Email or Fax?

My brother was telling us that he and his wife were waiting for the Dr. to send his wife’s prescription to the pharmacy (COSTCO) by Fax. I was surprised that the fax machine was still being used. It is and by, according to my brothers most of the medical professionals they knew. I thought that sending information by fax was an extra and time-consuming step. With email, create the document, attach, and send. With Fax, you create the document, print it, take it to the Fax machine, feed it into the Fax machine and press send. On the other side, you have to print out the document rather than read it on screen.

Evidently, I was wrong, today if you want to send a fax, there is an app for that, so create the document, save it, and then send it via the app. According to what I found out, living in the digital era has lots of benefits, especially when it comes to speed. We can send documents to far destinations without a hitch. Which one is faster, more secure, and reliable, fax or email? Sending emails is fast and convenient. It is what we are used to nowadays. A small problem can occur with email, sometimes your attached document does not reach the intended destination for different reasons. Your email can end up in:

·        Spam or junk, so the recipient might not see it

·        The wrong hands if:

o   You have entered the incorrect email address by accident

o   Your email has been hacked

Failing to send files to your boss or a colleague is quite unprofessional. Emailing potentially sensitive data to the wrong colleague, a client, or even a competitor—could probably jeopardize your job. We may take email as a standard communication form, but it could do lots of harm to you and your company.

Traditional or internet fax machines and various fax services offer more reliability in business environments. A fax machine was used long before email to send documents to further destinations. They have not vanished with the appearance of email—they have adapted. Faxing is still considered a more secure way to send documents, especially the official ones containing sensitive data.

 Most businesses rely on email for fast and efficient communication. We use it for everyday business and personal activities. 

Emails can get blocked, especially if a business has implemented security filters scanning and rerouting emails to spam or junk folders. Some companies have such powerful filters that an incoming email does not even end up in their spam or junk folder but is automatically identified as harmful and deleted.

Should you decide to attach a file to your email and send it to such a company, the chances of it ending up in junk, spam, or being deleted increase. If your email is identified as junk, your business partner might miss out on an important document, and your project will run late.

You will avoid this problem by using a fax app. Files you send via an online fax service to a fax machine will not be scanned and identified as spam. Your files will reach the recipient smoothly.

Emailing comes with lots of security issues because it is used by plenty of people and organizations. An email can be easily hacked or forged. Somebody can access your confidential information.

Everything can get more complicated and threatening with attached files. When you send or receive contracts, medical documentation, or other official material, you can easily catch spyware or some other malicious software and risk infecting your computer or even the whole business network.

That is why a lot of legal, economic, and medical sectors opt for online fax instead of email. SSL encryption is what safeguards the files you send via online fax services. This encryption keeps your sensitive data and documents safe when using a web browser. I never knew so I now understand why medical professionals use fax instead of email.