Fax is a time-tested standard for sending legal, medical, and other official documents. But what if you can't get your hands on a fax machine?
Maybe you switched offices or are working remotely due to the pandemic. Whatever your situation might be, you're not alone.
There are plenty of people out there who find themselves without a fax machine in their moment of need. Here's where online fax technology comes in.
What is an online fax system? In short, it's a way to maintain the security of faxing technology while eliminating the need for an actual fax machine.
It's real, it's secure, and it's a technology people use every day. We understand you might have some questions, and we're here to help.
Table of Contents
1. What Kinds of Things Should Be Faxed?
4. Can I Use Online Fax to Receive a Fax?
What Kinds of Things Should Be Faxed?
Faxing is a great option for official documents that need to stay secure. In these cases, faxing can be better than email because the document doesn't stay in digital inboxes.
When using email, you might run into access issues when an account has multiple owners. And though it might never happen to you or your clients, emails can be hacked. If this happens, the information you're trying to keep secure can be leaked and even sold.
Storing and sending information through email has the advantage of convenience. But it also means the information can be stored in more places. Copying digital files from an email account is easy to do but hard to control.
In faxing, the information is sent over a telephone line, which is harder to hack. It's still possible, but a breach here would likely compromise a single transmission rather than a whole database. And when your recipient gets the fax, it's a relatively straightforward process to keep track of where it is and who has access to it.
Much of the advantage of faxing is the security aspect. In fact, you might be required to fax documents for a contract or other official document. If this is the case, you may find yourself relying on access to a fax machine.
If you work in therapy, medicine, or law, you might have certain restrictions on how you can send official documents.
For example, if you work with patients, you might need a HIPAA-compliant mode of communication. You can encrypt data yourself on a device or through certain software to meet this standard. But if you want a smooth, user-friendly process, you might want to go with HIPAA-compliant fax.
In these specialized lines of work, fax technology is not just handy, but often a necessary tool.
Contrary to popular beliefs, today you can get an inexpensive fax number and still get all the security and compliances required.
Is Online Fax Secure?
By now, you might be thinking: okay, sending a fax is safer than most digital methods. But what about online faxing? Where does that fit in?
In a way, online faxing is the best of both worlds. It doesn't require a physical fax machine, which a plus for convenience—and it's still secure enough for your top confidentiality needs.
Like traditional faxing, our online fax system can be used to send official documents, even ones with legal restrictions for your occupation. If you need to use a HIPAA-compliant method or something equipped with HITECH security, we've got you covered.
At iPlum, all of these security features are handled on our end. There's no software you need to download, and there's no hardware you need to get. Everything is kept safe and secure at
How Does it Work?
Faxing uses a telephone line to transfer information securely from one person to another. Online fax does this as well.
You can setup a new number for fax at iPlum. Many users opt to use their existing business fax number by porting it to iPlum.
You can also create a phone number that spells out something special for your business. These are called vanity phone numbers, and you might recognize them from advertisements and billboards. Numbers like these are easier to remember, and they add a certain charm that helps your overall client experience.
When you want to send a fax, you'll start by accessing your online portal. From there, you'll be able to send documents securely through an encrypted system. The process is very similar to traditional faxing, just using your computer rather than a fax machine.
You may want to try online faxing even if you have the option to use a standard fax machine. If the person you're faxing to is in a shared office, you might not want to risk your document getting in the wrong hands. And for very tight schedules, online faxing allows you to skip printing times.
It could also be that the person you're faxing to doesn't have access to a printer, or doesn't have ink. Especially during the pandemic, these kinds of shortages and odd situations crop up more than you might think.
Can I Use Online Fax to Receive a Fax?
Yes! We're glad you asked. You can indeed receive a file using our online fax system.
The process works very much like the traditional way of receiving a fax. But instead of getting a document sent to your fax machine and printing it out, you'll receive the document in your secure online portal.
Now You Know
If you've ever needed to send a fax but didn't want to use a fax machine, online fax presents the perfect solution. It's secure and encrypted in ways that other modes of communication aren't, and it's convenient in a way that traditional fax can't be.
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