Recently, Lane attended a webinar about the predicted global fax trends in 2024. What was a very compelling roundtable discussion, the webinar revealed some fascinating insights about fax technology’s continued presence across various industries and the notable innovations we’ll be seeing over this next year.
This webinar delves into hot topics surrounding the ever-preserving technology, including the benefits of moving to the cloud, trends surrounding AI and communication technology, advanced document capture technologies, automating fax workflows, and increasing productivity and efficiency via fax communication.
Global Fax Trends Impacting the Market
The age-old question persists: is fax technology a dying breed? As 2024’s global fax trends point out, the answer is a resounding no. In fact, fax remains an integral part of core workflows across various industries, including healthcare, public service, and finance. More specifically, it is a preferred platform for business and healthcare communications.
One staggering statistic the webinar reveals is that over 9 billion faxes are sent annually within the healthcare industry alone, underscoring the prevailing need for secure communication over other communication methods.
The webinar then goes on to discuss the prevalence of fax from a geographical perspective, noting that countries like Germany, Japan, and the UK rely on fax technology for its unparalleled security benefits and compliance outcomes. Another significant factor is that the technologies that could potentially supplant fax are difficult to implement across systems.
QUOTE: “Understanding why fax is still here is critical; it is so ingrained in business processes due to regulations.”
Fax: The Lowest Common Denominator Across Industries
Undoubtedly, fax technology continues to evolve to keep up with the changing needs of various marketplaces. As such, it is still used across multiple use cases mainly due to how it fits within existing systems and processes. Even the use of paper faxing still has its place in specific settings.
To exemplify, the webinar discusses the role of fax technology in online food ordering and delivery. Restaurants will receive new orders via fax as the tickets are printed out. In fast-paced kitchen settings, it is far more feasible to work with paper tickets, as that is an existing process that kitchens use to begin with.
QUOTE: “Fax is an old dog you can teach new tricks to.”
Looking Forward: The Role of Data Extraction & IDP in Fax
Clearly, fax isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a static technology – a sentiment that’s primarily due to the clear market shift to cloud environments.
Speaking of major market shifts, the webinar addresses industries that are considered “late adopters” of fax technology. The healthcare and government sectors can be considered late adopters of fax, mainly due to its continued evolution with regard to the cloud and its ability to accommodate existing systems and processes seamlessly.
Cloud faxing, expressly, is set to be the next iteration of faxing (if it isn’t already). With new and emerging technologies like OCR and intelligent document routing, businesses can more easily identify what documents are being sent out and route them to their final destination.
Other technologies like data extraction and intelligent document processing (IDP) were also a point of discussion throughout the webinar. Panelists describe how these technologies can save time and resources for businesses through their ability to automatically extract data and process documents, posing a significant advantage for healthcare organizations, finance, and other information-heavy industries.
The Intersection of Technology & Fax
Although the communication landscape remains complex and fast-paced, fax remains the one constant that businesses can rely on for centralization and transparency. For example, fax remains relevant in scenarios involving Microsoft Teams rollouts, UCaaS implementation, and SIP projects, as fax technology can be seamlessly integrated within these environments.
The Need for Intelligent Technologies & AI
Most businesses agree that technology should augment processes and reduce costs. With that in mind, technologies like Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and AI are positioning themselves as emerging technologies that can work in tandem with fax to help extract new data values.
One startling statistic states that at least 80% of business data is still embedded in unstructured formats like PDFs or images. For this reason, there is an increasing need for technologies like IDP so organizations can now better read data and identify the document type in order to place the document accordingly. Moreover, many businesses are looking at using AI training to streamline this process.
Top Fax Use Cases This Past Year
As for the final portion of the webinar, the panelists go on to discuss the Gartner Report that reveals the top verticals and use cases. This includes invoicing processes, purchase orders, insurance claims, and patient record exchange. With existing native integrations into fax applications through platforms like Epic, SAP, and Salesforce, businesses can speed up implementation significantly. This means that there is no need to spend cycles on development.
Finally, fax continues to serve newer use cases through evolving technologies. This includes leveraging fax-to-fire scenarios or rolling out AI-driven IDP workflows for streamlined document processing that doesn’t compromise on security or efficiency. Armed with these capabilities, organizations are now better positioned to facilitate cost savings and drive productivity.
Lane: A Preferred Cloud Fax Provider Across Industries
Lane’s role in the evolution of fax solutions is highlighted by our continuous development alongside industry-standard platforms. As more and more sectors demand efficiency across systems and communication, Lane is a steadfast fax vendor that can accommodate such needs through our proven fax technology.
