The Future of the Cloud Fax Market

There's a persistent myth about faxing that states it has become obsolete. If you work in one of the many industries that still rely on fax machines to convey documents and information between different teams, offices, or business partners, you've probably been scratching your head at that misconception. While faxing may be changing with the times, it's clearly still alive and well.

Why Faxing Is Still Relevant in the 21st Century

In some industries, such as the healthcare and finance sectors, these machines are still used regularly to meet industry compliance standards regarding data security. Even outside of these specialized fields, the recent push to digitize everything has left a lot of businesses with legacy equipment like older fax machines. These machines aren't useless. They can be converted into digital, cloud-based communications equipment that can maintain the security features that make faxing such a valuable form of communication.

The continued popularity of faxing isn't just about access to legacy equipment, either. There are several industries that remain loyal to fax machines despite recent changes in technology. They include:

●      The healthcare sector

●      Law enforcement offices

●      The financial services industry

If you work in one of these industries, chances are, you've already heard people vouch for faxing over sending emails because of its interoperability, enhanced security and compliance, and ease of use. These benefits are just as important today as they were before the invention of the Internet.

The Current State of the Fax Industry in 2021

The fact that faxing remains popular does not mean it is unchanged. Like all forms of communication, faxing in the 21st century is quickly becoming digitized. The switch to remote work during the pandemic speeded up that trend, but it didn't create it.

These days, the number of major industry players still relying on analog phone connections to send faxes is on the wane. Most businesses that still rely on fax machines now choose cloud fax over analog services. Cloud faxing allows for the secure transmission of documents to and from not just Internet-connected fax machines but also regular email addresses.

Part of the reason that faxing persists as a communication method is that the fax industry has changed to accommodate new digital technologies. The same traditional fax machines that used to be hooked up to analog phone lines can now be outfitted with analog telephone adaptors (ATAs) that allow them to connect to the Internet and send faxes via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

Remote Work Speeds Up the Transition to Digital Faxing

More companies than ever started allowing their employees to work remotely during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, and many plan to continue that practice. The abrupt switch forced a transition from traditional methods of communication to more flexible alternatives. While faxing was certainly not the only communication strategy that was forced to undergo fast, substantial changes, the cloud fax industry did a better job than many in keeping up with the changing times.

Remote workers need to have access to secure and dependable communications infrastructure, and that's what they found in newly popularized digital faxing solutions. The fact that so many companies allowed administrative employees to work remotely, even in sensitive industries such as the healthcare sector, was a huge driver of the change to digital faxing. Though around 90% of healthcare organizations still use legacy fax machines for some of their communication transactions, most now offer HIPAA-compliant online faxing as a viable alternative for remote employees and virtual patients, alike.

The healthcare industry is just one of many that have faced unprecedented changes. The increased accessibility, flexibility, and convenience of digital faxing have also driven businesses such as insurance agencies, financial service providers, and even government entities to make the switch. The best part of digital faxing is that it allows office workers who prefer to continue using legacy fax machines to stick to their old ways while simultaneously integrating more modern, remote workforces using advanced, cloud-based technologies.

Anticipating Future Global Cloud Fax Market Trends

Now that you have a decent idea of why fax machines remain such a vital part of today's business communications landscape and how the switch to remote work helped to drive the adoption of digital faxing technologies, it's time to look towards the future. According to market analysts and other industry experts, the future of the cloud fax market looks quite bright.

An estimated 17 billion faxes were sent in 2021, with an upwards of 66% of that volume still being faxed via physical/on-premise devices. And some estimates show about 75% of all medical communication still being done by fax.

It's not just US-based businesses that have embraced the transition to cloud-based faxing. Companies across the world are making the same transition at the same time, which is driving strong global market growth rates across the board. Experts predict that the global cloud fax market will grow to 860.5 million dollars by the year 2026. That's a five year growth of 9.99%.

There are a few relevant factors influencing the growth of the global cloud fax market. They include:

●      Increasing urbanization across the globe

●      Greater Software as a Service (SaaS) sales volumes

●      Increased acceptance by local merchants and multinational corporations, alike

●      Reduced supply chain disruptions

The cloud fax market can be segmented into different segments based on how faxes are sent and received. The popularity of faxing from desktops, email, and the web is growing at an even greater rate than the adoption of ATAs and the digitization of analog fax machines. However, the same SaaS and API providers that allow businesses to send digital faxes from analog machines also provide email-to-fax and other web-based services.

Catch Up With the Changing Times

Are you ready to start catching up with the times? Whether you manage an office and want to connect your old fax machine to the Internet via VoIP or you're working from home and need to find a way to communicate with coworkers or clients securely via email-to-fax, you'll need a reliable service provider on your side. The best choice for business owners and employees alike is to work with a vendor like mFax that provides a full range of secure and compliant digital faxing services to meet any company's needs.

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