What fraction of organizations requiring faxes are creating and storing paper? I'm willing to lay long odds 99+% of them are capturing to computer files. And 98+% in the cloud. AI won't give a number, but seems to be lower, the best I could get was: Based on the search results, it is not possible to make a precise estimate of the fraction of organizations that store incoming faxes digitally versus printing them by comparing the sales, capacity, and speed of fax machines and fax servers. However, the data reveals a strong trend toward digital adoption, which allows for an informed qualitative assessment. Key findings from the search results indicate: * Digital Shift: The market for fax server software is growing rapidly, projected to reach $12.32 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 12.75%. In contrast, the traditional fax machine market is either declining (CAGR of -5% projected) or growing very slowly (CAGR of 3.6%). * Cloud Dominance: Cloud-based fax solutions are the fastest-growing segment, accounting for 60% of the fax server software market share in 2023. These services inherently store faxes as digital files (e.g., PDFs in email or cloud storage). * Enterprise Adoption: A significant portion of enterprises are moving away from paper. One report states that around 38% of enterprises have already moved to digital fax infrastructure, and 42% are investing in hybrid cloud solutions, both of which prioritize digital storage. * Industry Drivers: Highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance are major drivers of this shift, as digital fax solutions provide the secure, auditable, and compliant document trails they require. Carey
On 04/07/2026 2:13 PM CDT Alvin Starr via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2026-04-07 12:43, James Knott via Talk wrote:
On 4/7/26 12:25, Howard Gibson via Talk wrote:
Hospitals and physicians like faxes.
Real technical experts! 😉
I've spent most of my career in telecom and can assure you faxes are not secure
First off airtight security is not always worth the effort.
Hospitals, physicians and places like drug-stores tend to have relationships with the people sending the faxes so a request for 500KG of Oxycontin is likely to raise more than a few red flags. Your doctor sending a request for a years supply of blood pressure meds is not the kind of thing that the KGB or PLA is likely to want to spend time on to hack a phone line. Real or virtual.
There are some advantages to paper. It provides a record. It can be easily passed around and clipped to a file or chart. It can be annotated with things as simple as a pencil or pen.
-- Alvin Starr || land: (647)478-6285 Netvel Inc. || home: (905)513-7688 alvin@netvel.net mailto:alvin@netvel.net ||
------------------------------------ Description: GTALUG Talk Unsubscribe via Talk-unsubscribe@lists.gtalug.org Start a new thread: talk@lists.gtalug.org This message archived at https://lists.gtalug.org/archives/list/talk@lists.gtalug.org/message/JFNSYFU...