Are The Years That Faxes Are Being Used Coming To An End?

To the new generation fax machines seem as if they are already dead, but to us Adults that know we still have to use them from time to time, we are left wondering when they will ever go away. Indeed it seems the modern fax machine has long outlived its intended lifespan. This is especially true considering the advent of email and text message services, these advancements should have killed off fax machines entirely. So why exactly are we still using these machines? What exactly is holding us back from eliminating them entirely? Throughout this article we will explore the possible reasons as to why fax machines still plague our daily life.

Businesses are Slow to Adapt

Even with record profits year after year most businesses are slow at adopting new technology and the reasoning is fairly simple. First of all these companies spend a lot of money when they purchase new technology as they tend to purchase business level support as well as machines that are more expensive than the machine your average consumer might own. After spending so much on service as well as equipment these companies try their best to make sure they are getting the maximum return on investment for these products and services. So we now know one piece of the puzzle, stingy businesses.

Education

Regardless of the fact that these are institutions of higher learning many colleges and universities still require faxed in transcripts for students. While these schools have options to mitigate the programs over to email or some other web based portal many often choose to stick with the fax machine. The reasons why are mind boggling and could only boil down to tradition.

Real Estate

While Real Estate is simply a business it’s also its own very unique type of business. Realtor's have been using fax machines for the last few decades and the reality is that is not going to change. While many Realtor's acknowledge that the number of faxes they send or receive annually decreases they are quick to point out that they always stick around.

 Entrenched

 From everything I have read online it’s fairly clear what’s going on here. The Fax machine continues to live in this day and age due to a handful of people that simply refuse to adopt any new technologies that could very well replace it. In fact one article I read mentioned that a Pro Bowl player actually fired his agent for not sending his contract through the form of a fax. Such revelations have made me acutely aware that some people are simply hanging on to the past for dear life. Still, while we cannot simply eliminate the fax machine tomorrow that doesn't mean it isn't going to end soon. In fact many predict that the fax machine will exit our vocabulary within the next five to ten years. This is actually a much longer time than I myself had predicted (five years) but seeing as to how long the fax has stayed around to this day, it’s easy to believe we could have it around for another ten years.

Eduardo Dieguez is a content creator for FindaFax which is an online fax service that pairs consumers with fax services.  They are at the cutting edge of this niche market.