Cost-Saving Strategies: How Online Faxing Reduces Overhead Expenses

In today’s competitive business environment, companies continue to look for ways to drive costs down without compromising the quality and efficiency of their operations. One area of potential cost savings is back-office operations, like faxing, which are critical to business operations but may rely on clunky and expensive legacy systems.

Faxing remains a key form of communication in the business world, partially because of the continued innovation it’s endured to keep up with modern technology. Namely, users are shifting to digital faxing services, which are more convenient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective than traditional faxing.

As we’ll explore in further detail below, Internet fax services, like FAXAGE, allow businesses and individuals to send and receive faxes with ease via email, website, mobile app, and/or API at an affordable price. Thus, organizations looking to enhance efficiency while saving costs can consider replacing their traditional faxing method with a digital faxing service.

Understanding Online Faxing

Online faxing is just what it sounds like — it’s a fast, reliable, and secure way for users to send and receive faxed documents from an Internet-enabled device. This can be accomplished through an online login or mobile app.

Compared to traditional faxing, online faxing does not require access to a physical fax machine, nor does it need to be connected to a phone line. However, online faxing is compatible with this traditional method, so it doesn’t matter if the sender or recipient on the other end still uses a fax machine.

As the world has grown increasingly digital, online faxing is much more suited to modern workflows. Doctors, patients, clients, and business professionals are no longer tied to fax machines to transmit important information. They can conveniently send or receive faxed documents from anywhere, as long as they have Internet access. In this way, Internet faxing makes it much easier to send documents that are already stored on your computer or device. Plus, they aren’t limited to just sending or receiving one fax at a time like with the traditional method.

Benefits of Online Faxing in Cost Reduction

As mentioned above, online faxing can produce meaningful cost savings for businesses, including:

Reduced Paper and Ink Costs

Traditional faxing can be quite resource-intensive. It requires users to regularly purchase paper and toner or ink, which can add up over time and drag on profitability.

On the other hand, digital faxing services reduce physical paper usage substantially. When a person receives a fax via this method, the document is not automatically printed. Instead, they can view the document via an online portal or their email, meaning they only print off the document when it’s actually needed.

Thus, with digital faxing services, teams can largely reduce their consumption of paper, ink, and toner, helping them become more sustainable and environmentally-friendly and save on related costs.

Lower Maintenance and Equipment Expenses

Online faxing also eliminates the need for physical equipment. So, not only can teams forgo the initial investment in a physical fax machine, but they can also avoid the ongoing maintenance costs to upkeep them.

In other words, the digital infrastructure of online faxing services can help organizations save money in both the long and short-term on lower maintenance and equipment costs.

Increased Efficiency and Productivity

Another area where digital faxing can help organizations enhance profitability is by helping teams work more productively and be more efficient with team resources. Since users don’t need to be physically near a fax machine to send or receive important documents, they’re better able to transmit records when and where they need to, resulting in instant transmissions and receipt of critical documents.

With digital faxing, company communications are streamlined and are seamlessly integrated with digital workflows and cloud storage. Therefore, teams waste less time on traditional faxing workflows, and can spend more of their finite work hours on value-add tasks that move the needle for the business.

Reduced Office Space Requirements

Lastly, digital faxing services allow teams to minimize the amount of space needed in the office for fax machines and paper storage. All valuable documents are safely stored in the cloud, so they no longer need to keep bulky filing cabinets and storage space for physical documents.

Depending on the size of the company, this could make it possible for teams to downsize their office space.

Advantages of Online Faxing

Aside from the possible cost benefits, there are several other advantages of digital faxing services, such as:

Enhanced Security and Compliance

One of the reasons faxing has remained so popular is its secure transmission of documents. Across all sectors, data security is critical when sending or receiving sensitive information, and in some industries, like healthcare, it may even be required by law.

Digital faxing with services like FAXAGE ensures all faxes are secure using strong encryption via industry-standard TLS. Only the intended recipients are able to view the fax. Plus, all FAXAGE service plans come with HIPAA-compliance standards at no added cost.

Additionally, all of FAXAGE’s in-scope facilities and platforms have achieved HITRUST Certification, underscoring our commitment to appropriately managing risk. FAXAGE offers multiple security and encryption options, including:

SSL/TLS encryption for all web and API-based faxing
SSL/TLS email transport encryption
SSL/TLS secured Print to Fax print driver
SSL/TLS secured Fax App for iOS and Android
Password-protected incoming fax PDFs
PGP support for email fax sending and receiving
Email link for secure download of incoming faxes

We also offer full Internet Fax System Auditing to ensure that you know what your users are doing with your data.

Flexibility and Accessibility

As we’ve discussed, one of the key reasons users enjoy switching to digital faxing services is the enhanced flexibility they offer. Internet fax services like FAXAGE allow remote workers to stay connected, sending and receiving faxes with ease via email, website, mobile app, and/or API.

Employees don’t need a personal fax machine installed in their home office to securely transmit faxes to workers in other locations. They only need access to an Internet-connected device and a reliable digital fax service, like FAXAGE. It’s also easier to fax the files and documents already saved on the user’s device, requiring no printing beforehand. This further supports the accessibility of online faxing, as users don’t need a printer either.

Implementing Online Faxing in Your Business

If you’re ready to modernize business workflows and enjoy the cost-saving benefits of digital faxing services, here are the steps you can take:

Choosing the Right Online Fax Service

First, you need to do your research on the available faxing services and choose the provider that is right for you. Some of the main factors to consider include:

Pricing
Features
Customer support

Set your own requirements for each of these factors, which will make it easier to evaluate and compare possible services. Make sure your chosen service supports flexible work environments and remote teams and achieves any industry-specific requirements you may have, be it healthcare, legal, government, or business.

Training Staff and Ensuring a Smooth Transition

Once you’ve chosen a service, support a successful implementation and smooth transition for your staff through strategic change management.

Upgrading or changing workflows may not be easy or welcomed by all team members, especially if they’re used to doing things a certain way. However, you can overcome such roadblocks through adequate training and open communication. Don’t let your team feel in the dark; help them understand how the new system will make their lives easier and their workflows more convenient.

Clearly outline the benefits of digital faxing, and designate a point person for support and ongoing assistance during the transition period. Offer training sessions for hands-on practice and demonstrations, making it easier for the team to test out the platform with guidance before the company completely transitions to the new method.

Integrating Online Faxing with Existing Systems

To ensure your online faxing service integrates well with your existing systems, make sure to choose the right plan to accommodate your volume needs and budget.

At FAXAGE, we’re proud to offer value-leading price and performance, with all plans including unlimited users and online fax storage at no additional cost. Plans start as low as $3.49/month and can reliably scale to thousands of fax numbers and millions of faxes per month — all from a single account. We offer various plans for individual and business use, including:

Business Plans

Unlimited Inbound Plan: $19.95/month, best for heavy inbound use
Small Office Plan: $29.95/month, best for balanced use
Toll-Free 1500: $19.95/month, best toll-free value

Individual Plans

Lite Plan: $3.49/month, best for occasional use
Professional Plan: $7.95/month, best for moderate use

High Volume Plans

Local Volume Plan: $64.95/month, includes a local number
Toll-Free Volume Plan: $64.95/month, best for heavy inbound use

Carrier Plans

Wholesale pricing structure based on the number of concurrent outgoing channels required, number of fax DIDs required, and actual minute usage

$15/month/concurrent outgoing channel
$2/month/DID
$0.023/minute for all inbound/outbound traffic

Conclusion

Reducing overhead expenses requires a strategic approach to capture cost savings without compromising business productivity. Investing in digital faxing services allows companies to achieve both - streamline communications while saving valuable time and costs like machine, paper, and toner purchases.