Even in today's world of high-tech appliances, software and infrastructure, there are some staples around the office that are still heavily utilized. The fax machine, for example, is still a valuable piece of equipment for many industries, particularly those that deal with shipping.

Small and midsize businesses like those in the food and beverage industry, as well as shipping industries, rely on fax services. They need that hard copy to process their orders. Retailers also fall into this category as the fax is an important component to transferring information from customer to supplier. Because IT plays a small role in the ordering process for these particular groups, they will continue to fax orders to suppliers, according to this ZDNet report.

Market consultants recognize how important fax communications are in the business environment today. As hosted fax services increase in use, good, old fashioned faxing remains common place, according to Peter Davidson, president of Davidson Consulting. Due to the bulk printing needs of larger corporations, production faxing is still a much needed asset. 

Both purchase orders and invoices are considered production faxing which includes a unique batching system for individual items that are ordered with separate addresses. It's a process that could be transitioned for automation, requiring no human labor.Fax services can also be used as a compliance aid by keeping enterprises compliant with the direction of Sarbanes-Oxley and the Health Insurance Profitability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 

The best part in dealing with confidential information or vital business information is that fax services and fax servers can provide faxes to be sent directly to the inbox of e-mail accounts. Only the intended recipient will be able to view a specific fax.Another added benefit is the ability to track and certify those same compliance measures. Auditors can easily follow the fax paper trail successfully. 

E-mail is not as reliable since users cannot always confirm that a message, and in this case, important information, has even been sent. Like its technological counterparts, the fax machine might be enlisted to perform more forms of communication to serve greater needs of customers and businesses. While the world is running on numerous web-based avenues, fax may establish itself as a more reliable mode of communication.

Today, hosted fax services are growing in popularity. Customers are quickly realizing that they don't need the fax software in house but can still rely on the service. Traditional fax machines that require a telephone line have been replaced by a fax solution that includes a fax-over-Internet-Protocol (FoIP) to both receive and send a fax. This fax evolution is making fax technology much more reliable and affordable.

Edited by Juliana Kenny