If your business or organization relies on fax, every second your server goes down is time and money sent right out the door. While some fixes can be made by your internal team, there will indefinitely come a time when you need outside help. The most important thing you can do is make sure that help is capable of handling your issues and readily accessible when you need them. That’s what you get when you partner with The Fax Guys. Our support team is made up of professionals who understand RightFax better than anyone else.

Your RightFax support plan should work for your business, which is why we have several plans that address different needs. Which level of service do you need? Find out more about choosing the right support plan for your business.

Silver Support

There is nothing basic about our RightFax Support plans. Even our smallest support plan gives you live support from Monday-Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM in your time zone. Whether you’re based in New York or California, you get 8-5 support every day of the work week. You also gain access to our 24-hour online help desk portal where you can submit an unlimited number of support tickets to be worked on the next business day or search our online knowledgebase.

We understand that your business isn’t located down the road, that’s why our US-based team operates remotely to access your fax server to provide real-time diagnosis and repair. Finally, we also include complementary RightFax software upgrades.

Why use this plan: if you need consistent and reliable RightFax support during business hours, this is the best package for you.

Do You Need 24×7 Support Emergency Support?

If your business or organization never closes, our Extended 24×7 Emergency Support plan is perfect for you. This extensive support plan provides you with everything included in the Silver Support plan PLUS 24x7x365 coverage for emergency situations. If your server goes down at any time, we will be there to get it back up and running as soon as possible.

Why use this plan: if you need round-the-clock support (i.e. for hospitals, financial institutions, etc.), this plan will be essential for your business.

Do You Need Fax Monitoring?

How can you tell if your fax server is down? Usually it’s not until you try (and fail) to send a fax. But what about the faxes you were supposed to receive in the time you didn’t know the server was down? If you cannot afford to have downtime on your server, our Platinum Support plan can help your business. This plan include Daily FaxPing monitoring to your fax number to make sure that your server is ready and able to receive faxes.

Why use this plan: it can help your business maintain compliance and never miss out on sales due to missed faxes.

Learn More About The Fax Guys Support

There’s even more features that come with the Platinum Support plan and there’s even one more advanced plan that gets you expert advice from our team! Head over to our Support Page or contact us today learn how you can work with our award-winning fax support team.

The newest version of RightFax, Version 16.2 has been out for several months now and is making its way into fax servers across the globe. If you have not upgraded, there is no time like the present.

The Benefits of RightFax 16.2

RightFax 16.2 has a whole host of features and upgrades that help admin and users fax faster and more securely. There are new web administration tools that simplify workflows, new administrative roles so that tasks and access can be delegated to the right team members and new SQL storage for images. Version 16.2 also features heavily updated integrations with multi-function printers, better analytical capabilities and other enhancements to the user interface.

There are plenty of reasons to say goodbye to your old version of RightFax and upgrade today!

Which Version of RightFax Are You Running?

Depending on your version of RightFax, you may not be able to receive new updates or hotfixes. Although we try our best to support most versions of RightFax, the following versions are currently Past Maintenance:

• RightFax 8.0
• RightFax 8.5
• RightFax 8.7
• RightFax 9.0
• RightFax 9.3
• RightFax 9.4
• RightFax 10.0
• RightFax 10.5

Although RightFax 10.6 is no longer the most recent version, it still has until November of 2018 until it enters “Sustained Maintenance.”

What Does Sustained Maintenance Mean?

Sustained Maintenance is the stage that RightFax versions enter after Current Maintenance (read this resource to learn more about the difference between Current and Sustained Maintenance). This stage generally takes place after a RightFax versions has been on the market for more than 5 years. Sustained Maintenance generally lasts up to 3 years. Once a version reached Sustained Maintenance, it will no longer receive new service packs, patches or hotfixes. If you continue to use this version, the support you will be able to receive will be greatly reduced.

Upgrade Your Version of RightFax Today

The Fax Guys makes upgrading to RightFax 16.2 an easy process. And it’s one that you can get started right away. Simply get in touch with our team and we will reach out to discuss your specific fax server needs today.

Back in 2012, we started RightFax University (RFU), our 100% free website that has become the go-to place for RightFax training videos, troubleshooting and other fax resources. While we still provided RightFax support for our customers, we wanted to have a place where users could go to diagnose and troubleshoot minor issues on their own, as well as train new employees on the basics of using RightFax.

In less than 5 years the website has become a major success, but since 5 years is akin to a generation when it comes to the Internet, we decided it was time to give RFU a brand new look.

Introducing the NEW RightFax University

Our new website has a much more user-friendly interface that makes it easy for you to find exactly what you are looking for. It also reflects that quality training and resources that are contained on the countless pages of the website.

RFU contains:

• Over 275 troubleshooting, tips and training videos
• Webinars outlining new RightFax products and features
• A library filled with user guides, product brochures and white papers

All of these sections are 100% free to access and come together to form the most comprehensive RightFax training platform anywhere on the Internet. You’d have to go direct to OpenText to find a company who knows more about RightFax!

How to Access RightFax University

Much of the content on RFU can be accessed by anyone, but some content requires you to sign up. Not to worry, enrolling at RFU is 100% free and requires absolutely zero obligations from you.

Ready to get started with RFU? Sign up today to gain access to everything the training platform has to offer.

Enroll at RFU

Customer satisfaction is major concern for any business, regardless of the industry. For multifunction device dealers (MFDs), the idea of satisfaction has revolved around the products they sell and the installation services they provide. It’s about identifying what fax customers need and how MFDs can provide that level of service to them.

But what exactly do fax customers need?

What Fax Customers Want

Businesses who fax are looking for many things:

• Customized fax solutions that work with their existing infrastructure
• Fax software that integrates with their MFDs
• Reliable support for their fax solutions that keep them up and running all year round
• Easy-to-use fax software that is safe and secure
• Consistent updates on software
• Add-on products that allow them to customize their software to work better within their day-to-day operations.

While MFD dealers have a range of fax machines and other devices, the problem remains that many MFD dealers do not provide fax software and support. Those who do are in a unique position. Their ability to be a complete solutions provider for their customers puts them automatically ahead of their competition the minute that contact is made with a new prospect.

Teaming Up With the Right Partner

Most MFD dealers do not offer fax software for one or more of many reasons:

• They do not know enough about the software
• They cannot provide the level of support that their customers need
• They cannot take on the risk of adding new products and/or services

Thankfully, there is a way for MFDs to offer fax software to their clients that removes the risk while granting them the ability to offer customizable solutions and comprehensive support.

That solution is The Fax Guys Partner Program.  This initiative allows MFD dealers like you to team up with our expert team here at The Fax Guys to offer exceptional software and support to your customers. We can help you with everything from sales to installation of a RightFax server and even year-round support.

Most importantly, The Fax Guys Partner Program is 100% risk free for your company. You and your team can have as much or as little to do with the process as you choose. We will customize a partnership that works for your business and allows you to provide the solutions your customers are demanding.

Make your fax customers happy. Join The Fax Guys Partner Program today.

Despite moderate advances in cybersecurity, data breaches have still risen over the past few years. 2016 had an increase of 40% in reported data breaches, and many major companies, including Equifax, Gmail, Yahoo! and Blue Cross Blue Shield experienced breaches of their own.

It’s no wonder that security continues to be one of the top concerns for businesses year after year. This concern even extends to the enterprise fax industry. Although faxing has proven to be more secure than email, businesses who fax should still focus on keeping their fax servers secure.

Update Your Fax Software

As software ages, fewer patches and updates are available. After awhile, companies cease to release software updates at all. Although your fax software will continue to function, you are leaving yourself open to breaches in security. When a software version has been out for awhile, it gives hackers plenty of time to figure out how to get around certain security measures.

The best way to prevent this is to upgrade your fax software to the latest version. This not only upgrades the security on your fax server, you will also continue to receive valuable software updates, too.

Invest in New Modules

There are security-driven modules that you can get for your fax software. The RightFax Encryption Module, for example, is a simple add-on that takes fax images stored in your RightFax Image Directory and encrypts the data, adding an extra layer of protection for fax images and content. This helps keep your data secure and allows you to comply with regulations such as PCI-DSS and HIPAA. It also prevents any unauthorized viewing of fax images in the RightFax Image Directory structure.

Account for Human Errors

One of the most common causes of security breaches stems from human error. No matter how secure your fax server and software are, carelessness can lead to breaches in security and compliance. When setting users and admins for your fax server, make sure that you instruct them to:

• Set secure passwords and change them frequently
• Double-check fax recipients and include cover sheets on all outbound faxes
• Only access fax software on secure networks and devices
• Delete faxed documents downloaded to devices once they are finished reading them
• Review faxing best practices every so often

When fax security is your number one priority, you can greatly reduce the chances of data breaches occurring while maintaining compliance with industry regulations.

Modern businesses, no matter how small, are often reliant on the technology they integrate into their IT infrastructure. Fax is no different, and fax server software is not only used by large-scale enterprises and organizations. Even small and mid-sized businesses have a lot to gain by incorporating fax technology into their everyday operations.

RightFax separates itself from any other fax software on the market. Here are a few reasons why even the smallest business can benefit from installing RightFax and using it as their fax server.

It Integrates with Existing Technology

Cloud services have advanced the fax industry more than other technology. Now that faxes can be sent as easily as an email (except far more securely), the need for standalone office fax machines has diminished. Small businesses can now tie their existing document storage and solutions technology directly with their fax software, making it easy to send and receive even the most sensitive data securely.

RightFax is one of the most versatile pieces of fax server software in this regard. Whether your business uses health records software, ERP software, or a huge variety of other IT systems, there is a very large chance that RightFax is compatible with it.

These are just a few of the software services that integrate seamlessly with RightFax:

• Health records systems such as Allscripts, Meditech, Epic, Cerner and Mckesson (among many others).
• ERP/CRM systems that include PeopleSoft, SAP, Oracle, Outlook and more.
• ECM systems like OnBase, FileNet, SharePoint and others.

Increased Productivity

Integrating your fax software with your existing IT systems also leads to much more productive day-to-day processes, especially if your business relies heavily on faxing.

RightFax helps user save time by:

• Eliminating manual printing, scanning and faxing processes.
• Automatically routing pdfs that are faxed directly into programs like Office 365.
• Allowing admins to manage user roles and permissions from their desktop.
• Making faxing on the go with handheld devices easy and secure.
• Reducing the headaches and time it takes to maintain compliance with industry regulations.

Cost Savings

RightFax also saves businesses money. Cloud-based fax solutions can reduce hardware and infrastructure costs significantly. It can help lower telecom and other equipment costs, and businesses will also save on toner, electricity and paper costs that go along with general fax solutions.

Learn More About RightFax

Ready to get started with RightFax? Want to learn more? We have all the information you need, all you have to do is ask! Contact The Fax Guys today to discover what RightFax can do for your small business.

It’s January, the start of another year is here and The Fax Guys are ready! 2017 was a great year, and we are looking forward to everything that 2018 will bring.

A Brief Look at the Last Year

2017 brought The Fax Guys a lot of new adventures. Our largest undertaking came in the form of a new business adventure: our new partner program. We are now proud to be teaming up with multifunction printer dealers and other office technology providers to bring fax server software and solutions to more customers than ever. Our partner program allows us to build new relationships with industry players and show their customers everything that enterprise fax solutions from OpenText and The Fax Guys has to offer.

Our second large undertaking was a complete overhaul of our online learning platform: RightFax University. With hundreds of training videos, webinars and other RightFax resources, RightFax University has been largely successful in helping RightFax beginners and admins become RightFax experts themselves! With more content being added to the website, we thought it was time to give it a fresh new look and interface that makes it easier for users to find the training and tools they are looking for. Head on over to the RightFax University to see the new look!

Finally, we continued to expand our ever-growing team with new hires possessing limitless talent. We were proud to add fax experts like Thomas Whiles and John Moore to our RightFax support team, further allowing us to continue to provide 24×7 support to our customers. We are happy to have them join The Fax Guys family, and we were even more happy to have been named one of the top 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2017 by Minnesota Business Magazine!

OpenText RightFax Also Had a Great Year

2017 was also a big year for OpenText, with the company releasing RightFax version 16.2. This was the first major new version of RightFax since version 10.6 was released. We have been hard at work installing new servers and upgrading our clients to this latest version.

Looking Ahead to 2018

What will 2018 bring our company and the fax industry? We can’t say for sure, but we know that we have a plan to continue providing the best fax solutions in the industry. We have a few plans that we cannot reveal now, but stay tuned and check our blog frequently for new announcements, news, fax tips and much, much more.

Happy 2018 and best of luck this year. We look forward to working with you all this year!

It’s the new year, which means it’s time for businesses to develop new growth strategies and discover new revenue streams. If you are a multifunction printer (MFP) dealer or business technology advisor, here are four ways you can really showcase your worth to your customers this year.

#1: Become a Complete Solution Provider

It’s time for you to move beyond just selling fax devices. Your fax customers may need a multifunction printer that is capable of faxing, but many organizations need so much more than that. They need a reliable enterprise fax server that can integrate with their current multifunction devices.

It’s time for you to become a complete solution provider for your clients. Offering fax solutions is another way for you to become further entrenched in your clients’ businesses. They will appreciate the fact that you can provide them with everything they need to succeed, and you will appreciate that they keep coming back to you for other services and support.

#2: Partner with a Proven Industry Leader

Last year, we here at The Fax Guys started our Partner Program, a unique program where we team up with multifunction device dealers like yours to offer fax solutions on top of your regular services. If you really want to wow your customers in 2018, team up with a fax partner who has been in the business for nearly 20 years! We have installed more than 1,000 fax servers and still support over 800 environments nationwide.

#3: Give Them the Satisfaction They Deserve

When your customers invest in fax solutions, they want to be sure that they will get the best ROI possible. When you partner with The Fax Guys, you will have access to our wealth of fax expertise. We can help you provide the solutions that your customers want, and we will also provide valuable support that keeps their fax servers up and running.

The best way to make your clients absolutely satisfied is to ensure that their fax solutions provide the optimization their business needs in 2018.

#4: Give Them Access to Proprietary Products

On top of the fax solutions and support that go along with our partner program, we also have a range of products and technology that you cannot find anywhere else. Our products like FaxPing will ensure your clients know if there is an issue with their fax servers.

Contact The Fax Guys today to learn more about our partner program.

Is your version of RightFax still supported? Even if your fax server continues to function, you may not be receiving critical updates and upgrades because your RightFax version is out of date and no longer supported.

The OpenText RightFax Support Lifecycle

Throughout the OpenText RightFax Support Lifecycle, OpenText releases software patches and new fixes to known bugs. This lifecycle generally runs for a period of about 5 years after a version of RightFax is released. The first stage of this lifecycle is known as “Current Maintenance,” which generally lasts for about 3 years after release.

After this period of time, each RightFax version will enter a period known as “Sustained Maintenance,” which tends to last for about 2 years or so.

The Difference Between Current Maintenance and Sustained Maintenance

During Current Maintenance, RightFax licensees and users have access to a range of benefits:

• An unlimited number of support requests
• Access to:
  • Online documentation
  • Technical articles and discussions in the customer portal
  • Webinars and other events
  • Global service offerings (for an additional charge)
  • Service packs and patches
• The ability to:
  • Request hotfixes
  • Report product defects
  • Request enhancements and new features

Once a version of RightFax enters Sustained Maintenance, they lose access to many of the abilities accessible during Current Maintenance. Licensees are no longer able to request hotfixes, enhancements and features, nor do they have access to service packs and patches. They also aren’t able to report defects.

After Sustained Maintenance

Once OpenText decides to end Sustained Maintenance, versions of RightFax move on to “Past Maintenance.” In this stage, OpenText no longer provides support, upgrades or new features for products and recommend that they be upgraded immediately.

Should You Upgrade?

If you are currently using an older version of RightFax, we here at The Fax Guys will always do what we can to help support it. However, we cannot always guarantee that all issues can be resolved since OpenText may no longer be releasing bug fixes and other necessary upgrades.

You can check to see which stage of maintenance your version of RightFax is in by visiting our RightFax Supported Versions Page. If you would like to upgrade your fax server, get in touch with us and we will be happy to help you out.

Your RightFax server may be the pinnacle of fax technology, but things weren’t always so advanced in the world of fax. It has taken mankind more than 165 years to go from the first fax ever sent to high-quality email-to-fax technology.

The First Fax Technology

The first known fax technology is credited to Alexander Bain, a Scottish inventor and engineer who specialized in clocks. He was the first inventor to patent an electric clock and also installed the railway telegraph lines between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In the early 1840s, he built an experimental fax machine and used a clock to synchronize the movements of two pendulums that scan an image line by line. The image was initially placed on a cylinder, scanned by the sending machine and reproduced by the receiving machine using a chemical solution.

The images were usually of very low quality.

The Pantelegraph

Developed in the 1850s by Italian physicist Giovanni Caselli, the pantelegraph was one of the earliest precursors to the modern fax machine. It was used throughout the 1960s to send handwriting and images over telegraph lines, and was most commonly used to verify signatures during banking transactions. Documents sent using the device could measure up to 15 cm by 10 cm.

The pantelegraph worked over long distances, but was slow. A single sheet of paper measuring 111 mm by 27 mm (4 inches by 1 inch) that contained about 25 words would take almost two full minutes to transmit. This is because the device, like Bain’s original machine, used a regulating clock and a pendulum that kept the scanning stylus of the sending machine in lockstep with the writing stylus of the receiving machine.

Two pendulums, weighing 18 lbs each and mounted on 6.5 ft frames, allowed for two messages to be sent at once. The messages were written using insulating ink on fixed metal plates. They were then scanned and the message transmitted via telegraph lines to the receiving apparatus, which would reproduce the images using paper containing potassium ferricyanide, a substance that darkens when electric current from the writing stylus passes through it.

There are few pantelegraphs left today, and two were demonstrated in 1982. They were left to run for six hours a day for several months.

They produced no errors during transmission.

Radiofax

Radiofax, also known as weatherfax and HF fax, is an analogue method of transmitting monochrome images. It was primarily used in the 1950s to transmit weather charts across the U.S. using landlines. Messages were eventually sent internationally via high frequency (HF) Radio.

This precursor to telephone line fax machines was traditionally known by the term “radiofacsimile,” and it uses similar fax technology to transmit messages. Documents are scanned line by line and encoded into electrical signals that are sent via physical lines or radio waves.

Radiofax is still available and used today by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to send weather charts, satellite weather images, and forecasts to ships at sea.

Moving Forward

Fax technology just keep getting better! RightFax is ever-improving, and it’s latest version, 16.2 is one of the best yet. Contact The Fax Guys Today to upgrade your RightFax server.

Businesses in certain industries need enterprise fax technology to optimize their operations. When it comes to organizations in the healthcare industry, the use of fax server software goes beyond a simple need for optimization. Faxing is must-have technology because of HIPAA regulations and their mandated compliance. From the largest hospitals and insurance companies to the smallest outpatient offices, healthcare entities must fax, which is why the technology has been crucial for the industry throughout the years.

Early Faxing in the Fax Healthcare Industry

When faxing really took off in the 1970s, healthcare organizations adopted the technology as the primary way to transmit everything from patient records to bills, prescriptions, orders, etc. Faxing was the fastest way to transfer information from office to office, no matter where the sender and receiver were located.

As faxing grew, so did the regulations that came with it. HIPAA violations became a great concern for healthcare organizations who fax, and it wasn’t until fax software came along that these concerns were greatly reduced.

Redefining Healthcare Faxing

Digital fax solutions like SIP, T.38, PRI and T1 soon offered healthcare organizations the ability to ditch phone lines and implement Fax over Internet Protocol (FoIP) solutions. Even more modern hybrid fax solutions have leveraged the Cloud, allowing users to send faxes via secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS).

These types of faxing became even more integrated once healthcare organizations began digitizing their patient records using electronic health record (EHR) systems. The ability to transfer patient records from document storage systems and fax them without having to print them out and bring them to a standalone fax machine has many benefits:

• Increased security with SSL encryption
• Easier compliance with HIPAA regulations
• Elimination of costs associated with paper, toner and multifunction printers
• Environmental sustainability
• Faster, easier faxing

Where to Go From Here

Fax is still alive and well in the healthcare industry, and it’s still the most secure way to transfer patient health information across providers, insurance companies and other entities. Patient confidentiality and compliance are major concerns, and the fax industry has continued to innovate in order to make it easier for healthcare organizations to rely on ever-evolving fax technology.

Want to discuss your healthcare organization’s fax needs? Contact The Fax Guys today to discover how we can customize a solution that is right for your organization.

Years ago, faxing was a mixture of paper and toner, page load errors, standalone fax machines and buttons. While these devices still hang around some offices today, many businesses and organizations have opted to simplify their fax operations with Cloud faxing solutions.

Why has there been a move to cloud faxing? The solutions offered by this technology have many benefits:

Eliminating Costs and Hardware

One of the biggest draws to cloud faxing is the reduction of fax hardware and peripheral costs. By switching to Cloud faxing and email-to-fax messaging, companies can greatly reduce (and in some cases, completely eliminate) office fax machines and the equipment that they require for use. There is no need to purchase printer toner or paper and no more hardware costs and maintenance. Most find that their IT budget is relieved when switching to Cloud faxing.

Security and Compliance

These are two of the largest concerns for businesses, and they often come with costs of their own. Businesses spend a lot to maintain compliance with HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and other industry regulations.

Cloud faxing offers a secure way to send encrypted messages via email, and fax servers like RightFax make it easy to integrate for ERP, EHR and other commonly used document storage systems.

Optimization

The simplicity of Cloud faxing can improve productivity and reduce fax cycle times. Automated workflows allow users to automatically send messages, and faster processing times for incoming and outgoing messages make it easier and faster than ever to fax. The handling of inbound messages and transactions can be automated, freeing up employees to tend to other business needs.

Desktop messaging allows users to send and receive messages directly within their email accounts without having to travel to fax machines located across the office. Users can also create digital versions of paper faxes that can be edited, sent and received and even archived within their email accounts.

Sustainability

As businesses look to go green, there is no greater tool than the Cloud. Cloud storage and faxing offers a paperless way to manage and send any type of document or image a business has. It’s secure, easy to use and affordable.

Contact The Fax Guys today to learn more about Easylink Cloud faxing.

National Signing Day for college football is on Wednesday, February 7th. Although this is the first year that early signing was introduced, allowing college teams to sign almost three quarters of high school recruits in December, 26% of recruits still remain unsigned.

This means that a lot of faxes will be going out on February 7th.

You read that correctly. After all these years, faxing is still the preferred secure method for college football teams to sign their incoming players.

Why Not Use Email?

Email is a notoriously insecure method of transmitting documents. The exception to this is using enterprise fax software with email-to-fax capabilities. Mail-to-fax provides a safe and secure method to send documents and images through a RightFax server via your email platform.

Will College Teams Always Fax on National Signing Day?

Sadly, the answer is no. While we have had a great time seeing fax come to the forefront all these years on National Signing Day, the early window in December that was introduced this year has made it easier for other methods to come to the forefront. There are new programs being released that could someday put an end to the fax machine on National Signing Day.

However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t still many industries who fax! Faxing remains the most secure way to send medical documents, sales invoices and so many other documents that are beholden to the rules contained within HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and other industry regulations.

We will see if fax is still being used next National Signing Day, but until then, you can learn more about email-to-fax technology here.

We recently introduced the new layout of our free RightFax training and support website, RightFax University. Although the website looks different, you will find that all the same fax resources are there, and more are being added as time goes by.

This new website is designed to make it easier for you to find exactly what you are looking for. Whether you are seeking RightFax support videos, do-it-yourself fixes to common issues or additional information on products and add-ons, you will be able to access it all. While we are confident that you will love the new website, we understand that big changes often have an adjustment period, which is why we are taking the time today to help you navigate the new website and find everything quickly.

Navigating RightFax University

There are three main sections of the new RightFax University:

Videos

In this section of the website, you can browse all our RightFax tutorials, training videos, webinars and more. Categories of videos include:

• API/Developers: videos that help you perform advanced functions with Web Services API and RightFax.
• RightFax 101: rudimentary, in-depth training videos that are perfect for anyone looking to master RightFax basics.
• Installation and Configuration: easy-to-follow videos that help you with RightFax installation and configuration issues.
• Troubleshooting & Debugging: step-by-step videos that walk you through common RightFax fixes.
• Client Utilities: tutorials that help you navigate the many RightFax software features available to you.
• Training Course: an Advanced RightFax Admin Training Course that helps you learn everything you need to know about managing RightFax environments.

Webinars

In this section of the website, you can watch or listen to our growing collection of past webinars. We have previously teamed up with tech industry leaders to bring you information about new ancillary products, updated versions of RightFax and other features and integrations. If you have missed any of our webinars in the past, this is the place to catch up.

Library

There is no larger collection of information about RightFax on the Internet! In our comprehensive library, you will find:

• User Guides: filled with copies of OpenText’s quick reference and user guides for RightFax and other products.
• Product Brochures: detailed information on products, add-ons and other RightFax features.
• White papers: helpful white papers that offer unique opinions and viewpoints on fax solutions.

Sign Up Today

Although RightFax University is free to access, not all the content is available to those who don’t sign up. Not to worry, signing up is 100% free. By logging in, you will have access to everything that RightFax University has to offer.

Sign Up Today

Who still faxes in 2018? If the statistics that came from surveys in 2017 are any indication, many companies from a variety of industries still rely on faxing to keep their businesses running.

While faxing isn’t an integral part of every industry, there are several industries where the technology is a key part of day-to-day operations, and it keeps growing each year. The International Data Corporation’s (IDC) 2017 fax survey found that 82% of users saw fax usage increase or stay the same over the previous year. The average growth was 27%, and almost a quarter of respondents reported growth between 50-74%.

Some of the major industries who still fax include:

Healthcare

Security and compliance are two major concerns for healthcare companies, which is why fax is still used as one of the primary forms of document transmission. HIPAA regulations and doctor-patient confidentiality has produced a need for increased security, and the fax industry has kept up with each new regulation and concern for privacy.

According to the IDC survey, faxing in healthcare grew by 9% in 2017.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing contributes trillions of dollars to the U.S economy every year. It is a massive industry that has more than 250,000 firms and 12.5 million workers (accounting for about 8.5% of the US workforce). As the industry grows, exports increase and more goods are produced, manufacturers have a greater need for reliable faxing. Manufacturers still use software/services like RightFax to transmit purchase orders, receipts, product specifications and many other document that are vital to their operations.

It’s no wonder that this industry led the way in fax growth last year, increasing by more than 16%, according to the IDC survey.

Finance

Like the healthcare industry, financial firms are heavily concerned with security and compliance with government regulations. The regulations put forth by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 cover a wide range of financial aspects including tax returns, accounting oversight, financial disclosures and much more.

The smallest financial firms to major Fortune 500 investment companies still fax, and the IDC reports that their use of the technology grew by 7% in 2017.

Government

From state and local municipalities to major federal government departments, the public sector still relies on fax to keep the country running strong. It even has a significant impact in the education industry, both private and public. Although the growth was slow last year, the IDC still found that government fax usage grew by 3% in 2017.

The Future of Fax

Fax growth is still strong, and although the usage of standalone fax machines is on the decline, the technology has evolved to incorporate email and Cloud technology, breathing new life into the fax industry. Businesses and organizations now have the option of sending faxes via email and hosting their fax servers in the Cloud, making faxing easier and more secure than ever.

Need to upgrade your fax server? Looking to move your fax operations to the Cloud? Contact The Fax Guys today for all of your fax needs.

Thinking of offering fax technology to your customers? If you are, RightFax is perfect for you. We have been on a mission to partner with multifunction printer (MFP) dealers to help them bring the power and efficiency of fax server software to their customers. To help you do this, we are happy to educate you on the benefits of using RightFax so that you can provide all-around fax solutions to your MFP customers.

So far in this series we have covered the security and compliance benefits of RightFax along with its integration capabilities. Today, we are here to tell you about how easy it is for businesses and organizations to use RightFax.

These are just a few of the many ways RightFax makes it easy for users to manage their fax server.

It Pairs Well With Other Software

One of the best assets of RightFax is how seamlessly it integrates with other software applications used by many industries. RightFax easily links its faxing capabilities with many email servers, desktop and document management applications and CRM, ERP and ECM applications. It also pairs with health records systems to make faxing patient records a simple and secure process.

Using RightFax, your customers will be able to automate processes, enhance compliance and accelerate many day-to-day operations. Faxes can even be sent and read from both desktop and mobile devices as well as standalone office fax machines.

RightFax also works with most major MFP brands like Canon, Xerox, RICOH, HP, etc.

Admin Tools

RightFax gives server admins the tools they need to easily manage their fax servers. Your customers will have the capability to set users that are able to receive and open faxes, increasing security and compliance. Admins also have comprehensive tracking, notification and reporting capabilities at their disposal, allowing them to track vital documents, record fax transactions and create analytics reports. Admins can easily manage everything from users to devices, printers, cover sheets, reports and system configurations.

Reliability

RightFax is scalable, reliable and offers high performance fax solutions. Your customers can easily add new servers, adjust bandwidth on channels to prepare for peak times and even add new modules to completely customize how they use their fax server. By partnering with The Fax Guys, you will also be able to offer our comprehensive support packages, ensuring that users have the support they need, when they need it.

Become a Partner

Interested in partnering with The Fax Guys to provide RightFax solutions to your customers? We have made it easier than ever to get started. You can read more information on the program and sign up right on our website. Discover more about our Partner Program.

Fax technology has come a long way from standard fax machines. There are now dozens of products, add-ons and other solutions that organizations can use to improve the way they fax. From document capture to analytics and everything in between, you will find that there is a solution for all your needs. Not sure which solutions are right for your organization? Take a look at some of the products we work with and how they can help you with your faxing needs.

OpenText Cloud Faxing & Diem Mail to Fax

Looking to reduce the hardware footprint in your office? OpenText Cloud faxing and Diem Mail to Fax are the ideal solutions for you. Faxing via email allows you to eliminate the need for standalone fax machines in your office. It’s secure, easy to use and it can help drive down costs associated with paper, toner and fax hardware.

Diem Mail-to-fax is a .Net application that can be installed on your RightFax server. It provides a universal email transport layer and interface that replaces RightFax Exchange, Lotus Notes and SMTP connectors. You can learn more about it here.

OpenText Cloud faxing provides a variety of services that include:

• Desktop Messaging
• Fax2Mail
• Production Messaging
• Document Capture
• Management and Workflow Services

These services make it easy for your organization to manage its fax workflows, giving your IT staff time to pursue other tasks. You can learn more about it here.

RightFax Dashboards

Are analytics and business intelligence an important component of faxing for your business? The Fax Guys partner with organizations to bring you effective, intuitive analytics and business intelligence dashboards that work right alongside RightFax.

FaxPulse BI Dashboards help you gather important data from your RightFax environment, displaying it all on a single “visual-based” portal. RightFax Admins can monitor their RightFax environments, including inbound and outbound fax traffic, and identify system issues in near real time. You can learn more about these dashboards here.

Intuitive Dashboards are pre-packaged solutions that also provide useful reporting and analytics insights to RightFax Admins. There are over 30 pre-configured dashboards and charts that help you manage everything from costs to errors, clients and more. You can learn more about them here.

RightFax Management Pack for SCOM

Is RightFax critical to your organization? Do you need to keep a close eye on the status of your server? The Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, when paired with the RightFax Management Pack, allows you to set rules to monitor the performance of your server. Detailed alert information can be used to quickly identify issues with your server, allowing you to act quickly to resolve them. Using the RightFax Management Pack for SCOM, you can:

• Send test faxes between RightFax channels to ensure functionality
• Monitor and analyze fax errors as they arise
• Generate automated alerts that trigger when performance issues occur

There are many other benefits to using this management pack, you can learn about them here.

We Can Help You Find the Right Solution

At The Fax Guys, we don’t simply sell fax server solutions. We create customized solutions for our clients based on their individual needs. Not certain which solutions your organization needs? Contact us today and we will help you get started.

We have email platforms. We have instant messaging applications. In 2017, scientists in China even teleported a photon to a satellite orbiting more than 310 miles above the Earth’s surface. In spite of these transmission technologies, fax still lives on. But why do the most technologically advanced countries, like Japan and the United States, still use fax as a method of transmitting everything from health records to financial and sales documents?

The Old Technology That Keeps on Giving

Fax technology is old, but it’s still widely used by organizations across multiple industries. Healthcare organizations across the world use faxes to transmit health records, prescriptions and much more. Manufacturers use it to send and receive purchase orders and receipts. Even colleges use fax technology to sign new NCAA football recruits. As technology evolves, fax remains a go-to method for many organizations across the world.

But Why?

The two major reasons are security and compliance. While email platforms like Google and Outlook are generally secure, people still don’t trust them enough to use them as a method of conducting financial transactions. When you throw federal and state regulations into the mix, which levy heavy fines against organizations that mismanage sensitive documents (even unintentionally), fax becomes an even more attractive method of secure document transmission.

Modern faxing has also become more easy to use. Businesses can connect their RightFax server and other fax technology to their email platforms, allowing them to combine the security of fax transmissions with the simplicity of email interfaces. Every time the needs of fax customers have changed, fax technology has evolved to meet them. This is the primary reason why you still see fax alive and well in the U.S.and other first-world countries!

Japan Has Another Reason

On top of security, compliance, etc., there’s a rather interesting reason why many businesses in Japan still use fax as their primary method of transmission: Kanji.

Kanji are complex logographic symbols that make up much of the writing system in Japan. These symbols are so complex that it took years for suitable keyboards to be created that could write them within word processing programs. By the time these keyboards were created, older generations of workers were not adequately caught up on using them, and Japan’s aging population and low birth rates have resulted in an increasingly aging workforce.

To this day, handwritten faxes are still very common in Japan. However, fax to email services are becoming more common by the day.

Interesting, Right?

Want to discover more fun facts about fax technology? Keep up with The Fax Guys by frequently reading our blog. It’s filled with the latest fax news, RightFax tips and so much more.

Years ago, faxing was a mixture of paper and toner, page load errors, standalone fax machines and buttons. While these devices still hang around some offices today, many businesses and organizations have opted to simplify their fax operations with Cloud faxing solutions.

Why has there been a move to cloud faxing? The solutions offered by this technology have many benefits:

Eliminating Costs and Hardware

One of the biggest draws to cloud faxing is the reduction of fax hardware and peripheral costs. By switching to Cloud faxing and email-to-fax messaging, companies can greatly reduce (and in some cases, completely eliminate) office fax machines and the equipment that they require for use. There is no need to purchase printer toner or paper and no more hardware costs and maintenance. Most find that their IT budget is relieved when switching to Cloud faxing.

Security and Compliance

These are two of the largest concerns for businesses, and they often come with costs of their own. Businesses spend a lot to maintain compliance with HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and other industry regulations.

Cloud faxing offers a secure way to send encrypted messages via email, and fax servers like RightFax make it easy to integrate for ERP, EHR and other commonly used document storage systems.

Optimization

The simplicity of Cloud faxing can improve productivity and reduce fax cycle times. Automated workflows allow users to automatically send messages, and faster processing times for incoming and outgoing messages make it easier and faster than ever to fax. The handling of inbound messages and transactions can be automated, freeing up employees to tend to other business needs.

Desktop messaging allows users to send and receive messages directly within their email accounts without having to travel to fax machines located across the office. Users can also create digital versions of paper faxes that can be edited, sent and received and even archived within their email accounts.

Sustainability

As businesses look to go green, there is no greater tool than the Cloud. Cloud storage and faxing offers a paperless way to manage and send any type of document or image a business has. It’s secure, easy to use and affordable.

Contact The Fax Guys today to learn more about Easylink Cloud faxing.

National Signing Day for college football is on Wednesday, February 7th. Although this is the first year that early signing was introduced, allowing college teams to sign almost three quarters of high school recruits in December, 26% of recruits still remain unsigned.

This means that a lot of faxes will be going out on February 7th.

You read that correctly. After all these years, faxing is still the preferred secure method for college football teams to sign their incoming players.

Why Not Use Email?

Email is a notoriously insecure method of transmitting documents. The exception to this is using enterprise fax software with email-to-fax capabilities. Mail-to-fax provides a safe and secure method to send documents and images through a RightFax server via your email platform.

Will College Teams Always Fax on National Signing Day?

Sadly, the answer is no. While we have had a great time seeing fax come to the forefront all these years on National Signing Day, the early window in December that was introduced this year has made it easier for other methods to come to the forefront. There are new programs being released that could someday put an end to the fax machine on National Signing Day.

However, this doesn’t mean there aren’t still many industries who fax! Faxing remains the most secure way to send medical documents, sales invoices and so many other documents that are beholden to the rules contained within HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and other industry regulations.

We will see if fax is still being used next National Signing Day, but until then, you can learn more about email-to-fax technology here.