How email to fax and
fax to email works

Whether sending faxes from their email client or through a business application, email to fax allows users to send faxes through an efficient process that bridges the gap between their need to use email and their recipients need to receive faxes.

Users can send faxes directly from their standard email client when using an electronic fax solution. There is really no learning curve because most people already know how to send email. And the process can boost productivity as users no longer have to print a document and manually send it from a traditional fax machine.

With most email to fax solutions, the end user is able to send an email to either faxnumber@domain.com (where domain.com is a custom fax domain) or to an Outlook business fax contact. From the user perspective, they are creating the email, addressing it, adding notes to the subject and/or body, attaching the desired fax documents, and clicking send.

With typical electronic fax solutions, the information on the fax sender and recipient, as well as the subject and body fields from the email, will be included on the cover page. This allows for the use of cover page templates that can be used in a dynamic fashion rather than requiring the user to create a custom cover page each time they wish to send an email to fax. The inclusion of the subject and body from the email lets the user add instructions to the cover page so that the user can replicate the addition of manual notes with the email to fax process.

The electronic fax solution converts the email to fax for delivery across the phone network to the remote recipient. Once the fax transmission completes, the fax solution typically returns an email to the sender to let them know whether their email to fax submission was successfully sent or that it failed to transmit. Typically, the reason for the failure and an option to retry the fax will also be included.

The ability to send an email to fax also allows for easy integration with third party applications. Many organizations are sending faxes through a business application such as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), invoicing or accounting system. With some of these applications, the email to fax workflow can be configured by the IT Administrator while others may require customization by the software vendor.

1. Open a new email

2. Put the To fax number into the email address

3. Create a subject line and the email body

4. Attach any documents

5. Send the email – the fax service converts the email information to a fax and calls the fax number

6. Receive the confirmation – the fax service will send an email confirming whether the fax was successfully transmitted

It was once thought that standalone fax machines would be replaced with email messaging. But email can’t always guarantee to be as secure a form of communication as faxing.

For example, an email message and its content might be archived on any number of servers. Email transmission of information also runs into problems with compliance agencies and regulations, such as HIPAA, that require greater security.

Unlike emails, a fax cannot be used to:

• carry a virus

• phish

• harm a company’s network security

It’s estimated that there are about 125 million fax machines in use in the world today, and close to six million new purchases each year. According to a 2012 survey, 85 per cent of U.S. businesses make use of faxing in some form.

There are three main reasons why faxing is still important for these organizations:

1. To obtain a phone line and a fax machine is still the simplest and least technical way for a small company to begin communicating with the outside world.

2. Many companies, especially those in the healthcare, legal and insurance space, are required to transmit data via fax because of compliance concerns.

3. Companies are maintaining legacy applications, such as purchasing and billing systems, which are only able to transmit a document via fax.

The relatively simple process of setting up an integrated network faxing solution can significantly increase a company’s efficiency and productivity. With a network faxing solution, thousands of dollars can be saved in labor costs alone. In addition, faxes can be more secure, readily prepared and add an appearance of professionalism to the company’s business communications.

By using existing technologies, such as word processing and messaging applications, an organization gets greater benefits from existing applications with no additional cost in software or additional training expenses. The integrated network faxing solution has a high return on investment and there is really no learning curve – its benefits can be realized literally in minutes.