In a world where security and privacy issues loom large – virtual fax is an unsung hero. Believe it or not, faxing is as relevant as ever, and for plenty of reasons. For one: faxes don’t contain email viruses!

In many countries, faxing is still an integral communications practice for most businesses. If you operate or conduct transactions internationally, faxing may be even more important for your business than you realize.

In fact, virtual fax services are growing in popularity due to increasing security challenges in a digitized world – especially among professionals in regulated industries such as real estate, healthcare, financial and legal.

What is Virtual Fax?

Virtual fax is an internet-based fax service that enables you to send and receive faxes using your email.  No more need for a traditional fax machine or analog fax line! You can even keep your traditional fax number.

All faxes sent to you will be converted into a digital format and encrypted, then transmitted directly to your inbox. When you send a virtual fax, your outgoing message (including any attachments) will be encrypted and forwarded to the destination fax machine(s) of your choice.

Benefits of virtual faxing

Virtual faxing has many benefits:

  • Fax from any device with email access including cell phones and softphones.
  • Lower your spending and save money on multiple fronts – such as through reduced paper and toner usage.
  • No dedicated stand-alone fax infrastructure including fax machine and phone line.
  • Increase productivity and efficiency – you can send and receive multiple virtual faxes at once, avoid data loss during transmissions, receive fax receipts directly to your inbox and automate distribution of invoices, notices and forms.
  • Keep personal and sensitive information protected, secure and compliant with regulatory policies.
  • Send attachments in a variety of formats including text files, PDF, JPEGs and HTML.
  • Faxed documents won’t get blocked by your email client due to size or incorrectly flagged as spam.
  • Quickly and easily create an electronic audit trail with access to time-stamped fax transmission logs.
  • Virtual fax is “always on, never busy”.  All messages are stored in your email account.  Customers never receive a busy signal.
  • With Sunco Fax for Business virtual fax service, no additional hardware or software is needed.

What about “free” virtual fax services?

With all the hype surrounding virtual faxing, it’s no surprise that many providers have popped up offering “free” services.  

Be aware. Free trials are commonplace and often lead to higher charges in the long run. Other differences include:

  • Security. Free virtual fax services don’t offer the highest levels of encryption and may not even be compliant with your industry’s regulations.
  • Send/receive functionality. Free services don’t provide you with your own fax number, so they aren’t useful if you need the ability to receive faxes as well as send them.
  • Service limitations. Free and pay-as-you-go virtual fax services can severely restrict the number of pages you can transmit, or charge exorbitant overage fees.
  • Support. If you have any problems or need help troubleshooting, free services won’t provide you with the same dedicated support that a paid service like Sunco Fax for Business will.

Free services will often add their logo to your communications as well, which interferes with your business branding.

What is needed to send a virtual fax?

With Sunco Fax for Business, all you need is a device with email access connected to the internet.  Simple, safe and efficient!

Sunco Virtual Fax for Business

Whether you send under 200 faxes a month or over 2000, Sunco Fax for Business offers three cost-effective packages  – all of which include unlimited incoming faxes.

Fax for Business is also a part of most phone system solutions we offer. If you are switching from analog lines to SIP trunks you could potentially convert your current fax infrastructure to virtual fax for no added cost!

Virtual fax machine for your office

If you have any questions about how virtual fax works, or how to sign-up for Sunco Fax for Business, contact us today or give us a call at 780-809-1786 to find out if your business is a fit for virtual fax!

Want to test-drive our business phones and phone systems BEFORE purchasing? Ask about our Product Demos!

Learn More