Why Fax Needs to be Part of Your Unified
Communications Strategy
Osterman Research, Inc.
August 2, 2011
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Sponsored by
Why Fax Needs to be Part of Your Unified
Communications Strategy
Michael D. Osterman
Principal, Osterman Research, Inc.
August 2, 2011
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Sponsored by
Today’s Agenda
• Michael Osterman, Founder and President, Osterman Research, Inc.
• Gill Langston, Manager Sales Engineers, GFI
• Your Questions
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
About Osterman Research
• Focused on the messaging, Web and collaboration industries
• Practice areas include archiving, security, encryption, content
management, etc.
• Strong emphasis on primary research conducted with decision makers
and influencers
• Founded in 2001
• Based near Seattle
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Four Myths About Fax
1.
Fax is so ‘1990s’ and simply is not
relevant in an age of social media
and Web 2.0
2.
Traditional faxing is secure
3.
Fax is a ‘paper’ technology and does not have to be managed like
email, SharePoint, instant messages and other electronic
communication
4.
Traditional faxing is cheap and easy to manage properly
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Reality #1
• Fax is just as relevant today as it ever has been
• It’s the method of choice for transmitting critical and time-sensitive
business documents across a wide range of industries
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Real estate
Healthcare
Legal
Education
Financial services
Etc.
• The fax services industry is growing at double-digit growth rates
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Reality #2
• Traditional fax approaches are highly insecure
• Faxes can be distributed all over an
organization
– Fax machines located throughout an
organization are difficult to manage
– Unattended fax machines mean that
sensitive documents are exposed to
unauthorized users
• There is no centralized content control in traditional fax
approaches
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Reality #3
• Faxes contain critical business records and must be managed properly
• Faxes are subject to
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E-discovery
Regulatory compliance
Content management
Corporate best practices
• Faxed content must often be shared among users
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Reality #4
• Fax can be expensive if not managed properly
• Traditional, manual faxing cannot integrate with email, SharePoint and
other information systems
• Larger organizations may need many fax lines
– Roughly one line per 25 users, although the number is highly industrydependent
– Toll charges can be expensive
• Fax machines are expensive to procure and maintain
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Improving Fax Management
• How can you improve conventional, paper-based fax?
• Five important steps to consider
– Eliminate multiple fax machines in favor of a
centralized fax server
– Allow users to send and receives faxes from
their desk or remotely
– Integrate fax capabilities with email
– Implement fax over IP capabilities
– Integrate fax with OCR to
• Improve user productivity
• Make faxed content searchable
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Summary
• Fax is critical for transmitting important and time-sensitive business
documents
• Traditional fax approaches are inefficient, insecure and do not integrate
with other communication systems like email or document
management systems
• Using a fax server can make an organization more efficient and improve
overall content management
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
For More Information
Osterman Research, Inc.
+1 253 630 5839
[email protected]
www.ostermanresearch.com
ostermanresearch.wordpress.com
ostermanresearch.posterous.com
mosterman
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.
Your Questions for…
• Michael Osterman, Founder and President, Osterman Research, Inc.
• Gill Langston, Manager Sales Engineers, GFI
©2011 Osterman Research, Inc.