The Death of Fax Has a Long Tail

Once considered the most ubiquitous piece of office equipment next to the copier, the fax machine has been relegated to the technology junk pile in dark office closets behind the bathroom tissue and holiday decorations. Yet in 2011 and 2012, over 700,000 fax machines (single function) were sold worldwide and Japan continues to be a heavy fax consumer, purchasing almost 1.2 million basic fax machines in 2014. How can such an obsolete technology continue to exist in pockets, keeping eFax vendors in business as well as remaining a part of the technology suite in multi-functional devices such as "All-in-One" printers?

To start, the fax machine will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2016. When it was introduced, the effects of Moore's Law was not at the pace of change as it is today. Therefore, there's a segment of people who are comfortable with fax and have no desire to change their ways.

The evolution of fax has also helped keep fax around longer. Baud rates over twisted pair gave way to internet speeds and digital lines. The advent of services like eFax only served to extend fax life. Faxes could be delivered in PDF format, reduce the amount of paper used, and contribute to electronic filing. However, it still couldn't eliminate the paper waste of the old sign on paper.

Nonetheless, fax remains on its technology deathbed waiting for terminal status. Pundits of fax machines may forget that faxing was not always the easiest. With technological advances present today, long held beliefs about faxing are poised to shatter.

Belief 1: Faxing is reliable

How many can remember having to redial several times due to busy signals or keying in the wrong number? Redials account for lost productivity. Even with the development of the auto-redial feature, productivity was lost answering calls looking for confirmation the fax was sent, triaging where the transmission problem occurred, and then standing by the fax to be assured the fax was sent. All of this can happen again if the recipient doesn't receive all the pages due to transmission interruptions.