So for those of us who need to fax, what are the alternatives?

So why do companies fax?  It’s not because they want to, but more because they have to.  There are several reasons for this.  The type of customers they have, legislation, regulation, the age of the industry and so on.

Healthcare deals in the exchange of patient information.  This exchange is highly regulated, often requires signatures, needs to be electronically secure and may pass through several layers – all of which lends itself to faxing.

Insurance handles an inordinate amount of information, generated by customers, from applications to claim forms, police reports, medical records, and so on.  Much of this information passes from insurance company to doctors, loss assessors, customers, etc.  Once again, faxing is a perfect medium to transfer this sensitive information that, more often than not, requires signatures and heavy scrutiny.

Banking and Finance similarly process huge amounts of information requiring signatures, authorizations for loan applications, purchases, leasing, and more.  Third parties are often involved in the work flow for verification of the information at hand.  These might be employers, processing organizations, call centers, or other banking and finance companies.

Manufacturing, depending on the type, process purchase order forms, invoicing, statements, picking slips, and so on for a huge variety of customers, and must be able to receive/send this information in every way imaginable – including fax.  These could be automotive manufacturers or suppliers to the automotive industry, healthcare suppliers, steel industry or many other types of manufacturers.

Logistics tie into the above very neatly, and once again must be able to send and receive information in just about any way possible due the very nature of their customer base.

Faxing is a necessary evil in most cases, and a VITAL one.

What makes faxing painful?

For those organizations that have not graduated from manual faxing to a full blown network fax server software, the answer to this is easy.

COST:

• Cost of consumables, that include paper and ink for both fax machines and printers required to print the material that needs to be sent.
• The time it takes to print, retrieve from the printer, walk to the fax machine, dial a number, wait for it to be sent, and then return.
• Fax machines and the maintenance thereof.
• Call costs.

Organizations that do run fax servers, have eliminated most of this pain, but also understand that they can gain enormous efficiencies through automation and integration.  Sending a fax from an accounting package, Enterprise Resource Planning system, Customer Relationship Management solution, Electronic Health Record system, Real Estate package and Practice Management solution, should be as easy as clicking a button, or at least close to it.

“So what?” you say.

In the same time I haven’t heard people say they love faxing, I have heard countless times people say they LOVE GFI FaxMaker!  That’s a pretty strong statement for a software product that’s core functionality is to do something people grit their teeth and bear.

Why?

• GFI FaxMaker eases the burden of faxing.
• It slides in almost seamlessly with a company’s workflow.
• It increases efficiency through integration with mail servers, printing functions, and other applications.
• Many normal processes requiring fax can be automated.
• The makers of many business applications in healthcare, enterprise resource planning, accounting packages, real estate solutions, and more, have realized the value and have integrated with GFI FaxMaker to automate the process.
• Where integration hasn’t been done, chances are you can still send faxes from applications due to the email to fax functionality and print to fax functionality available.
• And finally, GFI FaxMaker helps make a business’s work flow easier.

If you haven’t tried it yet, you should.  You just might be surprised how this solution can make a huge difference for your organization’s communications and business overall!

Have a look at what GFI FaxMaker can do for you; download a FREE trial now and give it a spin!