Document #US42348417R 2017 IDC. www.idc.com | Page 1
IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
Fax Market Pulse: Trends,
Growth and Opportunities
IDC Opinion
What do you think of when you hear the word "fax"? Outdated, 1980s technology? Fax is a
thing of the past, and no one uses it anymore? The perception of fax is that it's a technology
of bygone decades and that it's incomprehensible that companies are still faxing. The reality
is that fax remains a vital communication tool, is relied upon by businesses of all sizes and
in all industries, and has an important role within organizations as they embrace digital
transformation (DX).
IDC defines digital transformation as enterprises' use of 3rd Platform technologies (cloud,
mobility, data analytics, and social business) to create value and competitive advantage
through new offerings, new business models, and new relationships. In addition to gaining
critical operational efficiencies, a principal outcome of digital transformation is improved
customer experience. A cornerstone of DX is transforming document-centric workflows,
especially those related to interactions with customers as well as other stakeholders (e.g.,
employees, investors, partners, and suppliers).
During the past three decades, technology has evolved to fundamentally change how
organizations interact with these important stakeholders. Fax technology has similarly
evolved, providing the market with software- and cloud-based digital solutions that are easy
to use and cost effective and that enable the integration of fax with enterprise applications
while maintaining secure, trackable, and auditable information exchange. That integration
supports the automation and optimization of document-intensive business processes,
contributing to the transformation of those processes. Today's digital fax serverbased
systems and cloud fax services eliminate the standalone fax machines of old and enable
integration with users' desktops, email, back-end applications, and multifunction peripherals
(MFPs).
Why is fax a trusted and secure method of information exchange? Fax securely transmits
documents using the telephone network and requires peer-to-peer direct connectivity prior
to transmission of data. Therefore, a document doesn't get transmitted unless the outbound
fax transmission has a secure and direct connection with the receiving fax device. Digital fax
Sponsored by:
OpenText
Authors:
Ron Glaz
Holly Muscolino
June 2017
Fax remains a vital
communication
tool, is relied upon
by businesses of
all sizes and in all
industries, and has
an important role
within organizations as
they embrace digital
transformation.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
servers and cloud-based fax services further enhance the security of faxed documents by
eliminating the risk of lost, misplaced, or misfiled paper faxes often containing sensitive
or confidential information associated with standalone fax machines. Furthermore, fax
documents are legally binding documents.
This document discusses the results of a recent IDC survey that assesses the state of fax
usage within organizations. Interestingly, the majority of respondents told us that their fax
usage was steady or had grown over the past year. Fax usage grew an average of 27% year
over year among those who reported increased use. The document also examines why
organizations continue to use fax, projected usage trends in the coming two years, and what
will continue to drive demand for fax use within digital transformation initiatives.
Key findings include:
Among respondents who indicated year-over-year growth, fax usage grew by an average
of 27% and is expected to grow by an average of 25% over the next two years.
Simplifying fax processes and making fax more accessible drive usage up.
Organizations continue to use fax because customers and suppliers require it.
Fax is a trusted method of secure information exchange.
During the next two years, fax volumes will shift to fax cloud services.
90% of fax users have already integrated or are evaluating integration of fax with other
technologies or applications.
Digital fax technology will play a role in transforming an organization's document-centric
business workflows by integrating with the document-intensive workflow automation
ecosystem, enabling new connections, streamlining secure communications between
stakeholders, and contributing to overall digital transformation initiatives.
Methodology and Definitions
This white paper reviews the state of fax usage within organizations. It considers both
paper-based and digital fax technologies with four methods of exchange: paper-based,
manual faxing with standalone fax machines; fax-enabled MFPs; digital faxing with fax
servers; and digital faxing with cloud fax services. This document ranks the four methods
of exchange based on the volume of documents sent and received and how fax volumes
are expected to change in the future. It answers questions regarding why organizations
continue to use fax and what will drive demand for fax use in the future.
To assess these trends, IDC conducted a survey of 200 organizations that have a minimum
Among respondents
who indicated
year-over-year growth,
fax usage grew by an
average of
27%
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
of 500 employees. Participants included in the survey were individuals that had knowledge
of fax usage within their organization. Participating organizations were located in North
America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Respondents represent four industries: financial services,
healthcare, government, and manufacturing.
Definitions
Fax servers are systems installed in a local area network (LAN) that connect to the cloud
or on-premises telelphone lines and allow users to send and receive faxes as digital
documents. A single fax server can replace multiple standalone fax machines, thereby
reducing infrastructure overhead as well as the need for paper-based workflows. In
addition, fax servers can provide a higher degree of automation.
Cloud fax services are services that use the internet to send and receive faxes. Cloud
fax services transmit email messages with attachments as faxes to actual fax machines
or other digital fax services. The services can be hosted onsite as a private cloud solution
or can be fully hosted offsite, or an organization can deploy a hybrid model. Messages
are encrypted before they are sent, during processing, and during transfer, making this
option as secure as a standalone fax machine. As with fax servers, this model reduces
infrastructure overhead and paper-based workflows.
Situation Overview
Fax Continues to Play an Important
Communications Role
The influx of standalone fax machines within organizations during the past two to three
decades provided easy document sharing capabilities between customers, suppliers,
and business partners. In today's market, there are four main types of fax technologies:
traditional standalone fax machines and fax-enabled MFPs support paper-based faxing,
while fax servers and cloud fax services support digital faxing.
The introduction of the internet and the growing use of email provided organizations with
alternative methods of exchanging information. While standard office email may have
evolved to be the most common communication method, it is not without its vulnerabilities,
ensuring that fax technology continues to maintain a strong presence within organizations
that require a highly secure solution for sharing documents, particularly between business
entities. Research further shows that as digital workflows continue to evolve, organizations
are not planning to eliminate fax. Instead, organizations expect to add digital fax solutions
such as fax servers and/or cloud fax services to support the automation of document-
intensive workflows and digital transformation strategies.
Fax is used for a
number of important
reasons, such as a
trusted method of
secure information
exchange or as part
of a fax-dependent
workflow or business
process.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
As we discuss in the sections that follow, fax is used for a number of important reasons, such
as a trusted method of secure information exchange or as part of a fax-dependent workflow
or business process. The following are some common examples of fax usage within
organizations where content security is essential:
Finance and financial services: Delivering trade confirmations, receiving mortgage or
other loan applications, processing claim forms, and dispensing collection notices.
Healthcare: Exchanging protected health information (PHI) in a HIPAA-compliant manner,
transferring patient information to another physician, and processing claim forms.
Government: Accepting contract bids, changing property records, tracking expenses, and
transmitting emergency information.
Manufacturing: Transmitting purchase orders and shipping notices, processing
RFIs/RFQs/RFPs, and processing invoices.
Fax Has Deep Roots in Organizations
A majority of respondents to our survey have seen fax usage remain steady or grow during
the past year. The future for fax also looks promising the research shows that fax will
continue to be a critical document communication technology in the next two years, with
43% of respondents indicating that fax usage is expected to grow.
We asked respondents: Compared with the prior year, has fax usage increased, decreased,
or stayed the same? Figure 1 shows that 82% of respondents indicated that fax usage
increased or stayed the same from the previous year (i.e., 43% of total respondents indicated
that fax usage has increased, and 39% indicated that fax usage will remain steady). 51% of
respondents from North America indicated a year-over-year increase in fax usage. Certainly,
some of this growth can be attributed to the recent economic recovery and the growth in
the sheer volume of business being conducted. But the numbers also attest to the staying
power of fax within organizations.
82% of respondents
indicated that fax
usage increased or
stayed the same from
the previous year.
43% of total
respondents indicated
that fax usage has
increased, and
39% indicated that
fax usage will remain
steady.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
FIGURE 1
Fax Usage Compared with the Previous Year by Region
Q. Compared with one year ago, has fax usage in your organization
Western Europe (n=40)
Asia Pacic (n=80)
Total (n=200)
North America (n=80)
0%
20%
60%
40%
80%
100%
Increased
Stayed the same
Decreased
45%
51%
40%
9%
33%
23%
39%
19%
41%
26%
33%
43%
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
To further understand how deeply rooted fax is within organizations, we asked respondents
who indicated that fax usage grew to quantify that growth. The mean year-over-year growth
rate for fax usage was 27%. Furthermore, the net growth in fax usage for all respondents
(including those who indicated that fax use would decline) was 9% (see Figure 2). Growth
was seen across all industries and business sizes, with the strongest growth seen in the
manufacturing sector. This data indicates that fax is deeply integrated within business
workflows and continues to expand its user base and usage.
FIGURE 2
Average Net Year-to-Year Fax Usage Growth
Q. Compared with one year ago, by what percentage did your organization's fax usage
increase/decrease/stay the same (net average)?
Healthcare
(n = 50)
9%
Total
(n = 200)
2%
0%
4%
8%
9%
Finance
(n = 50)
7%
Government
(n = 50)
3%
Manufacturing
(n = 50)
16%
6%
10%
12%
14%
16%
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
Growth was seen
across all industries
and business sizes,
with the strongest
growth seen in the
manufacturing sector.
This data indicates that
fax is deeply integrated
within business
workflows and
continues to expand its
user base and usage.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
What is the future for fax, especially considering that businesses are in the process of
transforming to digital workflows? To answer that question, we asked survey participants
to provide insight on their anticipated fax usage over the next two years. Users were asked
whether fax usage will grow, decline, or remain the same.
Results from this question show that 75% of total respondents expect fax usage to grow
or remain the same in the coming two years (see Figure 3). In North America, 88% of
respondents expect fax usage to grow or remain steady. Respondents were also asked about
the expected fax usage growth rate during the next two years, and while the net growth of
fax usage is 6%, results show that among those who expect fax usage to grow, that growth
will average 25% (see Figure 4). As discussed in subsequent sections, this growth will likely
be fueled by making fax more accessible to employees, business growth, investments in fax
infrastructure, and security considerations.
FIGURE 3
Growth of Fax Usage by Region
Q. Over the next two years, do you expect your organization's fax usage to
Western Europe (n=40)
Asia Pacic (n=80)
Total (n=200)
North America (n=80)
0%
20%
60%
40%
80%
100%
50%
53%
23%
25%
38%
13%
32%
25%
31%
38%
31%
43%
Stay the same
Decrease
Increase
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
75% of total
respondents expect
fax usage to grow or
remain the same in
the coming two years.
Among those who
expect fax usage to
grow, that growth will
average
25%
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
FIGURE 4
Average Net Projected Year-to-Year Fax Usage Growth
Q. Over the next two years, by what percentage will your organization's fax usage increase?
Government
(n = 17)
27%
Total
(n = 86)
5%
0%
10%
20%
25%
Healthcare
(n = 24)
25%
Finance
(n = 22)
20%
Manufacturing
(n = 23)
29%
15%
25%
30%
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
Why Fax?
Given that many organizations are planning or have developed a digital strategy, one would
expect the future for fax to be a bit gloomier than what the data is showing. So why is fax
usage expected to grow? When respondents were asked why fax usage had grown, 44% of
respondents indicated that it was a result of integrating fax with email, which makes faxing
easier for the user (see Figure 5). Many respondents indicated that fax usage has grown
because of growth in their business that is, increase in customer base (40%), organic
company growth (35%), or expansion to new markets (34%).
That said, organizations are clearly making investments in fax infrastructure. 38% of
respondents indicated that they had consolidated all faxing to a single solution, and 38%
indicated that they have expanded the number of employees who have access to fax.
Perhaps more importantly, one-third of respondents attributed fax growth to integration of
fax technology with enterprise applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and
customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Finally, fax is a trusted communication method in this era of almost daily news about
security breaches. One-third of respondents attributed growth of fax to security concerns.




Fax is a trusted
communication
method in this era
of almost daily
news about security
breaches.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
FIGURE 5
Top Reasons for Fax Volume Growth
Q. Why have fax volumes increased?
We have integrated faxing with email, so
it's more accessible and easier to use
We have expanded to new customer segments
We have consolidated all faxing to a single solution
Organic company growth
We have expanded fax technology
to more employees
We have integrated faxing with back-end systems
(ERP, CRM, EMR, document management, etc.)
Growth because of mergers and acquisitions
We have expanded to new markets that use
fax as a communication method
Increased risk of security breach of other
communication methods for sensitive,
condential, or protected information
0%
10%
33%
33%
34%
35%
35%
38%
38%
40%
44%
36%
30%
20%
40%
50%
n = 85
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
The fact that fax use continues to grow in today's organizations raises the following
questions: Why does fax remain a key part of business workflows? What are the benefits that
organizations obtain from using fax?
There are three key factors driving fax usage within organizations (see Figure 6):
Fax is an integral component of business workflows. Customers and suppliers use fax,
fax is an important component of business processes, it is universally accepted, and it is
frequently integrated with back-end applications.
Fax technology is evolving and is a component of modern digital workflows
including availability of solutions such as fax servers and cloud fax services. Also, digital
fax integrates with email, making it easy to use.
Fax supports enterprise security and compliance. Fax provides an easy means of
tracking documents, providing a high level of confidence that a document is sent and
received with an auditable trail. It offers proven, secure document transmission. Faxed
Fax provides an easy
means of tracking
documents, providing
a high level of
confidence that a
document is sent
and received with an
auditable trail.
Any disruption to
fax use within fax-
dependent, business-
critical workflows
could have detrimental
outcomes for a process
that could ultimately
impact a business'
bottom line.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
documents are legally binding, and fax supports compliance with industry regulations
(e.g., HIPAA and SOX).
These results show that usage growth is the result of both internal (employee) adoption
and external (customer, partner, and supplier) growth, indicating that fax is not only
entrenched in businesses but also is a critical part of conducting day-to-day business.
Any disruption to fax use within fax-dependent, business-critical workflows could have
detrimental outcomes for a process that could ultimately impact a business' bottom line.
FIGURE 6
Drivers of Fax Usage
Q. Overall rank You indicated fax is used in your organization today for the following
reasons. Please rank the three most important reasons.
n = 200
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
Fax provides organizations with a number of additional benefits beyond maintaining
inherently secure communications with customers or providing an easy way to maintain
Customers and suppliers use it, which forces us to use it
Fax is an important part of a workow or business process
Easy tracking of document transmission; traceable audit
trail indicates success or failure of transmission
Proven, secure document transmission
Faxed documents are legally binding
Electronic fax is easily integrated with back-end applications
(e.g., CRM, ERP, and document management)
Fax technology is evolving, so we can continue to use it
(e.g., electronic faxing with fax servers
and cloud fax services, fax over IP)
Regulatory compliance such as HIPAA, SOX, and so forth
Electronic fax integrates easily with email, making
it easy to continue to use
Ubiquitous acceptance every business has a fax machine or
fax technology; it is a well-established communication method
Our document transmissions go outside of the
United States, where fax is an acceptable form
for document communication
0%
12%
18%
19%
20%
22%
24%
25%
25%
28%
28%
31%
36%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Usage growth is
the result of both
internal (employee)
adoption and external
(customer, partner,
and supplier) growth,
indicating that fax is
not only entrenched
in businesses but also
is a critical part of
conducting day-to-day
business.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
documentation for future audits. According to survey results (see Figure 7), the top 5
benefits respondents obtain from fax are:
Security: 42% of respondents indicated that fax is a trusted method of secure information
exchange.
Ease of use through integrations: 36% believed that integrating fax with email makes it
easy to exchange faxes.
Increased speed: 31% indicated that fax speeds time to send and receive critical
documents.
Higher customer satisfaction: 30% noted that processing documents more quickly
provides higher levels of customer satisfaction.
Prevention of errors: 29% indicated that fax reduces and/or prevents errors.
These benefits make a strong case for the sustained and growing use of fax technology.
However, many of these benefits can also be obtained using digital solutions such as email.
Security is one critical area where fax surpasses email. As stated previously, fax securely
transmits documents using the telephone network and requires peer-to-peer direct
connectivity prior to transmission of data. Therefore, a document doesn't get transmitted
unless the outbound fax transmission has a secure and direct connection with the receiving
fax device. Email is vulnerable to interception as once the "send" button is selected, the email
begins to flow freely through firewalls, ISPs' servers, and other security applications until it
reaches its final destination. During the transmission period, email is at the highest level of
vulnerability for unauthorized access, whereas fax transmissions are not.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
FIGURE 7
Top Benefits of Fax Usage
Q. What are the top benefits your organization obtains when using fax?
n = 200
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
Although the future picture for fax technology indicates that fax will maintain its position in
business workflows, there are a number of challenges that fax users face. The top concern
focuses on the productivity and cost associated with paper-based fax workflows (see Figure
8): 42% of respondents indicated that employees spend too much time faxing, and 39%
of respondents indicated that the cost of paper and manual labor associated with faxing
is too high. It is important to note that digital alternatives such as fax servers and cloud
fax services address these identified pain points, as well as pain points associated with the
integration of fax with enterprise applications. Cloud fax services also address infrastructure
concerns.
Other challenges reinforce the fact that some business-critical workflows are heavily reliant
on fax. Results from the survey show that 31% of respondents indicated that they are forced
Fax is a trusted method of secure information exchange
Fax is integrated with email, making it easier to exchange faxes
Speeds time to send and receive orders, invoices,
and other business-critical documents
Improves business processes
Saves time and increases productivity
Prevents/reduces errors
Increases customer satisfaction by processing documents
more quickly
Accelerates time to revenue
Reduces business and compliance risk
Gets new products/services to market more quickly
Allows us to focus on more important/valuable activities
0%
19%
20%
21%
24%
25%
26%
29%
30%
31%
36%
42%
36%
5%
10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
to use fax because of the security it provides to protect information, and 26% of respondents
indicated that a business-critical function is dependent on fax.
FIGURE 8
Challenges Organizations Face When Dealing with Fax
Q. What are the top 2 challenges your organization faces when dealing with fax?
24%
A business-critical function is fax dependent; therefore,
we can't eliminate faxing
We are forced to use fax to exchange protected
and sensitive documents
The cost of paper-based, manual faxing is too high
Time employees spend sending and receiving
paper faxes is wasteful
17%
23%
26%
31%
39%
42%
Diculty in managing on-premises infrastructure
(fax servers and telephony)
We haven't integrated fax with enterprise applications
We struggle to support high-volume faxing
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
n = 200
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
Transforming Fax Workflows
Figure 9 shows that today, 36% of fax volume (monthly pages) is sent or received using
standalone fax machines, which is more than the fax volume sent or received using all other
fax technologies. However, when we asked for the expected volume mix in the next two
years, we see that value is reduced to 28%, while cloud fax services volume grows from
20% to 29%, exceeding the volume sent on standalone fax machines. The volume of faxes
sent and received via MFPs and fax servers will remain steady. Today's number is consistent
with IDC research that shows that paper-based, manual document-intensive workflows
are still common within organizations. However, the transition to cloud fax services is a
clear example of 3rd Platform technology cloud fundamentally transforming these
workflows.
It is important to
note that digital
alternatives such as fax
servers and cloud fax
services address these
identified pain points,
as well as pain points
associated with the
integration of fax with
enterprise applications.
Cloud fax services also
address infrastructure
concerns.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
FIGURE 9
Current and Future Fax Volume by Technology
Q. What is the mix of fax volume by method today what do you expect it to be in two years?
Standalone fax machines
36%
28%
0%
10%
30%
20%
40%
20%
20%
Fax servers
Cloud fax services
20%
29%
22%
24%
MFP devices with fax
Monthly fax pages
Today (n = 200)
Next two years (n = 200)
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
Further evidence of fax's established role in business workflows is that 50% of respondents
to IDC's Fax Survey indicated that their organization had integrated fax with other
technologies and/or applications (see Figure 10). An additional 40% are evaluating the
opportunity, and only 10% have no plans to integrate. Integration of fax technology with
enterprise applications and other technologies is critical to link fax to the document
workflow automation ecosystem, supporting the transformation of document-intensive
workflows.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
FIGURE 10
Integration of Fax with Other Technologies and
Applications
Q. Has your company integrated electronic fax with other technologies/applications (e.g., ERP,
CRM, EMR, document management, and capture technology) to automate and/or optimize
any document-intensive business workflow?
Yes, we have already integrated our electronic fax
solution with other technologies/applications
50%
11%
No, we have no plans to integrate electronic fax
with other technologies/applications
40%
We are currently evaluating our options of integrating an
electronic fax solution with other technologies/applications
0%
10% 20% 30%
50%
40%
n = 200
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
We asked the 90% of respondents who stated they have integrated or are evaluating
the opportunity to integrate fax with other technologies how they planned to automate
fax-dependent workflows. The response was "all of the above," with respondents giving
almost equal weight to all the options provided. At the top of the list is integration with
enterprise applications including enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship
management (CRM), document management, and vertical applications such as electronic
medical record (EMR) systems. Email is also a high priority for integration. Respondents also
plan to leverage capture technology to extract fax content for integration within workflows.
Standalone fax machines will be replaced with fax servers and cloud fax services
(see Figure 11).
These responses clearly indicate that there is a growing demand to support integration and
automation of fax-dependent digital workflows, which can only be achieved with a digital
fax solution.
Further evidence of
fax's established role
in business workflows
is that
50% of respondents
to IDC's Fax Survey
indicated that their
organization had
integrated fax with
other technologies
and/or applications.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
FIGURE 11
Solutions Used to Automate Fax-Dependent Workflows
Q. Please choose the solutions that your company plans to incorporate or has already
incorporated to automate fax-dependent workflows.
43%
41%
41%
Use capture technology to convert paper content (including fax)
into digital format for integration within business workows
(scanning using MFP devices or scanners)
Integrate fax with email applications
Integrate fax with enterprise apps such as
ERP, CRM, EMR, and document management
45%
49%
49%
Replace standalone fax machines with fax servers
Capture information in a digital format via a web portal
Replace standalone fax machines with cloud services
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
n = 179
Source: IDC's Fax Survey, February 2017
Conclusion
Digital Transformation of Document Workflows
As we noted previously, a cornerstone of digital transformation is transforming document-
intensive workflows, especially those related to interactions with customers and other
stakeholders. Innovative technologies are enabling new approaches to deploying and
managing these workflows, offering organizations opportunities to drive competitive
differentiation and bottom-line results. This research indicates that digital fax technologies
will play a role in transforming document-intensive workflows and can thereby contribute
to the overall digital transformation strategy of an organization.
Although the transformation of document-intensive workflows is not limited to the
transition of paper-based workflows to digital (and, in fact, simply converting paper-based
workflows to digital is not necessarily transformative), the fact remains that paper-based
workflows are costly, inefficient, error prone, and not secure. Digital transformation
strategies will require the elimination of paper-based faxing.
It is also critical to stress the importance of integration in automating and transforming
document-centric workflows, between both the core technologies that drive the workflow
itself and these technologies and other enterprise applications and/or industry systems
Digital fax
technologies will play
a role in transforming
document-intensive
workflows and can
thereby contribute
to the overall digital
transformation
strategy of an
organization.
Digital transformation
strategies will require
the elimination of
paper-based faxing.
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IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
including productivity and collaboration tools, ERP, CRM, supply chain management (SCM),
and human resources management (HRM). Digital fax technologies enable fax to be integrated
as part of the overall document-centric workflow ecosystem.
Figure 12 describes IDC's view of the document-centric workflow automation ecosystem and
the role of fax within that ecosystem. At the heart of the ecosystem is "content in motion" and
the rules-driven workflow engine that is orchestrating that motion. A number of participating
applications provide essential workflow services (some type of content repository to store
"content at rest"). These services can be combined in a variety of ways to provide specific,
purpose-built solutions that solve particular business problems. Fax can play a role as an
on-ramp and off-ramp to/from the ecosystem as well as function as a key communication
component of the ecosystem.
FIGURE 12
Document-Centric Workflow Automation Ecosystem and Fax
Source: IDC, 2017
So what do you think of when you hear the word "fax"? Modern, 21st century technology.
A technology of the digital era. Fax remains a vital communication tool, is relied upon by
businesses of all sizes and in all industries, and has an important role within organizations as
they embrace digital transformation.
Fax remains a vital
communication
tool, is relied upon
by businesses of
all sizes and in all
industries, and has
an important role
within organizations as
they embrace digital
transformation.
Document #US42348417R 2017 IDC. www.idc.com | Page 17
IDC White Paper | Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities
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