A fax server is simply a carnal oregon virtual server that’s utilized to negociate the sending, receiving, and retention of faxes implicit a integer oregon analog network. Fax servers were erstwhile considered modular instrumentality successful astir concern offices, but they are each but obsolete these days.
Instead, determination are present galore amended solutions connected the market, truthful there’s nary request to woody with fax servers and the headaches they bring successful the archetypal place.
Four reasons not to usage a fax server
1. Fax infrastructure is achy to scale
One of the hardest things astir making changes to your bureau communications setup is doing truthful astatine scale. This tin beryllium a existent nuisance with fax servers, arsenic it takes cautious readying truthful that you don’t extremity up with immoderate earnestly snarled communications.
Additionally, scaling a fax server often requires a hefty concern successful caller technology, including further fax boards, modems, and servers to woody with the accrued fax measurement moving done your office.
Online fax services fto you debar this contented entirely, offering acold smoother scalability without the request for further hardware investments. This makes cloud-based services acold much equipped to accommodate a business’s increasing connection needs.
2. Limited flexibility
Simply put, fax servers are lone large astatine sending and receiving faxes. This means that they’re not precise utile successful modern bureau communications wherever radical request to nonstop and person messages crossed a assortment of platforms and devices.
Since fax servers aren’t designed to interact with the assorted types of devices we usage today, they tin tally into important hurdles erstwhile it comes to bureau communications.
Trying to shoehorn a fax server into your concern operations tin propulsion disconnected your workflows oregon necessitate you to travel up with workarounds to accommodate the antiquated technology. At the aforesaid time, it besides requires you to tally the hazard of losing way of immoderate papers that isn’t portion of your different cloud-based system.
Long communicative short, maintaining compatibility with evolving exertion standards and protocols tin beryllium a situation for taxation servers that’s conscionable not worthy taking on.
In contrast, galore online solutions travel with a acold greater woody of flexibility, allowing users to nonstop and person faxes via email, online platforms, and adjacent apps. Employees tin send a fax from an iPhone, for example, nary substance wherever they are.
Online faxes are besides stored centrally and tin beryllium accessed by your team. This makes it overmuch easier to signifier and entree files. Remote workers tin retrieve immoderate they request without having to travel into the office.
3. Fax server attraction costs
Since fax servers are hardware-dependent, they necessitate ongoing maintenance, which tin devour up budget. And, due to the fact that this instrumentality is aging retired of relevance, it’s not ever imaginable for immoderate aged technician to work it — truthful you astir apt request to find a specialist.
It mightiness beryllium tempting to skirt this peculiar downside by simply not maintaining your fax servers arsenic much, but this tin beryllium a costly mistake. Downtime and strategy failures tin easy disrupt concern operations and incur further costs for troubleshooting and repairs.
After all, fax doesn’t necessitate a ton of bandwidth, but the transportation has to beryllium stable. Slight delays oregon problems effect successful faxes not being sent oregon received.
Online fax solutions sidestep this entirely, arsenic they don’t necessitate immoderate dedicated hardware, and they connection predictable subscription-based pricing models with minimal upfront investment.
4. Security risks
The older a exertion is, the much apt it’s been breached into oregon hacked on the mode — and if not, it whitethorn inactive see vulnerabilities that marque it much apt to beryllium compromised successful the archetypal place. Fax servers are nary objection to this rule, and radical person had a agelong clip to fig retired however to hack them and exploit their vulnerabilities.
The unfortunate information is that transmitting delicate accusation implicit accepted telephone lines and unsecured networks increases the hazard of your information being intercepted and utilized by hackers and scammers — and there’s not a full batch you tin bash to mitigate that hazard with accepted fax servers.
Of course, cloud-based and online fax solutions person their information vulnerabilities too, but they besides person precocious information protocols and usage modern encryption methods to safeguard information.
Furthermore, depending connected the service, galore online fax solutions comply with manufacture information regulations, and these solutions are besides updated regularly successful effect to emerging threats.
Three amended alternatives than an in-house fax server
1. Online fax solutions
Online fax solutions are the existent golden modular replacement for fax servers. They let businesses to bash each the aforesaid things they could bash with a accepted fax setup, lone with overmuch greater degrees of information and convenience.
Sometimes called net faxing oregon virtual faxing, online faxing works overmuch similar sending an email. You simply unfastened up the bundle oregon platform, prime the papers you privation to send, and past click a fastener to nonstop it to different person’s fax instrumentality oregon online fax service.
The main benefits of online fax solutions include:
- Cost-effectiveness: Online fax services usually connection subscription oregon pay-as-you-go pricing, and it’s overmuch cheaper than having to buy, maintain, and update each that hardware and software.
- Scalability: If you request to adhd different enactment to your online fax service, each you person to bash is fto your supplier know. There’s nary request to instal further hardware oregon bargain caller software.
- Flexibility: The keyword successful online fax services is “online.” Since everything happens implicit a network, you and your squad tin entree faxes anyplace you person an net connection.
- Security: Online fax services are mostly precise secure, with encryption protocols and information privateness measures. Depending connected which work you spell with, you tin adjacent find options that comply with industry-specific information regulations, similar HIPAA.
2. VoIP services
Voice implicit Internet Protocol (VoIP) services fto you marque and person calls implicit the net alternatively of implicit accepted telephone lines, and they tin besides beryllium utilized to nonstop faxes. The mode it works is by sending integer information to different person’s fax instrumentality wherever it whitethorn beryllium converted oregon translated backmost into analog signals via their VoIP work oregon an analog telephone adapter (ATA) that helps a fax instrumentality work it.
Unlike a accepted fax machine, a VoIP fax work won’t automatically people retired immoderate it receives, but it volition clasp it arsenic a record successful a cloud-based system, which means you tin entree it anyplace and past people it whenever you want.
The main benefits of VoIP telephone services include:
- Cost-effectiveness: Much similar online fax services, VoIP telephone services mostly tally cheap, and astir enactment connected a subscription exemplary that you tin easy summation oregon alteration arsenic needed.
- Seamless integration: Since VoIP telephone services bash truthful galore different things than faxing, they marque a large enactment for businesses that privation to support their operations arsenic integrated arsenic possible. With VoIP telephone services, your squad tin entree their telephone service, faxes, papers management, and much each successful 1 place.
- Advanced features: VoIP telephone services travel with a wide scope of precocious features that marque faxing much effective, with fax-to-email conversion being 1 of the astir useful. This makes it truthful your faxes are sent to your email, wherever you tin adjacent reply to them. Many VoIP telephone services besides connection online papers signing, which tin beryllium precise convenient if you’re faxing things similar contracts.
It’s important to enactment that galore VoIP telephone services besides supply fax services — but not each of them do. Do your probe to marque definite immoderate work you see has each the functionality you need.
3. Document absorption systems
Document absorption systems (DMS) aren’t specifically designed for faxing, but they tin often beryllium utilized for it anyway, making them a bully alternate to a fax server.
They enactment precise likewise to online fax services successful that you tin upload a papers to the DMS and past nonstop it retired arsenic a virtual fax. Faxes you person tin besides beryllium sent straight into your DMS wherever it tin beryllium categorized on with the remainder of your files.
The main benefits of DMS include:
- Convenience: If you’re already utilizing a DMS to negociate your documents and you request to nonstop faxes, it conscionable makes consciousness to usage the aforesaid level to bash some functions.
- Built-in integration: Faxes are sent and received straight from the DMS, which means that you don’t person to interest astir copying files implicit from a fax work oregon pulling files from your DMS to nonstop via your fax service.
- Easy organization: If you’ve already got a bully hierarchy successful your DMS, faxes volition acceptable close in, with nary request to make different process.
I person thing against fax servers personally, I conscionable don’t deliberation it is the champion mode for astir offices to grip fax. There are excessively galore amended options retired there.