You might think that fax machines have gone the way of the dinosaur – extinct. But, you’d be wrong, and in for a big surprise.
A recent survey conducted by GFI revealed some amazing facts:
- 85% of businesses use faxing in the office
- 72% of office workers use paper-based fax machines
- 39% use an online faxing service or electronic system (there is some overlap among office workers using both paper fax machines and electronic/online systems)
While you might “write-off” the 74% who use paper-based fax machines, these are not just old machines sitting about. Of those surveyed, 54% indicated that faxing is a central part of their day. In the digital age, why are so many offices still faxing? Survey respondents (29%) indicated that other companies they work with require it.
Paper-based faxing should have died long ago, yet very obviously hasn’t. 50% of those who use paper-based fax machines admitted they were concerned about security issues. About a half of office workers have read faxes intended for someone else. 44% of those surveyed felt that email was the most secure option for transmitting information, while 13% feel that paper-based faxing is more secure.
While faxing is still very much alive in the US, what about the rest of the world? Did you know that Japan has more fax users than the US does?
