While a recent survey of U.K. companies reveals that many organizations are “going back to fax,” scores of businesses are making the switch to Fax over IP (FoIP) as part of the trend toward convergence of voice and data applications onto a single IP network.

According to a recent survey by Esker (News - Alert), a source of document automation products, many U.K. companies are considering going “back to fax” in an attempt to beat the recent Royal Mail price hikes.??

Following the implementation of the increased postal charges almost three months ago, hard-hit organizations are examining their quarterly results and have started to assess the true cost of inflated postal charges to their bottom line, according to Sam Townsend from Esker.

“The increase in Royal Mail Postage charges has forced many companies to take a really close look at the cost associated with communicating with suppliers and customers via traditional methods of delivery,” Townsend said.

In fact, 84 percent of those surveyed said were “seriously” considering alternative methods of communicating with customers and suppliers.?In addition, nearly one-quarter (22.5 percent) of respondents opted for fax as an alternative way of reaching their customers.

The old-fashioned communications option proved popular than its hi-tech cousin SMS (18.7 percent) or even the telephone (14.7 percent).

For many businesses, an increase in cost of up to 39 percent is just not sustainable, and other more cost-effective alternatives are not just preferable, Townsend added.

“What this survey has shown, is that despite the march of technology, fax may be an oldie – but it’s still a goodie offering a reliable, secure and cost effective means of document delivery at a time when companies need it most,” he said.

The survey also revealed that almost 79 percent of respondents said the increase in Royal Mail postal charges had affected their business, with most companies reporting a “negative” effect on their organization (88 percent) and over one-third of that figure citing the effect on their company as “extremely negative.”

While some view fax as an outdated delivery method from the 1980s, FoIP can offer benefits where other communication means cannot compete: it provides immediate results, the delivery is reliable and secure and the content is neutral and it’s user-friendly, according to Townsend.??

Enterprises today are more focused than ever on FoIP, and many “Internet Fax” solutions are now available, TMCnet recently reported. But they’re not all created equal, so enterprises need to understand some background about the technology involved, including what it can and cannot do. 

Problems persist, for example, over the global carrier network. However, many of the issues have been identified and are being addressed – plus virtually 100 percent of the fax machines in the world are not FoIP capable anyway.

Regardless, the T.38 FoIP standard is very useful within an enterprise network particularly with a virtual OS and VoIP – so pure point-to-point FoIP does not diminish the value of FoIP.   

Many organizations have implemented or are considering a Fax-over-IP solution because they can save money by using the same equipment for voice and data, and fax.

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