eFax, a leading digital cloud-facing solution, has released its new report, highlighting the role faxing plays in the legal sector. The report details how cloud-based fax plays a significant role in this industry and why many enterprises are now switching to it.
Cloud-based fax plays an integral operational role in the legal profession, according to a survey conducted by eFax, the leading global provider of digital fax services. For many businesses, fax plays a central role for them and their operations. This is no different for legal professionals, as cloud faxing is a highly secure means of transmitting confidential or sensitive documents. More importantly, it includes time-stamping for essential compliance and transparency purposes.
In the poll of 1,000 senior IT and business decision-makers in the UK and Europe, 33% of law firms surveyed use cloud-based fax systems, while 29% use a mix of cloud and traditional faxing. Under half (45%) said they also send and receive confidential documents via password-protected emails, with 25% claiming to use email encrypted software.
At the same time, 62% of the total sample identified security as ‘critical’ when it comes to considering cloud-based fax systems, with 21% identifying cloud-based fax systems as ‘extremely secure’. In fact, over the past year, 64% of respondents said that they’d seen no change, or a small increase, in the number of secure documents received.
Faxing is used more often than most think, with over a third of respondents sending and receiving secure documents every day, with a further 34% doing so three or four times a week.
When asked what documents users assume are suitable for faxing, respondents said:
- Contracts (56%)
- Tenancy agreements (44%)
- Company accounts (31%)
- Commercially sensitive documents (28%)
- Documents containing bank details (26%)
- Patient records (24%)
- Documents containing PII (19%)
Over three-fifths (68%) of the total sample also said that they see cloud-based faxing as remaining a key solution for at least the next five years. While only 14% said they believe it shall remain for the foreseeable future.
The survey also found there were several key drivers for migrating to cloud-based faxing as security. Just under half of the respondents (41%) cited security as the main factor. In many ways, fax is more secure than email as it is usually connected through phone lines and, as such, has limited access to the Internet. Other key factors included: cost-efficiency (36%), GDPR compliance (34%) and cloud storage (23%).
Commenting on the survey findings, Scott Wilson, Vice President of Sales and Service at eFax, said, “When it comes to communicating in the legal profession, faxing still plays an important role. It has stood the test of time thanks to its tried-and-tested security and reliability, as well as its time-stamping functionality for legally binding documents.
“In the legal sector, many documents still need to be printed and managed in hard copy – for example, legally binding contracts require authorised signatures or company stamps for them to be valid. These documents often contain sensitive and confidential information, which calls for a highly secure communication method that’s also fast and easy to use,” he continued.
“Email is obviously the established and widely accepted format for most communications, but it’s also vulnerable to interception and hacking,” explained Wilson. “Cloud faxing is more secure than email because fax infrastructure has limited exposure to the Internet and Internet-connected devices.”
eFax identified the following reasons for faxing’s ongoing value and importance to law firms:
- Productivity – Cloud-based faxing doesn’t need paper, which in turn reduces a company’s running costs and environmental footprint. Cloud fax is also able to transmit faxes to multiple selected recipients and enable high-quality file attachments such as hi-res documents, images and even video clips to be shared simultaneously for increased team productivity.
- Security – Fax traffic is fully encrypted during transmission, which ensures complete security for all legal documentation. Password protection and SSL encryption mean documentation cannot be hacked, altered or intercepted during transmission to the intended recipient.
- Record accuracy – From the courts and clients to legal professionals, anyone involved in law needs to send and receive faxes quickly. Time and date stamps are often used as key evidence in legal disputes.
- Cost – Using cloud faxing saves a significant sum annually, which can make a big difference, especially for smaller law firms. Online services also allow payments for just the services you need, without unnecessary expenses, which is a key long-time factor for those that intend to keep using fax for the foreseeable future.