It's time. It really is. It is time to retire your analog fax machine. The hum of the machine, the cryptic printed code of a fax, and the anticipation of receiving a message in a form considered physical, yet so technologically advanced - these are part of the collective memory of those who lived through the era of analog faxing. It is time to move on from that world. Technology, always in flux, has transformed the way we send and receive documents over the years. Today, the humble fax has morphed into the more modern, versatile, and eco-friendly CloudFax, making it a superior choice for organizations and individuals worldwide. That's if you're not exclusively relying on email to send and receive document.
The Dawn of Faxing
Believe it or not, faxing dates back to 1843, when Scottish inventor Alexander Bain secured a patent for an early version of the fax machine, which he referred to as a "copying telegraph." This mechanical device was able to reproduce handwriting, drawings, and signatures by scanning a flat metal surface using a stylus mounted on a pendulum.
Fast forward to 1964, and Xerox Corporation introduced the Long Distance Xerography (LDX) machine. The LDX could send a document across long distances, functioned similarly to today's fax machines. However, it wasn't until the 1980s when fax machines really took off commercially. For many businesses, faxing became an integral part of daily communications due to its speed and efficiency in transmitting documents.
Analog Faxing: A Technology of the Past
Traditional fax machines work on analog technology, transmitting data over telephone lines, twisted pairs of copper wires. In telecom jargon, these are called POTS lines... Plain Old Telephone Service. The sending fax machine scans the document and converts the information into audio frequency tones. The receiving machine decodes these tones and reconstructs the document.
Analog faxing, however, comes with numerous limitations. It requires a dedicated phone line, physical paper, and frequent maintenance. Plus, the quality of the fax can be compromised if the telephone line quality is poor. Additionally, faxes can be lost or misplaced, leading to potential confidentiality breaches. All these factors, coupled with the environmental impact of paper waste, have given rise to the need for a more efficient, secure, and eco-friendly solution: CloudFax. Oh yeah... and email has negated the need for sending documents in this fashion, too.
atlantech|cloudfax: The Evolution of Faxing
Affordability
As the cost/benefit analysis was probably done a long time ago, a lot of my customer base has lost sight of how much analog faxing actually costs. Businesses must first invest in printers or multifunction devices with fax features, then balance ongoing costs like:
- Print supplies, like ink, toner, and paper
- POTS line pricing that is increasing to over $75 per line!
- Labor expenses for the time employees spend standing at the fax machine
- Redundancies between analog fax and email communications
On the flip side, atlantech|cloudfax flexibility and scalability can result in significant savings for your business without compromising fax capabilities or system security. Rather than paying for each phone line, you can invest in a single cloudfax plan that supports multiple fax jobs simultaneously. I have a customer that had five fax lines, that originally were $26/month each. However, we received notice earlier this summer that the copper lines cost was going up to $75 each! That's $375 cost to Atlantech Online and then we have to add costs for our service on top of that.
Efficiency
Do you want your employees to stand next to a fax machine and wait for a fax to go through, then pick up the confirmation page, scan it onto their computer, and save it in an unspecified folder they'll hopefully be able to reference down the line? Wouldn’t be easier if faxes came to them in their inbox instead of them getting up and having to go to the fax machine?Think about the time wasted waiting for a fax to send or, even worse, waiting for a machine or phone line to open up in the first place.
atlantech|cloudfax boosts efficiency and convenience in addition to seamlessly integrating with the what your employees already use every day—like OneDrive, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. Employees can open their email or cloud folders to upload and fax documents any time, anywhere, with the confidence that documents will be sent securely to their destination.
Security
Old school analog fax's major benefit is the inherent security of not using a digital medium. Although it's changing slowly over time, I found some of my customers were hesitant to move to digital or cloud fax due to cybersecurity risks. They perceived email or any digital transfer as "less secure" than analog fax over a phone line, and news headlines about cyberattacks haven't helped alleviate these concerns. But, atlantech|cloudfax transmits across networks via TLS 1.2 encryption, the same encryption standard already in place in popular workforce solutions like Microsoft 365. Therefore, the service is HIPAA-compliant. It also eliminates common security concerns associated with analog fax, such as documents left sitting on and out in the open in a busy office, dropped onto the wrong desk, or pulled out of a trash can by someone other than their intended audience. atlantech|cloudfax appears on the recipient's secured device, just like an email.
Accessibility
In case you haven’t heard, the Covid 19 pandemic changed how and where many people work. Many employees have gone to hybrid or remote working options, and many organizations operate with distributed teams in several different regions. Analog fax requires in-person hardware, a physical phone line, and printing supplies that often aren't accessible to employees outside of the office.
atlantech|cloudfax is designed for the here and now of remote flexibility. You can provide access to the portal and incorporation it into into operational systems your employees already use and roll out all-digital fax features to every team member with a computer, regardless of location.
atlantech|cloudfax also eliminates the need for phone lines, extensive hardware, and, in some cases, individual user licenses. That means it not only supports your hybrid workforce today, it can also scale rapidly and affordably as your team grows.
Prepare Now for the Retirement of POTS Lines with atlantech|cloudfax
Look... it's time to let it go. Retire that old fax machine. The costs are tripling and very soon POTS lines will all go away. To learn about our cloud-based fax solution before your POTS lines stop working, reach out to our team today.
