What is online faxing?

The pandemic forced most people to find ways to utilize technology in order to work from home. Using video conferences for meetings, document sharing for a better workflow, and lots of other ways to increase work productivity despite staying at home. 

But what about faxing? If your work involves sending and receiving multiple faxes every day, does it mean you should buy a bulky and expensive fax machine for your home? No, you don't have to do that. There's something called online faxing and it is exactly the solution to that particular problem of yours. 

In this article, you'll find out about what is the meaning of online faxing, why you should use one, and what's the difference between online faxing and other means of sending documents. Then maybe you’d consider using an online faxing service after reading this article.

Online faxing is an online service that allows you to send and receive faxes no matter where you are. When you sign up to an online faxing service, you would usually assign a fax number, and depending on the company, you might even choose your own local code. 

And just like normal fax, you could also share that number so that other people could start sending faxes to you. And whenever someone sends a document to you, all you need to do is simply login to the faxing service’s dashboard. You could view and send the documents from there. 

Some online faxing services also allow you to use your email account to send and receive documents. Going even further, there is also some company out there who have a dedicated mobile app that you could use for your faxing purposes. 

Other additional features that you could enjoy from certain online faxing services include digital signing, synchronization with your preferred online storage, document history, and many more. Online faxing services bring the conventional faxing method into this modern, digital, and interconnected age. 

There are five main reasons why you should use an online faxing service:

1. Convenience. As mentioned before, an online faxing service makes it possible for you to send and receive faxes no matter where you are. This makes it possible for you to do your work even when you are not physically at your office or near a fax machine.
    
2. Speed. Sending a document through the conventional fax machine requires you to put the documents directly into the machine or using a complex step that requires specialized software and devices to send it directly from your computer. With online faxing, however, you simply need to upload the documents to your online faxing account, enter the destination number, and click send. 
   
   
3. Cost-saving. Having a conventional fax machine requires a huge upfront cost. After that, there will also be a monthly cost and a maintenance cost. The monthly cost might include the cost of papers, ink, electricity, etc. With online faxing, you will eliminate the majority of that cost. Simply pay the monthly cost according to your particular needs and that's it. You will save hundreds if not thousands of dollars per month.
   
   
4. Security. One of the reasons you need to use faxes is because there will come a time when you need to send sensitive documents. An online faxing service usually has an added security to make sure your documents are safe behind their advanced encryption. 
   
   
5. Scalability. If you're a business owner and you wish to someday scale your business, such as opening up several new local branches or maybe even an international branch. An online faxing service makes it possible for you to easily scale your faxing preferences according to your ever-growing needs.

We've touched on the reasons why you should use an online faxing service in the previous section. It also manages to show you why an online faxing service is superior to a conventional fax machine. But what about email? If all you want to do is simply send documents through the internet, isn't it better to use a free email instead?

The answer is it depends on what you need. If you simply want to send a short message or maybe just a quick memo, then yes, using email is a much faster solution. If you want to send a rather long document but there's no need to print it out, then you could also use your email. 

But if you need to send or receive documents that need to be printed immediately, then sending it through online fax is a much faster and better way to go about it. You could also use it to send faxes to a conventional fax machine and vice versa. That is something that an email won't be able to do.

Not to mention there are also certain documents that need to be in a physical form for it to be accepted. Such documents are usually for legal or medical purposes. You can't send medical records as digital documents to a hospital, just like you can't send legal documents digitally to a lawyer. It has to be there physically. And for that, faxes are needed.

And last but not least, if you are a business owner, having a local fax number would make your business look more legitimate and trustworthy to your customers. Of course, having an official email address is also necessary, but a local fax number is simply that much more powerful at giving credibility to your business.

For some of you, faxes are a crucial part of your daily job. But since you are now forced to work remotely from home, purchasing a bulky and costly fax machine may not be the kind of investment that you're willing to make. And that's where online faxing comes in. 

Online faxing allows you to engage in the usual faxing activity without having to own a fax machine. What's even better, you could also send and receive documents directly to your email account. This means you are no longer bound to your desk in order to send or receive documents. 

And just like mentioned above, online faxing has so many benefits over conventional fax machines. And there are also lots of instances where using an online faxing solution is better than a simple email. So if you find yourself in a situation where you need to use faxes, it is time to give online faxing services a try. If you don't know where to start , here is a list of the best online fax services reviewed by our team.