Fax in the financial world: Key drivers for change

As communications systems become more integrated the opportunities for greater efficiency, lower costs and greater productivity are ever greater. Voice and data communications are becoming concentrated on IP networks, increasingly sophisticated Multi Function Peripherals (MFPs) are consolidating hardware into fewer devices and virtualisation of systems is lowering data centre costs and allowing greater centralisation of systems and resources. So where does fax fit into this rapidly changing scene?

Within the financial services industry, fax remains a business-critical form of communication that shows no sign of fading away due to its ubiquitous nature, inherent security and legal standing. Increasingly onerous legislative requirements, however, have ensured that the fax issue cannot simply be ignored when integrating and rationalising communications infrastructures. Compliance has become an essential cornerstone of responsible corporate governance and fax policy must take account of this.

From a fax perspective, there are two main areas of technological change that are influencing corporate policy: the move towards MFPs, and the potential for fax to converge with voice and data over IP networks (Fax over IP or FoIP) including fax server virtualisation. Each of these has the potential to radically change the way that organisations integrate fax into their communications infrastructure and both can deliver significant benefits. There are, however, issues raised by each and all the benefits will not be available to every organisation.

MFP Integration

There is little doubt that Multi Function Peripherals (MFPs) which combine printing, scanning, copying and fax functions in one machine are attractive to businesses of all sizes. MFPs linked into a network fax environment have the potential to deliver very significant financial and operational benefits: Administration and management can be simplified, hardware, consumable and infrastructure costs reduced, and management controls can be strengthened so standards required for regulatory compliance can be met.

From a fax perspective, however, MFPs also present a number of potential issues that can hinder the efficiency of the fax delivery process, reduce the cost benefits or undermine an organisation's ability to meet its regulatory compliance responsibilities. These issues include fragmented audit trails if the fax is sent via an SMTP application such as MS Exchange or Lotus Notes then on to the fax server for distribution, complicated interfaces that are not optimised for fax delivery and lack efficiency enhancing services, latency and insecurity caused by convoluted SMTP processes which result in wasted time, increased risk and lost productivity.

The potential issues are largely the result of two characteristics inherent in MFPs on the market today. First, the interface itself is limited in functionality and is not designed specifically to optimise the delivery of faxes over a network environment. The second is the option to use SMTP as the delivery mechanism which is limiting, insecure and subject to delay.

Lane has developed an MFP Interface to provide a solution to these issues. Working with the Lane Passport Fax Server, the interface provides a comprehensive audit trail that meets compliance obligations, a rich interface that improves productivity, direct access to the Passport fax server avoiding the limitations of SMTP and secure messaging which avoids corporate mail servers completely.

Fax over IP (FoIP)

FoIP is a real-time method of sending faxes over the Internet or your wide area network that changes the transmission method of faxing in much the same way that VoIP (Voice over IP) changes the transmission method of a phone call. It has become one of the hot topics of the moment due to the significant benefits, both financial and operational, that can be realised. As with many of the new technologies being introduced to the market today, FoIP has the potential to deliver significant competitive advantage but the issue for many businesses will be judging the point at which these benefits outweigh the costs of implementation.

Organisations with the most to gain would be those with multiple offices and an existing VoIP or unified communications installation which typically wouldn't have a fax interface. By running a Fax over IP system they could converge voice, data and fax onto a single network reducing complexity, management overheads and costs.

As a Fax over IP system does not require physical fax boards, the fax server could be virtualised saving money through a reduction in hardware costs, expensive data-centre server rack space and lower energy bills. And, as there are no fax boards, there's no need to purchase new boards due to obsolescence when upgrading hardware some time in the future.

Outbound faxes from desktops, multi-function peripherals and ERP systems could benefit from least cost routing over the Voice network and be transmitted from PSTN breakout points in the regions nearest to the fax destination. This means that many faxes would only be charged at a local or national rate and long distance fax charges could be reduced enormously.

Fax ports would be shared as required across the entire Voice over IP network so the fax server could be used to handle both inbound and outbound faxing much more efficiently. Significant cost savings could be made as only one centralised fax server would be needed to handle the fax requirements of the whole organisation. A significant and often overlooked benefit is the improved customer satisfaction gained by providing local regional fax numbers to customers rather than international numbers as may otherwise be the case. In addition, deployment of an integrated fax capability throughout the organisation would be much easier if running fax over the IP network and disaster readiness could also be improved.

For smaller organisations, particularly those with single offices, it's unlikely that the benefits of implementing Fax over IP will outweigh the costs unless system upgrades, such as new fax cards, are required anyway. For these organisations, investment in a top-end fax server such as Lane's Passport 4000 will deliver many more benefits. Organisations wanting a balanced assessment of their communications infrastructure as it relates to fax should contact Lane for a free consultation and report.