A number of solutions have popped up over the last couple of years billed as fax replacements that many have predicted or hoped would lead to the end of traditional fax technology. Still, though, traditional fax is still widely used in certain industries — healthcare, law firms, financial services — to meet security and compliance regulations.

However, GFI Software recently introduced FaxMaker Online, a paperless cloud-based fax solution aimed specifically at small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that puts security among its top priorities. Available through a monthly subscription model, this solution allows users to send faxes from any Internet-connected device without the need for hardware, software or dedicated phone lines.

FaxMaker Online offers fax-to-e-mail and e-mail-to-fax capabilities, allowing users to send and receive faxes from any e-mail client or server, whether in the cloud or on-premise. Formats supported by e-mail-to-fax include doc and docx, xls and xlsx, pdf, html, txt, rtf, ppt and pptx. Print-to-fax functionality, meanwhile, can print nearly any digital document, Web page, image, etc. to fax from any program with print functionality.

All of FaxMaker Online's functions can be administered by way of an easy-to-use online dashboard, which offers a clear view of usage along with account management capabilities.

Furthermore, FaxMaker can convert incoming faxes to pdf format and attach it to an e-mail that is sent directly to the user it's meant for. In this way, GFI has pointed out, the FaxMaker solution is potentially more secure than traditional fax. In support of this, the company cites an independent blind survey of 1,008 office workers which found that nearly half of respondents read a fax that was not intended for them.

This is an issue that is practically non-existent with FaxMaker Online. Of course, the solution also offers cost savings by cutting down on paper — as well as eliminating the need for fax machines, of course — and increased efficiency since employees won't need to wait by the fax machine for important documents anymore.

GFI has really been going all out so far this year, having managed to achieve a number of new milestones — hitting 7,000 total customers and being active in 125 countries — along with new software releases and improvements.

To learn more about all of GFI’s offerings, visit www.GFI.com.