Reality or Myth: Is the fax dead?

Ibbenbueren, Germany, 19 April 2006 – Leading developer of Aloaha Software, Wrocklage Intermedia GmbH, today released a report on how companies can streamline PDF technology to improve employee productivity. The report examines the costs involved in manual faxing and posting and estimates that the average yearly cost for businesses sending 50 faxes or letters per day is USD 26,000. The report concludes that Wrocklage’s integrated PDF solution, Aloaha PDF Suite, can reduce the annual cost of manually sending 50 faxes/letters per day close to zero, if they are sent directly from their desktop software.

A recent Gallup/Pitney Bowes poll of Fortune 500 companies conducted in the US discovered that faxing is still the number one method for sending and receiving official international messages that must be signed for, at an average cost of USD 15 million per year. Whilst email is still the most common form of business communication, digitally signed PDF Documents are increasing in popularity since the digital signature is deemed as a legal entity in most countries.

With monitoring local or network printer Aloaha integrates seamless in every windows application. A normal print to a Aloaha monitored printer is enough to get the document converted to PDF, digitally signed and delivered via SMTP, WebDAV, MAPI or FAX. Without having to print a copy, visit the fax machine or post the letter Aloaha improves efficiency and productivity by allowing employees more time to carry out other business tasks.

The financial impact of this is significant. If the person sending a fax or posting the letter is paid a modest USD 25,000 per annum, the cost of sending just one fax/letter is USD 2. If that person sends 25 faxes per day, that equates to USD 250 every week, or more notably, USD 13,000 a year.

Stefan Engelbert, CTO at Wrocklage, comments: “The biggest problem for businesses using fax machines or postal services to deliver their invoices is that it is very costly and slow if you consider all individual steps involved. By using an integrated solution such as the Aloaha PDF Suite, employees can streamline and automate the document creation, signature and delivery process, therefore making the traditional fax service obsolete.”