Cloud Communications

Why You Should Invest in Online Faxing As a 2013 Business Resolution

By Steve Anderson Contributing TMCnet Writer

While many believe that the fax is something of a dead technology or too old to be considered viable, there are still plenty of places that use it routinely. Add in the use of online technologies, and the use of faxing is a lot wider than some may think. In light of this, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC (News - Alert)) recently released the results of the first ever Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) of online faxing services, whose results come as yet another shock to those who thought faxing was a long-dead form of communication.

The results of the FTC's PIA shows that online fax services are commonly more secure than their traditional telephone-based equivalents, as well as e-mail. In fact, there are several points inherent in online faxing systems that make them overall more secure than either of their general equivalents. For instance, online faxing is commonly encrypted, requiring both the sender and the receiver of the fax to authenticate in order to complete their parts. This is a step up from both faxing and e-mail, which require one of the two, though not both at once; traditional faxing uses encryption but no authentication, while e-mail uses authentication but no encryption.

Meanwhile, online fax transfers are generally sent to a dedicated inbox, keeping unintended viewers out of the loop. Moreover, since only fax logs are stored, it keeps administrators or users from viewing information they shouldn't. Given that 72 percent of participants in a GFI Software survey reported that their office still has a fax machine, as well as 49 percent claiming they had read a fax not intended for them, it seems pretty sensible to be interested in online faxing as a more secure method of communication.

Offering the GFI FaxMaker 2013 software, it’s easy to see why it would want to know about the percentages of users that are still using fax machines and who have intercepted – knowingly or unknowingly – faxes not intended for them. That's one of the biggest security risks associated with faxing, and one that's largely eliminated by FaxMaker 2013. 

With FaxMaker 2013, users can send and receive messages by directly connecting to online fax servers, which not only allows for multi-device access to said servers for sending and receiving information, but also incorporates both authenticating to access the servers as well as encryption in sending and receiving. It even offers a junk fax filter, automatically deleting faxes sent from a certain sender number. Even more, it now offers optional hybrid faxing, too.

Using online faxing isn't without risk. Sending personally identifiable information from one point to another by any means is inherently risky, but it's clear that online fax systems – especially those like as GFI's FaxMaker 2013 – will make the prospect of faxing even safer than it already is.

The importance of investing in the right fax communications solution cannot be more paramount. Do yourself a favor and celebrate the New Year by checking out GFI’s FaxMaker 2013 today by clicking here. To learn more about all of GFI’s offerings, visit www.GFI.com.

Want to learn more about cloud computing solutions geared specifically towards small to medium-sized businesses?  Don’t miss the Cloud4SMB Expo, collocated with ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at Cloud4SMB Expo. Follow us on Twitter.

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