A popular misconception is that online faxing and fax machine usage is in decline. However, the opposite is true. Fax usage continues to grow. In fact, according to a recent study from International Data Corporation (IDC), one of the largest global market intelligence firms, 82 percent of survey respondents said fax usage increased over the past year, while only 19 percent said usage went down.
Findings from IDC’s comprehensive study were surprising to those who believed fax usage was dwindling.
Highlights of the Report:
- Fax grew 27 percent over the previous year for respondents that showed growth, and projections for these companies showed 25 percent growth over the next 24 months.
- Faxing is considered a reliable and trusted source of secure information exchange.
- One of the key drivers for fax volume is the growing accessibility and simplicity of fax technology.
- Due to the continued use of fax by consumers as well as suppliers, companies are forced to meet those demands.
- The growth of cloud fax services is predicted to continue.
IT Professionals Weigh In on the Relevance of Fax
Spiceworks’ 500,000 strong membership of Information Technology professionals were recently polled on the ongoing reliance of fax. They discovered that approximately 89 percent of small to medium-sized organizations still use fax in some form, whether it’s fax servers, fax machines, or online fax services. Surprisingly, 62 percent of IT pros still support physical fax machines.
Poll results revealed the top 10 reasons faxing remains widely used:
- The familiarity and comfort level of physical fax machines from previous generations
- Organizations understand that many customers still prefer faxing
- The use of faxing is still encouraged, though not enforced, by government standards
- Legal discovery relies heavily on a paper trail with transaction reports
- A common belief that fax remains the safest communication against viruses
- A general consensus that faxing is far more affordable than alternative secure information exchange
- Due to strict guidelines for regulatory compliance
- The convenience of scanning, copying and sending faxes from any web-enabled device
- It’s a cheap and simple backup communication platform
- It remains a challenge to get organizations to adopt to new and alternate communication technologies
The Future of Faxing
As long as there are hard, paper copies of documents, there will be fax machines. And while you might not have sent a single fax in the last decade (or ever, if you’re under a certain age), for many organizations the fax will continue as a trusted source of secure information exchange.
Fortunately, as digital transformation sweeps across all industries, there is an alternative to traditional faxing that is changing how businesses send and receive documents securely: Cloud Faxing. It is secure, convenient, and not dependent on a physical machine.
Online faxing increases efficiencies in workflow by eliminating the need for employees to wait by the fax machine, wait for confirmations, or risk compliance regulations by having loose papers on a community machine. It also lowers costs, as there is no need to buy toner, paper, or even provide fax maintenance.
Faxing through the power of the cloud with providers like eFax remains one of the driving forces behind the growth of faxing today.
To try online faxing or switch to a cloud fax model, sign up for a free trial of eFax today.