It’s been perhaps two decades since the fax machine held pride of place in the world’s offices. It was a hard-working little robot, a sort of cross between R2D2 and a bread box, sending and receiving documents all day and, in some cases, even throughout the night. For many of us it was quite satisfying - insert the fax in the top of the machine, watch it slide into the feeder, listen as it dialed the number, then…success, the rhythmic chime as it connected and shot your document to destinations hither and yon. 

The Arrival of Digital Fax

Email soon eclipsed fax as the best way to send documents, and fax machines soon found themselves abandoned and alone, stuffed into supply closets, in the lonely corners of break rooms...The true death knell for these poor “little engines that could” was the arrival of digital faxes, sent and received via the internet. We no longer needed paper. In 2022, Vodia announced inbound and outbound fax were available with our newest version of our PBX at the time, version 67.1. That rhythmic chime of connection faded into memory. For most of us, but not for all of us. Why?

HIPAA

Even today, there are industries that still require fax, particularly healthcare. This is because of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, a privacy rule for patients and providers: 

“The Privacy Rule standards address the use and disclosure of individuals' health information—called "protected health information" by organizations subject to the Privacy Rule — called "covered entities," as well as standards for individuals' privacy rights to understand and control how their health information is used. A major goal of the Privacy Rule is to assure that individuals' health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high-quality health care and to protect the public's health and well-being.” 

Under HIPAA, documents and records shared between two or more healthcare providers via fax is approved by HIPAA, especially between specialists, so most doctors’ offices and other medical providers still rely on fax. 

Beyond Healthcare

Fax also remains a key form of document transfer in finance, law, and real estate, particularly when a document, such as a contract or other legal documentation, requires signatures. And many organizations across Asia still use fax, more than their Western counterparts do. 

Why Fax?

Fax still has some advantages over emails, particularly in instances where legal validity of documents is a necessity. Faxes are often a more reliable form of evidence in legal proceedings when compared to emails and texts (judges and lawyers often consider them more robust and trustworthy). They also provide real-time, time-stamped transmission and physical record-keeping. 

Confirmation

The confirmation reports printed once a fax is sent make faxes more concrete than emails and texts, making them more useful, in some cases, than an email chain. Confirmation reports are verifiable proof of receipt of documents - they are legal validation and a formal record of a transmission. Confirmation reports display crucial information, including sender and recipient numbers, and the exact time and date of transmission.  

Security

Digital faxes are sent via the internet, rather than over traditional phone lines, for greater accessibility and speed, as compared to fax machines. Though digital fax isn’t as secure as analog fax, the risk of hacking and tampering is still far less than with any other means of digital transmission of documents.   

The Vodia Digital Fax Solution

Sending faxes with the Vodia phone system is fast and easy: users can drag and drop a PDF and type the fax number in the dialogue box and - voilà! The fax is on its way. You can also preview the pages and the header. When your fax is sent, the progress percentage is displayed. A confirmation email, with a copy of the fax, is immediately available once the fax is received. 

The Vodia PBX supports sending and receiving fax in two ways: pass-through mode and as a fax endpoint. Documentation is available here. 

Your First Choice for Fax - and Everything Else for Peerless Business Communication

Fax is just part of the Vodia phone system’s immense suite of features. Our relentless commitment to innovation has made us the industry’s leading business communication system: the Vodia PBX provides enterprises, SMBs, and every organization in between with everything they need to build and maintain the robust, scalable, secure ecosystems they need for collaboration, compliance, impeccable CX, and measurable growth. Get in touch with us at sales@vodia.com or call +1 (617) 861-3490 (United States), +61 2 7201 0788 (APAC), or +49 30 555 78749 (Europe).