'Who the fax is still sending faxes?'
In 2018, the Mail & Guardian ran a story under the headline “Who the fax is still sending faxes?” Surprisingly they found “it still has a ‘massive’ user base”, particularly in the health care, Government and financial services sectors. This is backed up by a 2019 article in The Conversation “Why do people still use fax machines?”, which states that, “Millions of people, businesses and community groups send millions of faxed pages every day... It turns out that in many cases, faxing is more secure, easier to use and better suited to existing work habits than computer-based messaging.”
Yet, hundreds of thousands of South Africans will soon be cut off from their fax lifeline with the announcement by Openserve that it will shut down its ADSL offering from 1 September 2020 in all areas where fibre is available.
A gap in the market opens up with these ADSL shutdowns as our Smartfax solution bridges this gap. We’ve already noted an increase in Smartfax implementations as a result of clients losing their ADSL fax lines, so the time is ripe to go to market. The following information outlines the basics of the product and answers key questions that you or your client might have.
What is Smartfax?
By combining a few key technologies, Kyocera’s Smartfax offers a cost-effective and reliable Fax-over-IP product which modernises faxing to fit it with technologies such as VoIP (voice over internet protocol) and fibre.
The age of the fax has not come to an end, but has rather morphed into a computer-based technology. Interestingly, Fax over IP retains the security features of traditional fax due to the fact that the communication method in the background of the service is exactly the same as traditional faxing with time/data stamps from network to network.
With Smartfax, users can retain their current fax number and all faxes (sent and received) are archived for 10 years, without the hassle of phone lines being clogged up by fax transmissions.
1. Is it difficult to move to Fax over IP?
No, the conversion is simple and can be done by the virtual team in one to five working days with no down-time incurred.
2. How much does it cost?
A number of solutions exist, depending on the needs of the client, with pricing that ranges from R95 a month to R495 a month.
3. What will I need to help my client convert?
You will need the following in order to start the process:
- Details of the analog account with the listed fax number.
- Find out whether the client has a fax kit in their device.
- Details of the existing hardware and software system.
- Find out whether the client has a Hypas device (please note that when a machine upgrade takes place, it is helpful to upgrade the machine with Hypas and no fax kit).
4. Can Kyocera help everyone or only customers with a fax kit?
We can help anyone with or without a fax kit.
5. What makes this offering unique or better than other internet-based alternatives?
- The only fax service provider that archives all faxes for 10 years.
- The only fax service provider that can provide a 99% SLA on all fax deliveries.
- The only fax service provider that can connect to non-fax kit devices and still send and receive faxes as normal.
- The only pure per-second billing fax solution.
Sending and receiving faxes via the Internet without using a phone line is easy, fast to implement and it also reduces telecommunications costs. Businesses need not worry about the ADSL lines being shut down as there is a trusted Fax over IP alternative available through us. You can tell your clients to keep faxing.
Marcell Otto - Software Product Specialist - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa
