MapleOne wrote:I don't understand
For outgoing faxes you are already scanning the document in, why not just email it to the recipient, it is the same as faxing?
Almost all fax machines can now scan and most of the multi units can automatically attach the scan to email. Why do you still need the outdated idea of a fax?
Once you set up a multi unit to scan to email it is just as fast as sending a fax. In my business I deal with 256 suppliers and I ised to fax orders, invoices, po's etc and now every single supplier is able to attach a PDF to email. It is almost inconceivable to me that a fax machine is still a necessity. My machine can fax, photo copy and scan but I swear the only thing I use is the scanner. All documents are scanned onto my hard drive and backed up. Physical paper has to be shredded after 7 years and that is another cost.
Unfortunately, as consumers we sometimes have limited options from which to choose when communicating with some businesses. Some businesses have invested hundreds-of-thousands of dollars into imaging systems, document-management-systems and office workflow applications which has made their office applications and document processing workflow dependent upon imaged documents which are held in specific formats. Some of these businesses have banks of receiving fax servers along with banks of document scanners (for postal-mailed documents) and the only option for electronic interaction with them is via a fax.
Many of these businesses have extended their processes to incorporate emailed documents (PDF's, MS-Word, ...) but it can be a significant investment (tens to hundreds-of-thousands of dollars) to make these process extensions. Many businesses, especially in the financial sector, still only accept faxes or postal-mailed documents.
So, whether we like it or not, the fax technology is likely to linger for many years to come.