a patient’s information, they could instead use cloud faxing to transmit data directly from their EHR, saving time and helping the patient get treated faster.

6. Improve Patient Satisfaction

When healthcare providers have efficient workflows, they can respond to patients’ needs quickly, spend more time with them and focus on providing excellent care. Providers can use cloud faxing as a tool to improve operations and boost patient satisfaction overall, even as they welcome more patients into their practice.

Tips for Healthcare Workflow Improvement

An improved workflow has profound benefits for patients and staff. An optimized workflow reduces work-related stress, improves clinical outcomes and increases revenue. Here are tips for refining your practice’s workflow:

• Identify waste: Analyze your workflow and look for steps that aren’t valuable to your patients or practice. For example, if you ask patients questions that a medical assistant just asked, you’re taking wasted steps. After you identify wasted steps, you can work to eliminate them.
• Upgrade communication systems: Outdated communication systems slow staff down and add frustration to daily processes. To improve workflow significantly, focus on implementing modern communication technology in your office. This also includes replacing paper-based processes with digital alternatives. With new technology, you and staff can enjoy greater mobility and flexibility.
• Improve scheduling procedures: You can reduce downtime in your practice by changing the way you handle patient scheduling. For example, allowing patients to manage their appointments through your EHR system or sending text reminders can reduce no-shows and increase patient satisfaction. You can also ask patients to access a patient portal and complete registration forms before their appointment, and decrease employees’ workloads as a result.

Improve Your Healthcare Company With Cloud Faxing

Cloud faxing does more than save your healthcare organization time and money. With cloud faxing, your staff can find relief from compliance risks and inefficiencies, allowing them to prioritize patient care. If you’re ready to implement cloud faxing in your office, we’re eager to help you at Softlinx.

At Softlinx, we offer ReplixFax — a HIPAA-compliant cloud fax service for healthcare. ReplixFax provides easy-to-use features to help you quickly and securely send, receive and file faxes on your computer or mobile device. To learn more about ReplixFax Cloud Fax Service, contact us today or request a quote.

Faxing has traditionally played a prominent role in the healthcare industry. One private survey suggests that faxing accounts for up to 75% of medical communications. Many insurance companies require claim submission by fax, even though this technology is outdated and often frustrating for healthcare providers to work with because of its inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities.

Cloud faxing offers an appealing technological solution. It enhances the efficient and secure exchange of data to help different healthcare partners communicate more reliably.

One of cloud faxing’s main benefits is the interoperability it allows. Because of their centralized nature and broad compatibility, cloud fax services allow different healthcare providers to exchange information seamlessly across various digital platforms and software.

8 Ways Cloud Fax Boosts Interoperability in Healthcare

Cloud fax and interoperability in healthcare go hand in hand. Migrating to a cloud service helps boost interoperability over different technological platforms in several critical ways:

1. Facilitating Communication Between EHRs

In the last couple of decades, healthcare facilities have increasingly adopted the use of electronic health records (EHRs) as secure, private ways of recording and storing sensitive patient information. The design of cloud faxing services makes them compatible with a range of different EHR systems and allows for effective electronic communication and a seamless exchange of vital patient data.

Ideally, EHRs would function as examples of beneficial interoperability technologies, enhancing communications between providers. But despite the widespread adoption of individual EHRs in healthcare, interoperability challenges remain. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, as of 2017, only 41% of U.S. hospitals could send, receive, find and integrate patient information electronically to and from outside providers.

This low figure persists even though 96% of all hospitals have adopted a certified EHR. However, the use of easy-to-integrate cloud faxing technology is a promising step toward convenient, widespread interfacility communication.

2. Enabling Direct Embedding Into EHRs

One of the reasons cloud faxing works so well to provide interoperability between different EHR systems is that it enables healthcare providers to embed the cloud faxing system directly into their EHRs. Specific application programming interfaces (APIs) exist to integrate data from faxes automatically into the EHR.

When multiple healthcare facilities have cloud faxing embedded in their EHRs, they gain the ability to send, receive and store faxes easily within their systems and send data to others while keeping files secure. They can deliver documents like clinical summaries and lab results without requiring providers to print paper documents or send them over unsecured lines. They can even add bar codes to their transmissions for more convenient and secure routing.

3. Centralizing Data Storage

Cloud fax technology enables providers to view user healthcare documentation in a single centralized repository. This centralization allows for the timely use of data and streamlines access for users as long as they have the correct authorization. Especially in smaller or more rural practices that may not yet have implemented EHRs, using a centralized cloud faxing system can allow some of the same access and data-sharing capabilities. The additional benefit is that cloud fax services are generally much easier to implement and learn than EHR platforms.

4. Enabling Multi-Device Access

Because cloud fax systems store their data in the secure cloud, this information is accessible from various authorized devices, from desktops to laptops to tablets. This flexibility increases interoperability by allowing healthcare providers to work with the service regardless of the type of technology they use in their practices.

5. Providing Structured Data

One of the shortcomings of traditional communications is their lack of consistent structure. Incompatible pieces of infrastructure, whether physical or digital, can impede effective information transmission. One facility may not have the necessary hardware to communicate with the next, or paper and digital communication and storage systems may not integrate. Cloud faxing systems’ consistently compatible structures ensure a range of facilities can access and use the same information.

6. Increasing Efficiency

When multiple healthcare systems need to work together, maximizing efficiency is essential for streamlining processes and keeping one system from holding up information exchange. Cloud fax systems are highly efficient. They minimize the need for physical record keeping, scanning, filing and waiting, as well as manual data integration and the destruction of sensitive hard-copy records. Their integration capabilities also help reduce the inefficiencies that occur when facilities must expend extensive time and effort figuring out how to get one system to work with another.

7. Ensuring Security of Sensitive Information

A healthcare facility that prides itself on full Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance may be reluctant to transmit data to a less compliant system. The second facility may have some privacy protections in place, for instance, but be unable to ensure complete end-to-end encryption of sensitive data because it uses traditional faxing. Communication delays between the two may occur as the facilities attempt to provide an acceptable level of patient data security in their transmissions.

Cloud faxing systems are fully HIPAA-compliant and ensure end-to-end encryption of sensitive data. They can restrict access to authorized users and provide audit access only to official IT departments. Providers that work within a network of these systems gain the peace of mind of knowing they’re doing their part to protect patient privacy by promoting secure data exchange in healthcare.

8. Archiving Information for Future Use

Cloud fax systems archive all data that passes through them. Authorized users can search for the information at any time using keywords, tags, dates or other identifying information. In the past, having to call or fax another facility might have represented a barrier to information access. Providers might have let these tasks slip through the cracks because of time pressures, making cooperation between healthcare partners more difficult. Centralized cloud fax services make access to old data much easier and promote information sharing.

Make Softlinx Your Trusted Source for Healthcare Cloud Faxing

To see the benefits of secure, reliable cloud fax solutions in your healthcare practice, contact Softlinx.

Our fully HIPAA-compliant healthcare cloud faxing services provide secure communication options to help you make your information management more efficient. We can help you meet your security compliance requirements while increasing interoperability between your practice and other facilities you communicate with. You can focus less of your energy on transmitting data and more on the critical work of patient care.

Our responsive, knowledgeable service teams offer customer service and support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We offer a free 30-day trial service so you can try our cloud faxing platform before you buy it. We can also provide a free consultation for your business — we’ll help develop a cost-benefit analysis of migrating to a cloud service so you can weigh the pros and cons before committing.

Get a quote today, or contact us to learn more about how cloud faxing can help you upgrade your technology and secure healthcare data sharing.

Any business that deals heavily with communication and information transfers knows the importance of having a secure, reliable system. Technology for companies is always expanding, growing and improving, and it has become essential to keep up with the latest trends. Staying up to date means more streamlined operations for your employees and better security for your customers.

Thankfully, the prevalence and quality of high-speed internet services have facilitated expansion through software. The more you can consolidate to online services, the smoother your workflow will be. One of the ways you can shift your processes to internet-based services is through FoIP solutions. This guide will explain what business fax over IP is, how it benefits you and why more companies are choosing to use it.

What Are FoIP Solutions?

As a basic working definition, Fax over Internet Protocol (FoIP) is a method of sending faxes via the internet. FoIP is also often referred to as virtual fax or IP faxing. It works similarly to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which uses the internet and a software provider for communications as a replacement for standard telephone providers. The most significant change in both cases is the shift from an independent service provider to integrated software, changing the medium of data transmission.

You may be familiar with the ins and outs of Internet Protocol if you have begun integrating these types of services into your company’s workflow. If you aren’t, it’s an important concept to understand. Internet Protocol is the process and standards of transferring data via the internet and ensuring it reaches the correct recipient or address. It uses IP packets to transmit your information.

IP packets are groupings of information. By dividing the whole into chunks of data, IP services make it possible for routers and software to receive, decode and comprehend the full transmission. Ultimately, the faxes are sent as images or PDF files, which the recipient can download and save or choose to print if necessary.

Softlinx’s ReplixFax Server offers a variety of solutions to tailor-fit FoIP to the needs of your industry and company. From security compliance to faxing capabilities, our systems will upgrade your communication workflow. With ReplixFax, you can set up cloud faxing as an independent network service or deploy it through your existing VoIP channel. In either case, your internal IP network and media gateway must support a T.38 FoIP protocol or G.711 protocol. You can also use our secure, compliant cloud fax services, which is provisioned and managed by Softlinx and requires only an internet connection to use.

The T.38 FoIP protocol is also referred to as real-time faxing. With this protocol, fax transmissions go straight through to the recipient without waiting for storage. It’s fast, simple and allows employees to fax straight from their computers. The G.711 protocol is even more simplified and often used as a backup if a T.38 call can’t process properly. With the right software, it’s a useful fallback. Both are easy to implement for any company and provide an effective faxing solution.

Who Uses FoIP Solutions?

Cloud faxing is growing in popularity across a variety of industries. In a 2017 survey conducted by the International Data Corporation, in which 200 firms with over 500 employees each participated, 82% of respondents said they had seen the same amount or an increase in overall fax usage as compared to 2016. Of these participants, the survey data saw a shift towards internet fax for business, as more companies began using the computer-based services.

The upward trend is reflective of the idea that many industries can benefit from migrating to FoIP. Beyond some of the general benefits, cloud faxing can also fulfill the specific requirements of companies in several sectors. Some of the biggest industries that use FoIP solutions include:

Healthcare

Organizations centered around healthcare and medical services need to enforce high level of data security. From streamlining their communication channels to providing ample protection during information transmission, these companies rely on cloud-based faxing.

For those in the healthcare industry, compliance with government and practice regulations is essential. One of the most pertinent is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA directly affects the way healthcare and medical organizations can communicate data, transmit documents and store patient information. These regulations can make it challenging to find a compliant method of sending and receiving sensitive materials.

Thankfully, many FoIP alternatives understand the need for consistent security and meet or exceed the HIPAA standards. They allow medical institutions to fax documents and information while encrypting the data and keeping it safe from security risks and potential threats.

Financial Institutions

From auditing and independent practices to banks and other large businesses, financial institutions deal with large quantities of private information daily. Their clients trust them to store and transfer their data safely. Breaches can have major consequences for the affected customers and reflect negatively on the company. Many financial documents are also time-sensitive, meaning there’s no time to wait for service availability to open up.

FoIP solutions cover all these areas and more. Online faxing can provide multiple levels of data security during storage and transmission stages. With encryption and secure data centers that can handle large amounts of information, businesses can be sure their clients aren’t exposed to risks like data theft or loss due to outages.

In addition to information safety, time is a significant factor in financial operations. From signing legally binding documents to performing and delivering tax audits on time, FoIP solutions will help ensure data reaches its recipient before deadlines. Online services allow senders to put multiple files through at once and receive them at the same time. Additionally, if an auditor has to respond to important faxes, they can access the document, download it and send reply faxes from anywhere — in the office, from home or on the road.

Manufacturing Companies

In the manufacturing industry, time is a valuable asset. These companies need to stay in constant communication with their partners, suppliers and clients, and any delay in response time could greatly affect a manufacturing company’s top-line revenue or cause a backup in their projects, pushing deadlines and extending work periods.

By using FoIP services, companies in the manufacturing industry can ensure their documents reach their recipients quickly and without fail. Online faxing sends everything virtually, meaning a fast delivery and response time. For documents that require signatures or work clearances and plan approvals, having a direct and quick method of communication is incredibly important. Cloud faxing also allows the sender to process and receive multiple documents simultaneously, meaning no wait time.

On top of speed, FoIP can also help bring expenses down, allowing companies to price their services more competitively. By moving faxing capabilities and storage off-site to a cloud-hosted system, manufacturers can cut down on their service and IT costs significantly.

How Does FoIP Differ From Email?

At first, it’s easy to think that FoIP has similar functionality as an email system. However, it’s far more secure and allows you to send information directly to a fax number. It’s essential software for businesses that rely on faxing for information communication. It’s also a necessary form of transmission for businesses that deal with particularly sensitive customer information, such as healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.

For those who do need to send and receive confidential or personal data, there are often security regulations and acts in place that require you to have a reliable transmission system. For example, compliance with HIPAA requires you to have a form of secure messaging for sensitive information and data sent outside your internal email network or firewall. And encryption isn’t enough to fulfill the requirements described in the act.

There’s also the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which reforms business practices by requiring higher levels of security and reliability from corporate organizations, accounting teams and independent auditing firms. As with HIPAA, it restricts companies from sending emails containing sensitive information or private data, as it is an unreliable means of transmission.

To make emails compliant with these acts — if your company can in the first place — you’d have to resort to some complex solutions. However, FoIP faxing has better security, meaning you don’t have to use email to transfer sensitive data at all. Online business fax uses servers with improved protections intended for sending and receiving data of any nature.

The Benefits of FoIP

With the improved capabilities and integration of cloud-based services, FoIP is becoming more and more popular with companies of every size and industry. The software that drives the system is always growing and improving, meaning you can continually upgrade to stay as productive as possible.

Business fax over IP services have no shortage of advantages, including:

Streamlined Processes

Many FoIP service providers and software options can help streamline your company’s workflow by connecting your faxing capabilities to your internet services. Having this setup also allows you to integrate and automate processes. For example, for companies that handle health records, their workers frequently have to move documents from their system to other software and back.

By connecting their software to FoIP, they can automate document delivery processes. Additionally, FoIP allows your business to streamline your communication by using internet services as a single channel, rather than having a separate telephone line, which also helps to decrease costs.

Easy Installation

Two of the most common deterrents that make many companies hesitate when it comes to integrating new software or hardware are the potential for installation downtime and slowing productivity with the learning curve. With FoIP, you won’t have to worry about either.

The installation process is easy and fast, and there’s a good chance your current IP infrastructure already supports it. If it does, then you already have everything you need, which keeps costs and time to a minimum. Also, there is virtually no learning curve for your employees to hurdle — FoIP integrates well with any workflow and allows individuals to access everything they need on a single dashboard.

Improved Security and Compliance

For many industries and companies, security is a major issue. Their reputation and the safety of their clients’ information relies upon the compliance of their communication systems. Any potential threats or risks can be damaging, especially for those in the financial or healthcare sectors.

Sending information through FoIP services is a reliable and safe form of communication and document transmission. You send data through a virtual fax number, which transfers your documents directly to your recipient’s email address with full encryption.

Computers and email inboxes are password-protected, making the transmitted information much harder to steal or lose. It also reduces risk by allowing the recipient to save the document directly to their computer, rather than printing and filing it. It keeps your sensitive data safe and keeps your company compliant with data regulations.

Improved Connectivity

In the modern era, larger companies typically need to work harder to promote connectivity between their departments and workers. Many businesses have hundreds of employees, and in most cases, some or a significant portion work remotely. Remote work has been on an upward trend for years and continues to grow — as of 2016, 60% of national organizations offer partial or full-time telecommuting opportunities.

By taking your communication to an online platform, you streamline your services and allow your workers access to the same functionality. Those outside the office can use the software with ease, keeping them on the same page as your internal workforce. Cloud services make collaboration much more straightforward, especially when it comes to data communication.

Pairing With VoIP

Whether you’ve invested in VoIP services or not, it pairs well with FoIP. If you have made the switch from traditional telephone lines to VoIP, then you have a comparable idea of how it will work for faxing as well. But if you haven’t, the two go hand in hand, replacing telephone services with cloud-based internet servers. With both, you can bring your legacy telephone network service costs down to zero and focus solely on communication through the same server.

6 Reasons Why Businesses Use FoIP Solutions

There are many reasons why businesses are turning towards FoIP services. With so many benefits, including a distinct move towards greener, more streamlined practices and the future growth and reliability of software, online fax for businesses is expected to continue on an upward trend. Some of the top reasons companies switch to business fax over IP systems include:

1. Reducing Expenses

For companies that rely on faxing often, it’s important to reduce communication expenses as much as possible. Depending on how often your employees use fax to send or receive information, you can easily save money by adopting FoIP services. FoIP works to reduce your expenses in several ways:

• Less hardware: Most companies have an infrastructure that will support FoIP right away, meaning you likely won’t have to invest in any new devices. As long as you have high-speed internet capabilities, you’ll be ready for the switch.
• Fewer supplies: With FoIP, you can decrease your supply order costs significantly and put the money towards your software or service costs instead. Since the entire process of online faxing is virtualized, you’ll lower your toner and paper use.
• Lower maintenance needs: With FoIP, you can give your on-site IT team a break. Software providers have support teams to help you in the event of a connection error or other similar issues. They’ll handle any problems and your technicians can focus on other maintenance needs around the office.
• Fewer services: If you don’t use landlines or are trying to move towards VoIP communication, FoIP allows you to lump in faxing with your internet provider or VoIP lines. Overall, it decreases your need for a separate telephone plan and streamlines your system into a cloud-based server, meaning one bill and one provider.

2. Streamlining Workflow

In basic terms, FoIP solutions make communication simpler. There’s no need to scan printed faxes into your system to save them as computer files and barely even a reason to look away from your computer. You can pull up faxes instantaneously, group files together and collect information quickly. By consolidating all this functionality to a single online dashboard, your team will be able to work without unnecessary interruptions.

3. Increasing Flexibility

Flexibility is an essential quality for any company to have. It ensures you can do things like jump from one project to another with ease, communicate through multiple channels simultaneously and accommodate clients’ needs. FoIP solutions provide the kind of flexibility that allows your employees to complete their tasks faster and worry less about deadlines.

With FoIP, your team sends and receives faxes virtually, meaning a few things. For one, they can accept and respond to multiple faxes simultaneously. Two, they can receive faxes and check to make sure they went through accurately without being in the office, whether they’re on a business trip or out of the building for the day. Three, FoIP allows you to locate servers anywhere, improving the reliability and security of your faxes.

Since there’s no physical device necessary, your team can take their faxing jobs anywhere. As long as they can access their dashboard online, they’ll be ready for anything. Whether they’re on their phone, tablet or home computer, they can send and receive faxes without waiting.

4. Upgrading Quality

For data such as tables and graphs with small print or numbers, low-res settings can be a problem.

FoIP systems mean better quality images every time. Since the internet servers can relay information in clear, high-resolution attachments, you won’t have to worry about readability. It can also save time for those receiving faxes, as they won’t have to ask the sender to try for a clearer copy. When your data is easier to read, there’s a slimmer chance the recipient will make any reading errors.

5. Improving Security

One of the biggest reasons companies make a move to FoIP services is security. As previously mentioned, various regulations surround the sending and receiving of sensitive data, and email doesn’t make the cut. Healthcare companies, auditing firms, legal teams and many other industries need a service that’s reliable and decreases the risk of information falling into the wrong hands.

FoIP fits these requirements in several ways. First, any data sent through the software is encrypted to protect it through the transmission process. Since you use a direct virtual fax number, there’s also a slimmer chance of your fax ending up in the wrong hands, as it goes straight to your recipient’s password-protected email inbox. Using business FoIP will also help your company’s compliance with federal regulations, as many regard it as one of the safest methods of sending and receiving information.

6. Environmental Benefits

Beyond your company benefitting directly, you’ll also be helping the movement towards greener business practices. For those looking to decrease their waste and carbon footprint, FoIP services contribute significantly.

For one, they decrease your company’s contribution to landfills. With less need to print, you can use far less ink, saving you money and slowing your use. It can also bring down your daily paper use, as FoIP allows your employees to save faxed files directly to their computers. If employees sent 5% of faxes through online business faxing, it would save about 10 billion pieces of paper per year, which equates to about one million trees.

FoIP also helps bring down energy use. By integrating your information sending with internet services and using off-premises centers, you can significantly decrease the amount of power your company uses yearly.

Upgrade Your Company to FoIP Solutions With Softlinx

Investing in FoIP solutions will help you take on projects with improved communication speed and productivity. But you need to make sure you partner with the right provider for your business. Softlinx provides secure cloud-based faxing solutions for companies in healthcare and other industries that need to protect their data. We help improve your faxing workflow, creating a better environment for productivity and reducing HIPAA compliance risks.

See what our software can do for you — discover Softlinx’s cloud fax services or submit a quote request form for your company.

Faxing is an essential mode of communication and document transmission for many companies across the world. It’s one of the most secure and convenient ways to transport a document from point A to point B and is a safer method of sending private data than many alternatives. But with the latest technological improvements and a newfound focus on software over hardware, the traditional fax system is outdated. However, electronic fax filing is a direct alternative that takes the convenience and security of faxing and consolidates it with your internet-based workflow. By migrating to cloud services rather than continuing with outmoded legacy units, you’ll save your company money and time while promoting increased productivity among your employees. This guide will take you through some of the top reasons to switch to electronic fax filing and explain how your business can benefit from cloud services.

What Is Electronic Fax Filing?

Many industries use fax services to transmit information. It’s been a staple of offices around the world for the past few decades and remains a popular method of sending and receiving documents and data. But with the advancements in cloud-based services and software technology, the traditional methods have been decreasing in popularity, and more companies are turning to alternative options, like electronic fax filing.

Online faxing — also referred to as online cloud faxing, electronic fax filing or e-fax — is one of the top options, directly resolving many issues related to traditional faxing and providing multiple benefits as well. It’s a reliable form of data transmission that uses internet services, rather than telephone lines, to send transmissions, and they can save businesses a significant amount of time and money.

The goal of any e-fax solution is to virtualize and streamline your communication processes. Traditional faxing systems are prohibitive and can often hold your employees back. They require the sender or receiver to be on-premises, can only process one job at a time and leave a few security risks unchecked. While they were the best option for security at one point, advancements in business technology and software have allowed for a much safer and more capable process.

By using a cloud fax service, you can allow your workers more freedom and provide them with a system that integrates smoothly into their workflow. The electronic fax filing software provides each individual with a dashboard that’s accessible anywhere that has available internet access. They can send and receive faxes with ease and process multiple requests simultaneously, all while remaining compliant with industry security standards.

Online cloud fax is an excellent choice for companies in every industry, especially those that have to send confidential or sensitive documents back and forth. Many of these businesses are also subject to restrictions that prohibit them from sending private data via email or any other unsecured medium. For example, healthcare companies must observe and comply with HIPAA, which requires them to send sensitive information through secure online channels and restricts sending it in email format.

However, electronic fax filing makes compliance easy, as it’s more secure than email and traditional faxing. Sending faxes through online channels, rather than telephone lines, allows for encryption and ensures the information goes directly to your recipient. The document will safely sit in their inbox until they are ready to open and download it.

How Do You Use Electronic Fax Filing?

The process of using cloud fax services is relatively simple, especially if you’re familiar with the cloud. It’s a method of virtual hosting where a provider uses remote servers to store, process and access data, allowing your company to use the servers as a replacement for on-premises units. Moving your servers off-site is valuable, as it takes pressure off of your IT department, promotes cost savings and simplifies your workflow.

The faxing part of the equation is relatively similar to standard faxing, so there isn’t much of an understanding gap when you migrate from one to the other. Using cloud services can make the process simpler for most employees, reducing the amount of time you spend faxing and increasing overall productivity.

To use online faxing, you must first find a reliable provider like Softlinx. Once you’ve installed the relevant software and are on a service plan, you can begin faxing. Sending information is as easy as uploading your documents to the e-fax solution and inputting your desired recipient’s fax number or email. The software works to encrypt your data and transmit the documents to the correct address, providing your team with an easy way to send data, receive faxes and remain compliant.

Traditional Faxing vs. E-Fax

While traditional faxing has been the standard for years, e-fax use is gaining popularity. Online cloud faxing services are widely considered a stark improvement to the outdated traditional process, and companies that migrate to the new and improved version are seeing several benefits.

Here are the major differences between the traditional method of faxing and online fax services:

Traditional Faxing

Traditional faxing is an older form of transmitting documents, and it hasn’t changed much since it’s original inception. Still, many companies have used it as a reliable form of sending and receiving information in the past.

Some of the main characteristics of traditional faxing include:

• Requires supplies: To send and receive traditional faxes, you have to keep your office stocked with the proper kinds of paper and toner. They enable you to send and receive faxes, and keeping the units filled is essential to transmitting data.
• One fax at a time: Legacy faxes can only send or receive one document at a time. While that might be acceptable for small businesses that only send a few faxes per day, it can be a nuisance and cause a decline in productivity for larger companies and enterprises.
• Decent security: Since the beginning of faxing services, the process of transmitting information through fax has been a reliable and relatively secure way to send or receive data. However, it does leave some risk, as printed faxes remain open and available in a tray until the recipient files it safely. Also, every fax prints as a physical document, making the information susceptible to loss and requiring your employees to scan it to create a digital copy.
• On-premise system: Traditional faxing systems require your company to host your services on-premise, meaning you must have any necessary hardware internally. Additionally, maintenance and repairs are the responsibility of your IT department.
• Telephone service: Landline telephone services were much more popular during the early days of fax systems. Legacy units require telephone lines to transmit information to the recipient. As companies are moving away from using traditional telephone providers, they’re also moving towards cloud-based fax systems.

Electronic Fax Filing

While it does follow the same premise as traditional faxing, e-fax has a few significant advantages. Overall, it’s easier to integrate with the rest of your processes and workflow and can help you boost your company’s productivity while decreasing costs.

Some of the main characteristics of implementing an online fax service include:

• Direct downloading: Rather than printing as the sender transmits data, the recipient can download the files directly to their computer as a secure file. They can print the document if necessary, but the system doesn’t require it. However, the services are also backward compatible, meaning even legacy systems can decode the transmission if your recipient doesn’t use cloud services or requests you send to their fax number.
• Simultaneous fax capability: Since cloud faxing uses internet servers rather than telephone lines, the systems allow your employees to send or accept multiple faxes simultaneously. All they have to do is submit multiple documents or multiple fax jobs to the software.
• Excellent security: Where traditional faxing creates physical copies for anyone to see, online cloud faxing is about the safest way you can send sensitive data. It doesn’t print upon receipt. Instead, once you send a fax through the cloud server, it goes directly to the recipient’s inbox, encrypted and protected by their computer and email passwords. It removes the risk of accidental loss or theft from the equation.
• Off-premise system: When you partner with an online fax service provider, you have the advantage of the off-premise system. This shift means you won’t have to store, maintain or stock any hardware or supplies for the sake of faxing. You can complete every function from a computer, and your IT department won’t have to worry about resolving fax issues or preventing downtime. The off-premise setup also means e-fax costs are significantly lower than traditional systems.
• Versatility: As long as you have a secure internet connection, you can send and receive faxes from anywhere. The cloud servers allow your employees to fax from their work or home computers, tablets or smartphones. There’s no need to access a physical fax unit or wait for each document to go through individually.
• Internet service: Every company uses internet services. As the need and desire for integration increases, the cloud is becoming a more popular tool. With the development of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Fax over Internet Protocol (FoIP), cloud-based services have nearly eliminated the need for telephone lines, consolidating all communication functions to online dashboards and off-premise centers. Cloud fax services are no different, integrating your faxing capabilities with your online software and workflow.

How Online Faxing Cuts Costs

Beyond all the benefits online faxing provides your employees and your company as a whole, migrating to cloud-based services can also help you significantly cut costs. And the savings begin as soon as you switch. By creating a less expensive faxing system for your employees, you’ll boost your budget and promote productivity, regardless of the industry you serve.

Here are several reasons why using cloud services is a fax cost-saver:

Hardware

With traditional faxing, you need specific hardware to support your document transmissions. To send or receive faxes, you need to be near the equipment, and to send information immediately, you have to make sure no one else is using the device at the same time.

With online faxing, you won’t need to rely on hardware at all. Cloud services move all of the physical elements off premises, meaning there’s no line to send a fax, and you don’t need to commit storage space to legacy units. You’ll save in several ways by moving off-premises, including creating more usable space, reducing your electricity usage and avoiding the need for costly repairs or IT department fixes.

Maintenance

Speaking of your IT department, using cloud-based faxing means they won’t have to spend their time on maintenance. In traditional systems where hardware is necessarily internal, your team is responsible for any repairs, replacements, software upgrades and bug fixes. More severe issues can cause costly downtime and prevent your employees from getting their work done. You also have to factor any replacement parts and labor into your budget.

When you migrate to online faxing, your IT team no longer has to provide regular maintenance or be responsible for repairs. The service provider you partner with takes on those responsibilities. They ensure that if any issues arise, they deal with them quickly and effectively. With no need to maintain legacy units, you can save money on hardware, IT costs and the risk for downtime.

Supplies

Office supplies can rack up significant costs when you’re using them regularly. Traditional faxing requires you to order enough paper and toner to support the number of faxes you send. If your employees collectively send a large number of faxes per day, your fax expenses can use a large portion of your supply budget.

Since e-fax services allow you to move all hardware off-premises, you can cut down on the supplies you order each month, significantly decreasing your spending.

Services

Consolidating your faxing to your existing online service allows you to send and receive faxes through your high-speed internet, removing the need for a separate telephone carrier or line plan. Faxing through the traditional method requires you to pay for a telephone line, and if you don’t already have one or send a large number of faxes, you’ll often need an independent line for the fax alone. Without a separate plan for your phone line, faxing can interrupt or affect the quality of calls.

This extra plan can drive up your expenses. An individual telephone fax-only line can cost your company hundreds of dollars per year on average, without the addition of any long distance charges.

Since cloud services operate solely online, you can use your current high-speed internet service. You may also have versatile payment options depending on how often your company sends faxes.

Power

When it comes to saving costs, reducing your electricity bill will both decrease your expenses and do the planet a favor. Legacy fax systems typically use a significant amount of electricity each day, as you have to leave them running to accept calls and receive documents. While they sit in standby mode, they use energy and drive your bill higher. If your employees send and receive a large number of faxes daily, it can raise your electricity bill significantly.

Cloud-based faxing helps you decrease your electricity bill and bring your power usage down, reducing your company’s carbon footprint. By moving your systems off-premises and relying on your high-speed internet services rather than a telephone line and internal hardware, you’ll cut a portion of your electricity costs.

Also, when your systems are directly connected to your office’s power, your units are susceptible to any outages or weather interference your building experiences. If your faxing is on-premises, this can mean an inability to send and receive documents until the outage is resolved. With cloud services, your employees can continue conducting business off-site through laptops, home computers or any other smart device with an internet connection.

Why Choose Softlinx?

When it comes to choosing a cloud fax service provider, it’s essential to partner with a company that has your business’s best interests in mind. Softlinx ReplixFax is an excellent way to migrate to cloud faxing while reducing your fax costs significantly.

1. Easy Migration

With Softlinx, electronic fax filing is easy and fast, allowing you to get back to work and start saving in no time. Our customer support will provide your company with same day service, shifting your system from on-premises faxing to a virtual cloud server with no delay.

Softlinx also has a variety of plans to suit every need and budget. We let you decide whether you want to pay as a monthly or annual subscription and flexible plans to allow for shifts in faxing volume.

2. Straightforward User Interface

Softlinx’s services include a full suite of electronic fax filing tools, all of which integrate into your current systems with ease. With our full suite, you can receive and send faxes through a multitude of mediums, including PC and mobile web interfaces, email providers and Windows applications. There’s virtually no learning curve, and with minimal training needs from your staff, you’ll be able to shift entirely to cloud faxing quickly.

Our fax services also include an easy-to-use web portal, which allows you to manage users and conduct internal user-related administrative tasks, while we take care of the system-related administration efforts.

3. Powerful and Secure Systems

For companies that need to meet specific data regulations, secure faxing is essential. Softlinx Enterprise Cloud Fax Service is compliant with government and industry regulations, including HIPAA and PCI-DSS. When you send documents through our secure servers, we secure the information throughout the transmission process and host it in a reliable data center using AES-256 bit encryption standards and continual virus scanning.

While traditional faxing may present a significant amount of downtime or force your employees to wait for service availability, our systems are consistently up and running, ready to take on any amount of transmissions. Our cloud infrastructure supports far more than the traditional fax systems, providing you with continued service availability and limited disruption.

4. Advanced Customer Support

If you have any service issues or questions, response time makes all the difference. With fast responses and real-time performance monitoring, Softlinx ensures your systems are running smoothly, and our service infrastructure is error-free. If we detect any complications, our servers send out an immediate notification, allowing our team to take care of the issue fast and providing maximum uptime and availability.

At Softlinx, we also offer 24/7 technical customer support to handle your problems as soon as they arise. You can get in touch with our support team by way of email, phone and web conferencing at any time, whichever medium best suits your needs.

Upgrade to Online Cloud Faxing With Softlinx

The future of fax is cloud-based. Migrating to an electronic fax filing solution will bring your company to a new level of communication, and Softlinx is here to help you make the change. With our versatile, competitive and comprehensive systems, your employees will see higher levels of productivity with almost no learning period. Meanwhile, you’ll benefit from lower costs, increased uptime and data security.

Start your transition today with Softlinx — fill out our form for a free quote or contact us with any questions.

Though many may believe that faxes are dying out, the truth is that they are evolving. Cloud faxing falls under many different names, including virtual faxing, online faxing and web faxing. More and more businesses are turning to cloud solutions for storage and communication, and faxing is no exception. According to a 2017 survey from the International Data Corporation (IDC), 90 percent of fax users have integrated or are evaluating the integration of fax with other technologies, like cloud usage. It’s become the new norm for faxing, which is still used by many businesses as a means of secure communication.

Cloud faxing is incredibly easy to use and often is no more complicated than sending an email. Due to its simplicity, reliability and cost-effectiveness, sending a fax over the internet is becoming more and more popular as a safe and efficient solution for a variety of business needs.

But what exactly does cloud faxing entail? What kinds of materials do you need, and how do you send an online fax in the first place? We’ll go over all of this and more so that you know how to send a fax over the web and what it’s all about.

What Is the Cloud?

The cloud means various things to different companies, and it is the foundation for many of them. Traditionally, when you need to access or store a file, you store it on a local server. This storage could be the hard drive in your computer or a network that business computers are linked up to. In either case, the connection is often hard-wired.

In the cloud, this is all stored elsewhere. Someone else manages and maintains the servers, which could be halfway across the world. Many businesses opt to outsource their storage solutions, and others, mainly large enterprises, will keep a data center for many locations. Then, when you need to access something, you start up a series of protocols over your internet connection to call up the files you need. Usually, on the user’s end, those protocols are as simple as clicking on a preview picture of the document you want. Think about using Google Docs and selecting an image to open it. Clicking on it pulls the file from storage in a server far, far away and displays it through your Internet connection.

Google Docs, Amazon Photos, Apple’s iCloud, e-mail and even Netflix are all examples of cloud-based services. They are typically straightforward to use, and the experience is almost no different for the user than if the data was on a local server. Not only does cloud computing free up space on local servers, but it also makes your information more accessible. Documents and photos are available from any device that has an Internet connection. This flexibility is part of the appeal of a cloud-based fax system — you can send or receive a fax over the cloud from nearly any device at any time.

Why Fax Over the Cloud?

So what does the cloud mean for faxing? One of the primary reasons that businesses use fax is because faxing is a secure, legal method of communication perfect for sending and receiving sensitive documents. Cloud-based faxing is also cost-effective, as you don’t need to overburden IT personnel to take care of a server or worry about the up-front expense of the necessary hardware.

Cisco found that cloud data centers will process 94 percent of workloads and compute instances by 2021. The cloud’s compatibility and simplicity make it an excellent solution for many businesses. Some of the draws for enterprises include the fact that the system is easy to archive and scalable. Since faxes deliver as an image, documents are archivable, and you can access your history of deliveries through any internet connection. Cloud systems are also scalable, so if a company is growing, the cloud can quickly adopt new members. Adding new users is simple.

On a user level, faxing over the cloud is often preferable for several reasons. It is:

• Simple: An email-integrated fax system that is more accessible and easier to use was the most-cited reason for growth in fax usage, according to the IDC. The ease of use helps reduce the need for extensive training.
• Accessible: Not only does a cloud-based system streamline the process in an office, but it also allows for more accessibility. People working remotely often don’t have access to separate fax networks, so faxing over email makes it a viable option.
• Reliable: With cloud faxing, you can still get secure, reliable faxing without a cumbersome process or extensive costs. If you have the internet, you have faxes. This availability also allows you to get away from busy signals and connection issues. Softlinx, for example, has nearly 100 percent uptime, making faxing much less frustrating.
• Secure: There are different levels of security with cloud faxing, and sensitive documents need a dedicated method of secure transfer. Secure faxes are sent more safely, through encryption and a protected server that keeps your information safe, whether it is incoming or outgoing. This security means that you can send confidential records, test results, purchase orders and other sensitive documents with confidence. Your file itself is also protected from prying eyes. In a crowded office, it is easy for faxes to get lost or for passersby to see them accidentally. With cloud faxing, your document goes straight to its recipient, who sometimes needs to log in with a dedicated username and password.
• Trackable: Each fax gets tracking data that you can follow up on, and you can receive notifications when your documents are opened and delivered. This information makes it easy to keep an eye on important details.
• Archivable: Another bonus is that faxed documents are simple to archive since they typically save as an image file. When received, the fax server decodes these signals into something that you can read, usually an image file. What this means is that you can save the documents easily to your local network or in the cloud if you need to. All of your data is logged, and you can view your transmission history as well.

What Do You Need to Fax Over the Cloud?

Sending a fax over the cloud requires three things: a device with an internet connection, an email address and a cloud-based fax service.

Softlinx offers several access options. Email is the simplest one. When you register your email with our service, you can then send faxes from any mail client. From a web browser like Chrome or Firefox, you can access our ReplixFax application, where you can send and receive secure faxes. You can also download a desktop program or integrate our code into existing business applications. By integrating ReplixFax, you can streamline the process further, making it fast and straightforward to fax off a document securely.

If you need to send a printed document, you can use a multifunction printer that has fax over internet protocol (FoIP) capabilities to digitally fax it. Sending faxes between two FoIP machines is comparable to sending an email.

How to Send a Fax Online

Sending a fax online is a simple process and is often as easy as sending an email, but there are several different ways you can do it. Your data can range from scanned papers to Excel documents, and you can open them via a wide range of access options.

1. Email

Before trying to send a fax via email, it’s important to remember that the link must be supporting TLS/SSL encryption to ensure the security of email-based fax job submission. Otherwise, the fax job transmission may not be secure or suitable for sensitive documents, such as patient records, payment information and other confidential data. With that said, email-to-fax is one of the fastest, easiest methods for faxing a document, and you can even send them from a mobile device.

If you’re sending a fax using an email-to-fax interface, you can attach native files such as the ones listed below if the cloud fax server is capable of converting attachment documents in native file formats:

• Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)
• Microsoft Office Word (DOC, DOCX), PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX) and Excel (XLS, XLSX)
• Plain text (TXT)
• Tagged Image Format (TIF)
• Hypertext Markup Langauge (HTML)
• Rich Text Format (RTF)
• Postscript (PS)
• JPEG (JPG)
• Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)
• Bitmap (BMP)

The next step is to enter in the information of your recipient. The formatting may differ from service to service, but most are similar. With ReplixFax, you address a new email to (fax_number)@(org_id).rpxfax.com. (Fax number) is the fax number of the person you wish to send your fax to, and the (org_id) is your organization’s name. Then, attach the document you want to fax and hit send. The fax request is submitted to the cloud fax service, where it is translated into a format that the recipient’s system can read. Regardless of the method that your recipient uses to receive faxes, you can be sure that your document will reach them with this process.

You’ll typically receive an email notification when your fax is successfully delivered. If you want to check up on your fax, you may also search and view it using your web fax client application.

2. Print to Fax

Another way to fax is to install a Print2Fax driver. These drivers make the faxing process similar to printing a document. On a Windows PC, Print2Fax installs as an application and appears in the list of printers. When you’re ready to fax something, hit print and select the ReplixFax Print2Fax printer. This selection converts the document to a fax file and opens the application. From here, you can enter your recipient’s fax number, along with any cover pages, additional documents or scheduled delivery times.

In the Print2Fax application, you can check in on the fax status and review your delivery history as well.

3. Web Fax

From a web browser, you can securely log in to your ReplixFax web portal through www.rpxfax.com and navigate the interface. You’ll be prompted to upload your document, enter the recipient’s number and select your cover page. The web client also allows you to view your sent faxes and their statuses, along with a personal phonebook.

4. Broadcast/Mail-Merge Fax

If you need to send a fax to multiple recipients, a broadcast fax is the way to go. This feature is available through the ReplixFax web portal and can send a document to thousands of people at once. Under the “Broadcast” tab, upload your fax recipient file and the file you need to send. Once sent, you can view the statuses of the faxes and download an Excel file with the job details. ReplixFax Mail-Merge feature is also available for you to fax a customized document for each recipient to thousands of people at once.

5. Folder Fax for Outbound Faxing

A feature like folder faxing allows you to automate the process of faxing documents using a Fax Loader utility program. This program polls designated network folders and looks for fax parameters like a recipient number and fax documents to submit to the cloud service. You can configure this tool to work with a variety of options to automate outbound faxing with no manual intervention.

6. Delivering Inbound Faxes to Network Folders

ReplixFax enables you to get your inbound faxes delivered to network folders with the ReplixFax Delivery Manager utility. This program allows you to establish fax document delivery rules in a flexible way to create network folders and file names based on selected fax metadata.

7. Secure Faxing

Part of the reason faxing became so popular is because of its security, and online faxing doesn’t skimp on this feature. It’s also crucial for operations in industries like healthcare and finance, where you need to stay compliant. Softlinx offers a cloud fax service that is compliant with HIPAA and PCI DSS, uses encryption to protect your data and hosts your information in the cloud at a secure data center that are annually audited and publishes SOC 2 reports for security, reliability and compliance.

Secure faxing is simple and can be done through email, business applications via fax APIs, a web portal, a multi-function printer or a Windows desktop application. The submission to Softlinx is encrypted to keep your information safe. Both outgoing and inbound faxes are secure and encrypted. They can be delivered via the web portal, Windows applications, business applications through fax APIs and your email inbox. You can also receive secure faxes directly to your shared network folders, safely behind firewalls.

Partner with Softlinx for Reliable Online Faxing

Online faxing has grown in recent years — and for good reason. It is fast, efficient and simple, making it easy for any employee, whether they grew up in the digital age or have just purchased their first smartphone, to jump in right away. Users can send files from any internet-connected device and send a variety of data types with fewer reliability problems. Online faxing is also secure. Softlinx is entirely HIPAA compliant and boasts robust security protocols for all secure documents.

Moving faxes to the cloud has a wide variety of benefits for both businesses and their employees. We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in technology, like Dialogic, Microsoft, Dell, Cisco and IBM, to bring state-of-the-art secure fax solutions to businesses of all sizes. For more information on how to fax over the cloud or assistance with Softlinx programs, please reach out today.

Cloud faxing solutions eliminate your dependence on paper-based manual faxing method, which is not only inefficient but also exposes your business to security and compliance risks, or an in-house fax server system, which requires internal IT resources for continued system maintenance and managing telecommunication lines.

Yet it’s not only the glistening potential to communicate in a contemporary manner that explains the appeal of corporate cloud faxing. Using cloud faxing services brings quantifiable benefits to organizations — and in most cases, costs less while actually increasing fax functionality and service flexibility.

Make an informed decision on your organization’s preferred faxing method by reviewing the pros and cons of outdated faxing methods, which relies on physical fax machines and/or on-premise fax servers vs. state-of-the-art cloud-based faxing.

Pros and Cons of Traditional, On-Premise Fax Machines and Fax Servers

On-premise fax machines use phone lines to send analog-based signals of files to its recipient. And while the inspiration for this model dates back to the mid-1800s, its modern interpretation in today’s physical fax machines isn’t without a few advantages. On-premise fax server has been widely used by most business organizations to increase office productivity and save costs, while reducing their dependence on manual fax machines and paper-based process.

Major pros and cons of using a manual fax machine or an on-premise fax server are:

1. Pro: A Physical Fax Line is More Sheltered From Cyberattacks

Fax machines sit rather low on the list of enterprise security threat vectors. 

Hackers attempting to overtake a physical fax line must attack the signal code at its point of transmission. This means they must somehow know the exact time a fax is being sent, down to its millisecond. Malicious attackers must also somehow gain access and override all three of the machine’s data, session and image/page layers to make signal changes and therefore alter files.

In total, the attack surface of a traditional fax machine is relatively narrow, especially when compared to lateral security threats introduced by the growing internet of things (IoT).

2. Pro: Considered Business Critical (and the Compliant Standard) in Other Countries

Corporate culture in countries like Japan and Israel, alongside many other Middle Eastern nations, continue to prioritize physical fax-based communications. Companies that conduct regular business or have clients in these countries may consider it a best practice to align their own faxing practices with their associates’.

This is particularly true for companies in fields reliant on large batches of paper transactions, such as healthcare, finance or law. Many official documents in these industries must still be received and submitted in a physical form to remain legally binding. Organizations wishing to “cover their backs” might simply prefer the subsequent liability security and peace of mind that comes with a paper trail.

3. Pro: Many Fax Machines Today Are “All-In-One”

In an attempt to evolve with the times, many contemporary fax machines contain other business-critical machine technologies. These “all-in-one” systems include everything from printers to state-of-the-art copiers. Businesses with these multifunctional machines may not see the rationale in parting with their convenient tech systems — or may have only recently installed the technology altogether.

4. Con: Initial Capital Expenses

Any technology that’s decades old will naturally court some shortcomings. On-premise fax server systems come with a high initial cost to purchase and install. The costs continue to rise when you also factor in ongoing software maintenance, as well as upgrades to the hardware.

As to manual fax machines, even the fax’s ink and paper are more expensive than their conventional counterparts. Most on-premise fax equipment uses low-thermal printing that burns images into special thermal paper. This thermal paper comes in rolls, not your standard sheet packets, and can be anywhere from 2 to 2.5 cents more per page.

5. Con: Monthly Telephone Charges

Traditional on-premise fax machines and fax servers require hookup to phone lines. The phone lines come with regular monthly charges as well as extra charges for long-distance calls when faxes are sent to a long-distance number.

Current estimates for fax lines — which are typically extensions of analog phone lines — cost at a minimum $35 per line — and that’s for residential installation. Businesses can expect far higher monthly line billings for installing and operating their fax machines’ extra phone lines.

6. Con: IT Resources

With on-premise server systems, be prepared to provide increased IT staff and other resources to manage and maintain the fax server system, network and telephone lines.

7. Con: Limited Capacity

An on-premise fax server system with phone lines can only handle so much. These systems cannot handle a larger volume of faxes without incurring extra delays to send a fax or busy signal on their incoming fax line. And to scale the system larger, at a minimum, the business must either purchase additional fax server components with their own phone numbers or phone lines or add a phone number to existing lines through DRPD.

These upfront costs quickly translate into increased overhead expenditures, plus higher monthly telephone and electric bills. What’s more, they don’t provide a truly robust, scalable telecommunications solution, since each line can still only handle a single — not simultaneous — file transmissions.

8. Con: Lack of System Redundancy

There are several types of redundancy for fax server systems, but they are generally not available in an on-premise system. Redundancy can provide backup support to keep a business running. However, with a traditional fax server setup, a malfunctioning machine or phone line can cause delays and disruptions to the business.

Benefits of a Cloud Faxing

Migrating from analog-line reliance to cloud-based faxing introduces organizations to a few key advantages.

1. Eliminates Capital Expenditures

Cloud faxing reduces the expenses previously allocated to buying, maintaining and servicing operational on-premise fax equipment.

Upfront capital expenditures are only one piece of the equation. Cloud-based faxing eliminates paper, ink and toner costs for manual fax machines and on-going IT support and system maintenance costs for on-premise fax servers, as well as allows your business to cut ties with expensive and often fee-laden monthly telephone contracts supporting legacy fax lines.

With cloud faxing, you streamline the net capital expenses of your entire faxing infrastructure. Migrating from on-premise to cloud-based faxing can dramatically reduce the total cost of ownership.

2. Introduces Scalability

Adding virtual fax phone numbers to your business takes minutes and costs a fraction of the amount of acquiring new analog lines and numbers. As your company grows, new team members can easily acquire their own faxing line, then access it quickly and conveniently from the fax server software installed on their computers, laptops and smartphones.

3. Implements Modern, Robust Communications Security

Compromising a traditional fax machine is difficult enough, given the need for point-of-transmission entrance. However, attacking a cloud-based fax solution is even more challenging.

Cloud-based fax MSPs layer all transmissions with data encryption as well as additional cybersecurity features tailored to the platform. It is unlikely most hackers will be fluent in these fax-cloud cybersecurity systems, given their distinct nature.

4. Gets Rid of the Busy Fax Tone

The dreaded busy tone of a repeatedly in-use fax line is enough to make anyone’s head pound. While most fax machines will automatically redial the number upon receiving a busy signal, employees are still left in file-sharing limbo, waiting until the recipient’s line frees. This reduces productivity and causes document-sharing chokepoints in collaborative workflows, ones without immediate remedy.

5. Complements Compliance Efforts

Contrary to certain pervasive cloud myths, cloud-based faxing is in full compliance with the regulatory standards set for many industries. This includes highly monitored fields like healthcare, financial services, insurance, higher education, government agencies and contractors relying on secure document delivery.

6. Enhances Reliability

Cloud-based faxing eliminates many of the pain points associated with maintaining a legacy fax machine, including:

• Machine paper jams
• Machine failure and subsequent repair downtimes
• In-house fax server crashes
• Power outages
• Telecom provider analog line failures

These issues bring faxing to a halt. Cloud-based servers’ expedite the process speeds to send and receive a fax, and they simplify the process of doing so. Cloud software comes fully integrated into the everyday technologies employees already use, meaning everyone can transmit documents in a few clicks without ever leaving their desks.

7. Implements Disaster Recovery

Cloud-based faxing servers store all relayed files in a secure document management system. That system contains access controls yet still permits relevant individuals to enter and review document paper trails, re-access information and conduct file audits.

These fax-inclusive document management systems are particularly vital during disaster recovery incidents, where everything from cyberattacks to natural disasters to human error may have damaged on-premise servers or permanently wiped their stored data.

8. Reduces IT Headaches

Exporting fax operations to the cloud relieves your internal IT staff from overseeing your fax system’s server, network and telephony connections. They’ll also no longer bear the brunt of frustrating equipment troubleshooting, which pulls your skilled IT personnel off higher-value activities.

9. Modernizes Your Office

Many software-based faxing programs allow users to e-sign documents to meet compliant “genuine signature” standards. They also integrate with camera and scanner technology, permitting digital versions of documents to be uploaded instantly into the system, whether sent or received. Finally, cloud-based faxing also allows for remote file sharing and in some cases even remote document-management system access.

Key Differences Between Cloud-Based and On-Premise Faxing

Detailed pros and cons aside, there are three fundamental differences between cloud-based faxing vs. on-premise method:

1. Input Expenses

Many fax machine cost calculations don’t account for system “externalities,” the input expenses involved in the physical faxing process that contribute to that process’ total price but are often forgotten. Faxing externalities include variables like:

• Ink cartridge expenses
• Fax machine paper expenses
• Shipment and delivery fees
• Machine maintenance costs
• Time walking to and from the fax machine
• Time waiting for an open fax machine
• Time waiting for a phone line to open up
• On-premise fax server glitches and downtimes

In total, the average business saves $720 per year, per fax phone line by switching to the cloud — plus eliminates the 2 to 2.5 cent cost per page previously spent on thermal laser paper.

2. Document Security

The average cloud-based fax server employs a 256-bit encryption method to secure transmitted files. That’s the same encryption industry gold standard mandated for government agencies, now at your disposal to protect your files, documents and data. With traditional faxes, these digital materials are only as secure as your current internal network and server defenses managed by your own IT team.

3. Infrastructure Speed and Scale

Cloud faxing software is instantly accessible, leading to quicker document deployments and increased file sharing outputs. Yet, more importantly, outsourcing faxing functions to an external cloud means your organization no longer must purchase new servers to scale — which, in turn, eliminates buying more load balancers, external database, SQL servers, gateways, expanding network security measures and more.

Which Fax Platform Should You Use?

So which faxing ecosystem is ultimately right for your organization?

Review the scenarios below to consider if cloud-based or on-premise aligns most with your business environment, bearing in mind the pros and cons detailed above.

Stick with traditional faxing when:

• You’re a small business. One with 50 or fewer total employees.
• You’re a light usage faxing customer. Your business sends and receives fewer than a hundred or so faxes a year.
• You still prefer hard paper trails for legal matters. Binding business documents, such as contracts, sales agreements and deeds, must contain genuine signatures to be legally recognized. While cloud-faxing today allows for e-signatures and provides document management history logs, some individuals may not want to deviate from legal convention. 
  

Opt for a cloud-based fax solution if:

• You’re a mid-to-large fax user (or growing to be one). One averaging 1,000 or more faxes a year, with trends showing businesses are actually increasing the number of faxes they send and receive, due primarily to the ease and convenience of cloud faxing.
• You want to be environmentally conscious. Conservative stats show switching just 5% of physical faxing to cloud faxing saves an estimated 1 million trees, 360 million gallons of water, 3 million pounds of air pollutants and 215 million kilowatt hours in energy — enough to power New York City for a month.
• You experience too much faxing congestion. It’s a business best practice to prorate one fax machine per 10 to 25 employees. Still, slow lines, slow machines, machine malfunctions or high fax flows can render even this ratio ill-functioning.
• You have compliance concerns or are in a highly regulated industry. This includes fields like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, government agencies and law firms. HIPAA, for example, condones faxing as the safest proprietary way to send and receive protected health information (PHI). Plus, it should be noted the majority of cloud-based fax services provide 256-bit encryption, date and time stamps on all document transmissions, therefore ensuring legal authenticity and additional security protecting against document discrepancies.
• You need to cut costs. The total labor cost to send and receive a single-page fax is $1.55 — and that’s just labor costs, not accounting for paper, ink, toner, electricity and machine maintenance expenditures. Corporate cloud faxing solutions has been shown to cut a fax’s total cost of ownership by more than half and accounts for both its labor and system overhead.

Know Your Options for Cloud-Based Faxing

Join the growing movement of companies shifting toward a cloud-based faxing — saving time, money and sanity along the way.

Softlinx provides secure cloud fax services with 24/7 service monitoring and customer support. Contact us today to get a no-obligation quote or schedule a free, custom product demo with cloud faxing today.

No matter how small or how large your company is, efficient communication is vital to its continued success. Communicating everything from sale numbers to potential marketing plans is essential for everyone in your business to be on the same page, working toward the same goals. Incorrect, unclear or lagging communication can all work against your business’ success, so it’s critical to make your communications system as efficient and accurate as possible. Here are a few ways your business can start communicating more efficiently:

Determine Communication Protocols

While it’s a good idea to communicate with your team on a regular basis, it’s important to determine the best way to communicate different types of information. The four most common modes in use by businesses today are:

• Meetings: Meetings can be an excellent way to get together and discuss options for problem resolution or planning, especially for long-term issues, but they’re not ideal for essential team updates and requests since they disrupt the workflow of your employees. Meetings are largely considered the biggest time-wasters among modern employees, so be sure to use these only when it’s necessary for multiple people to be in the same room.
• Email: Email is a better platform for group-wide updates, requests and long-term projects, as they communicate ideas in writing for reference and can reach many people at once. However, emails are often not secure enough for delivering financial and health data.
• Online Faxing: Online faxing services for businesses pick up where email leaves off, with HIPAA and PCI-DSS compliant security that allows your team to communicate financial and health data to other locations or partners.
• Instant Messaging: Instant message systems in the office are becoming more popular for communicating simple requests, solving small issues and sharing information for immediate tasks, as it’s a perfect platform for quick, concise communication.

In addition to determining what mode of communication should be used in specific situations, also consider how these communications are to be saved or archived in a secure, yet accessible manner for later reference. Having access to these communications can be essential for later reference.

Remove Communication Hierarchies

Businesses used to have elaborate communication hierarchies, where decisions and communications must pass through various supervisor “checkpoints” before reaching a decision-maker. Such a structure creates bottlenecks and slowdowns as the checkpoint supervisors get overloaded with requests and communications, which is why many businesses have done away with the hierarchy and adopted team structures. These team structures are much more effective and efficient in their communication methods, with everyone working on the same level and communicating more readily with leadership. If your business has communication “checkpoints,” remove them to see how much more efficient your communication can be.

Focus on Clarity and Accuracy

It seems like a simple thing, but clear, accurate communication is something many businesses overlook. For this reason, it’s important to keep a few things in mind when communicating through any written medium:

• Edit for Clarity: While it’s tempting to send your first draft of an email, always go back and read your work with a critical eye to edit for clarity. The less clear you are in your words, the longer it will take to communicate your idea and get a task done.
• Avoid Colloquialisms: Using clear language is essential for quick communication — this includes using proper spelling and grammar and avoiding any slang. While you may know what you mean when you write something, your recipient may not.
• Check Facts: Getting the facts wrong doesn’t just look bad, but it slows down communication and productivity for you, your recipient and your team as you issue corrections, or, even worse, continue working with the wrong information. Make sure everything you say is correct before hitting the send button.

Implement Automation

Automating fundamental processes in your communications channels can save your business a significant amount of time and money. One of the best examples of this is in faxing automation. Several automation options are available for cloud faxing services, like Softlinx — for instance, the Softlinx ReplixFax system allows your business to submit fax jobs from your business application or document server directly to your fax service instead of going through the fax service API. It also offers the option to automatically file inbound and outbound faxes based on the data contained, so your staff doesn’t have to organize your faxes manually, and you can see the most critical faxes more quickly. All these options lead to less work for your staff and faster communication for your team.

Learn More About Cloud Faxing Automation

Learn more about how the Replix® cloud-based fax solution from Softlinx can help your organization make your business communications more efficient. Contact us today to schedule a Live Demo by calling at (800) 899-7724, emailing us at sales@softlinx.com or by filling out our form. Feel free to browse our solutions on your own, then reach out to get a quote.