If you thought sending a fax in 2016 was like sending a fax in the 80s or 90s, think again!
Now there’s a quick and easy way to send a fax whether you like fax technology or not. And get this: You don’t even need a fax machine to do it! All you need is an Internet connection and an email account.
But why hasn’t fax been completely replaced by email? Email allows you to quickly send large documents to multiple recipients without having to pay for paper, ink, special machines, or even landline phones. However, as one article put it, “fax machine refuse to die.”
A Brief History of Fax
Long before email, fax machines were an essential communication tool for industries that needed the fast and secure exchange of documents. Before e-mail, the only alternative to faxing a document was to make copies and mail it, a process that was not only time-consuming but also ran the risk of damaging the document along the way or even losing it altogether.
Enter the fax machine. Copies of documents can be sent to someone anywhere in the world in real time. Reporters can send their latest stories back to headquarters by simply loading a piece of paper through the machine, eliminating the need to dictate news over a limited time telephone.
No wonder it’s such a beloved and innovative machine!
But with the advent of the Internet, and cloud file sharing in particular, hard copies of documents were becoming increasingly scarce. Hard copies have to be stored in clunky filing cabinets; Documents of great value must be kept in a fireproof box. Why bother with storing hard copies at all when you can keep a copy stored in the cloud, accessing it from any device after entering the password?
For most people, a fax machine is needed on rare occasions. Until recently, it was not possible to affix your signature to a file online, and without the correct program to read the file, PDF forms or applications had to be printed for completion. Once the document is filled out or signed, you can scan the document onto your computer and send it as an e-mail, or you can send it by fax. Believe it or not, sending faxes is faster.
Today, people who regularly do business online are more familiar with Adobe’s reader for PDF and useful, secure tools like DocuSign, both of which let you fill out and sign forms without needing to print hard copies. We’re really headed for a mobile, on-the-go business model as a society.
Fax Doesn’t Turn Off
Even though, the fax is still very much alive in certain places, such as law offices, financial institutions, health facilities and college admissions offices. These sectors tend to still use hard copies on a daily basis, so fax machines can be put to good use.
Also, many of the popular home or small office printers on the market are the 4-in-1 variety, offering printing, copying, scanning, and faxing. Many people choose a printer that has fax capability “in case” they need it. Since for the occasional time you really need to fax something, it’s much more convenient to do it from your own home or office, rather than having to find the nearest public fax machine.
The need for an easy way to send and receive faxes despite a preference for email was what sparked one of the biggest leaps for fax technology since it first hit the market in the mid-1970s: email to fax or fax to email!
Internet Fax Makes Everyone Happy
The great thing about internet fax is that senders can send documents as they please, and recipients can receive documents as they please too. Can’t stand fax machines in the digital world? Send your document as an email, and recipients who like faxes will receive the fax.
Legacy options can provide convenience, security, and flexibility. For small business owners, email to fax is a smart way to reduce office clutter and overhead; the price of an Internet fax service pales in comparison to the cost of buying a fax machine and loading it with paper and ink.
Sending faxes is not yet obsolete, and may never go out of existence. But an email to fax service is the perfect fax solution for both large and small business owners, and keeps both parties happy. No matter how you choose to send and receive documents, you no longer have to go out of your way to fulfill the other party’s wishes. Internet to fax service does it for you!
