Apps can turn a smartphone into many things. Case in point: a virtual assistant like Siri or Alexa can actually do the work of a human. Google Maps turns your smartphone into a sophisticated GPS navigation device. And digital wallets make physical wallets almost redundant. The list goes on and on.
Now, with online fax apps, your smartphone can perform the same functions as a traditional fax machine, only better. In this blog post, we will explore six advantages of using a free fax app instead of investing in a physical fax machine that will cost you hundreds in the upfront purchase and ongoing maintenance costs.
1. Convenience
A fax machine ties you down to a specific location like an office building. More often than not, these devices weigh more than 20 pounds and require a physical phone line connection to work. To send and receive faxes, you have to be next to the machine at all times.
With a free fax app, your wings are no longer clipped, as you can send and receive faxes from anywhere, at any time—in your home, during your commute, and so on. You don’t have to waste time inside the office waiting for an all-important fax.
2. Efficiency
Inside most offices, an entire department or team often shares fax machines. This can lead to a queue of employees lining up to use the fax machine during peak hours. Indeed, the arrangement is highly inefficient and ends up wasting precious time that could have been better utilized on other tasks.
With free fax apps on mobile and PC devices, you can solve this problem with minimum effort or investment. Just get a single subscription and have your employees use the app to send and receive faxes from their cubicles.
3. Cost Savings
These days, you can get a basic fax machine for roughly $500, which includes all the bells and whistles like a built-in scanner, copier, etc. But high-speed, high-resolution devices can set you back $3,000 or more. Leasing is an option but will come with steep monthly charges.
In contrast, a free fax app from a reputable online service like MyFax is 100% free to download. There is no up-front investment required. And with subscription costs that are a fraction of what you would spend on ink/toner refills and maintenance, you get more bang for your buck.
4. Reliability
Fax machines are prone to mechanical failures and breakdowns over time. Even in daily operations, paper jams and ink/toner issues can be quite common. Not being able to send an all-important business contract or tax document on time due to mechanical failure can hurt your business.
With online fax apps, hardware failure is a non-starter. The free fax app can be accessed from any device, as long as you have the required access credentials for the account. Paper jams are a thing of the past when documents are all available in digital formats like PDFs.
5. Speed & Versatility
A fax machine can only be used to send data that is already on printed paper. In an exceedingly digital world, this can often be a hassle. Online fax apps these days support more than 100 different file formats, allowing you to quickly send faxes without worrying about compatibility.
Multitasking is not the forte of a traditional fax machine. You cannot send and receive multiple documents simultaneously. With a free fax app, you can easily do this and even attach multiple file types to a single fax.
6. Security
Fax machines are vulnerable to a specific form of hacking. Received fax sheets stay in the machine until they are picked up. If the intended recipient is not standing next to the machine, this can lead to information security concerns.
Online fax services come with high-level encryption and other security measures to prevent unauthorized access to your data. The app will send a notification as soon as a fax is received. Keeping track of which team members receive sensitive documents is much easier as well.
Don’t be at the Mercy of Outdated Technology
Faxing is still an important means of communication and doing business in law, construction, government, hospital systems, and more. However, you don’t have to be at the mercy of outdated technology to send and receive faxes in 2023. With a free fax app and affordable subscription plans, you can do things much faster and safer than with an obsolete and expensive fax machine.
