Fax is Alive
Today’s Forbes article “Why the fax machine refuses to die” questions the survivability of this communications medium among other evolving digital alternatives.
While Gartner analyst Ken Weilerstein sees a shift from fax machines to multi-function devices combining fax capabilities with printing, scanning, and copying (according to the article 37 million of these units shipped worldwide in 2012), we have a unique perspective on fax communications.
Sure there is email and social media to exchange important business correspondence, but faxes are still considered a legal document, hence the reason why finance, law, and healthcare industries continue to utilize them.
While fax is shifting away from standalone machines to network-based solutions and fax-enabled applications, the cloud is replacing the transport and delivery layer. Leveraging the cloud allows organizations to eliminate the cost and maintenance of on-premise telephony infrastructure without compromising reliability, security and quality of service.
Based on the millions of pages etherFAX processes as a cloud fax service provider every month, unlike the article, we continue to see widespread use of fax and don’t anticipate a decline anytime soon.