A recent Washington Post article reinforced the growth of faxing, despite it being perceived as old technology to send and receive business-critical information. Here are a few key takeaways from the article on why fax technology is “alive and well” in key industries such as healthcare, government, and financial services – showing no sign of being replaced anytime soon:
- It turns out that in many cases, faxing is more secure, easier to use and better suited to existing work habits than computer-based messaging.
- A worldwide survey in 2017 found that of 200 large firms, defined as companies with more than 500 employees, 82 percent had seen workers send the same number of, or even more, faxes that year than in 2016.
- The persistence of faxing — and the people who send faxes — is in part because the fax industry has adapted to accommodate new technologies.
- So who uses fax? Doctors’ offices and hospitals that use different records databases can’t communicate with each other digitally — but they can via fax.
Today, there is huge opportunity for healthcare organizations to utilize fax. Based on the feedback received during HIMSS a few weeks ago, we are enabling – through the patented etherFAX network – the healthcare ecosystem to send and receive all types of protected health information (PHI) between patients, hospitals, clinics, treatment offices and insurance companies.
Fax technology is no longer dependent on hissing modems. As the article states, it has evolved. etherFAX can send a 50-page, full-color document via the Internet in seconds with end-to-end encryption.
Integrating the cloud for secure transport, fax devices, multi-function printers, and fax servers can easily send and receive information from point to point. Furthermore, third-party applications such as electronic medical record (EMR) systems can easily exchange information securely, improving workflow and reducing the costs associated with data entry errors.
At etherFAX, we believe the future is bright for fax. Our roadmap includes a broad range of new capabilities, functionality and advancements, including integrations with many new devices and systems. This will make even fax more embedded into existing workflows and systems, enabling users to share pertinent information effortlessly and securely.