Majority of German Corporations Continue to Rely on Faxes for Business Communications
Despite the soaring popularity of emails, messaging apps, and video conferencing, a good ol' Fax machine remains a crucial part of the daily office routine in Germany. A survey involving over 500 businesses with 20 or more employees, conducted by the Digital Association Bitkom, revealed that a staggering 77% of these businesses still rely on this outdated technology. In fact, in 25% of these companies, using a fax machine is quite common or downright frequent. Approximately half of these businesses who still use faxes print out all their incoming documents.
"Even though the use of faxes in German businesses has been on a steady decline for years, the shift is happening at a snail's pace, unexpectedly, considering that there are now more convenient and secure methods of communication," said Daniil Heinze, Bitkom expert for digital business processes. Such methods include encrypted transmissions, secure Email formats, and other modern means of communication.
Over half of the respondents attribute their continued use of fax machines to legal requirements from authorities. For around one third of the businesses, it's simply a matter of habit.
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Companies worldwide, not just in Germany, are discovering an unexpected persistence in fax use among a third of their operations, even as more advanced communication methods become prevalent. In the third quarter of their study, Bitkom found that three out of every ten of the assessed companies still heavily rely on fax machines for crucial business operations.
