Fax holds its ground

Citation

(2001), "Fax holds its ground", Work Study, Vol. 50 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.2001.07950faf.002

Fax holds its ground

Fax holds its ground

Keywords: Fax, Small- to medium-sized companies

Despite the increase in use of e-mail and Internet communications, most businesses still prefer to use the fax, according to Brother UK. The company has forecasted a 5 per cent growth in the market for plain paper faxes in the coming year following a survey into the use of the fax and e-mail for business communications in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The company says: "83 per cent of SME directors say they could not do without the fax, and 20 per cent have actually increased the number of fax machines for staff use in the past three years. A total of 88 per cent of SMEs still prefer the fax for certain documents, particularly customer quotes and prospects, copies of invoices and diagrams".

The company adds that fax use is becoming more sophisticated: "12 per cent of SMEs use a more high-end fax machine with a pin number function to enable senior managers to control incoming faxes of a sensitive nature, and a further 15 per cent are considering investing in one". When questioned on whether they prefer to work with e-mail or fax, benefits were identified for both. However, 58 per cent of SMEs still found fault with e-mails – the most common criticism is that people are too e-mail trigger-happy. A total of 92 per cent of these SME directors receive e-mails that are irrelevant to them – 33 per cent felt more than half the e-mails they received were irrelevant, and 21 per cent felt they were copied in on too many e-mails.

The other major criticism was that no one actioned e-mails if they were out of the office. Just over half said their incoming e-mails were not checked. However, 67 per cent of faxes received are more likely to be actioned by a secretary or another member of the team in the person's absence.

Phil Jones, sales director of Brother's Office Products division, says: "The results of the survey reveal that far from being usurped by e-mail, the fax machine is still seen as a critical communications tool.

"Of course e-mail has its place, but it seems companies are not confident enough in e-mail technology to use it for all business communications – particularly documents of a sensitive nature, or when they need to be sure that it will arrive at its destination in a matter of seconds, not hours if there is an IT problem. The fax has proved itself to be a reliable business tool, increasingly sophisticated in its functionality and has evolved to take up its role as an important tool for modern communications."

The vast majority of those polled in the survey still prefer to work with hard copies. E-mail technology is increasing, but most directors are using it in old ways – printing off the majority of their e-mails to file or action.

A total of 12 per cent print out all their e-mails, and 36 per cent print out more than half. Asked why, 69 per cent said they wanted a back-up paper copy for filing, 30 per cent print them to take them while they are out of the office to read, 24 per cent do it to remind themselves to action them, and 11 per cent print them for legal reasons.

The survey was conducted with 500 SMEs, primarily in the manufacturing, distribution, retail and services sectors by independent research company Dynamic Markets.