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The arrival of the dial-up connection brought the chirping of the handshake between two telecommunications signals as they exchanged information. This singsong sound was familiar only to those who relied on fax communications, as its connection and subsequent handshake produced many of the same sounds. The dial-up connection is all but dead, yet analog fax machines continue to dominate in a number of industries – surprised?

We thought the fax machine had died with the arrival of email. Indeed, in many cases, it was no longer needed. For those in industries where fax communications provided the only secure connection point, however, there was no better choice, and the fax machine lives on. Unfortunately, too many of these companies believe they have no other options, even when they convert all other communications to IP.

Others, on the other hand, recognized the opportunity in IP and were able to leverage the IP fax, sending all documents over the network and still adhering to the security standards provided by the fax line. In many cases, this still required the implementation and support of a fax board or other device that did many of the same things as the standalone analog fax. The difference here was that documents no longer needed to be printed to be sent or received. Nevertheless, maintenance and support was still needed, which took both time and money.

The next logical step is to move to an environment that still supports fax communications without requiring that a company be in the business of supporting fax technology management. Such a move requires the deployment of hosted fax services, taking it one step further than the IP fax while still enjoying the same benefits.

Are you ready to take that leap? A recent EHR Intelligence article outlines a number of considerations to help you decide.

• Number of faxes sent – If your organization is sending a lot of faxes that tend to be bogging down the network and requiring a lot of attention from IT staff, it may make more sense to send and receive on the provider’s network.
• Consistency of volume – The selection of the IP fax system is often based on the peak volume experienced at particular times of year. If volume peaks and valleys happen often, you are likely investing in a system that is severely underutilized.  Look to the cloud instead.
• Does organizational distribution play a role? – If your organization is managed from multiple locations, a centralized approach to faxing can be cumbersome and less than efficient or ideal.
• What is the cost? – It’s time to estimate the cost per page on every fax sent or received. Most organizations don’t know this number, and, therefore, it’s difficult to make a cost-based decision. Research in this area is needed.

If your organization also lacks a backup plan or a reliable server, the likelihood of the IP fax performing according to plan is also diminished. At that point, it may be time to take a closer look at hosted solutions like the XMedius fax cloud from Sagemcom (News - Alert). The company has paved the way for fax innovation and can help guide you toward an efficient migration of your faxing activities.