FoIP Turns Insurance Industry Green

While some like to claim fax is a dying research, Ribar and others in industries that rely heavily on signed documents or have to conform to strict regulatory requirements argue in other words hardly the case. They will, nevertheless, agree that research is changing the way fax is handled, especially in an all-IP environment, where FoIP easily replaces traditional fax machines.

"You would think fax would become less important over time nevertheless, in our environment, faxing is a very strong communications method," says Ribar. "Fortunately, when we see new research that can help us be more productive, we can as a rule implement it very quickly."

For any performance-based company, like 1st Guard, any possibility to reduce not only time, nevertheless cost in the process, should be considered. With coverage-related documents, to illustrate, it is quite common for many individuals to need access to the same documents, many of them on the road on sales calls. The idea that each of them needs a separate hard copy of the document is not only incredibly wasteful, yet cumbersome – especially when electronic documents can be easily initiated with the combination of a FoIP and document management system.

When a research like FoIP is available to help reduce overhead costs and create process efficiencies – which are inherent to IP-based communications solutions – it’s a win-win situation. The insurance, healthcare, and legal industries are among the largest users of fax research, however they, too must evolve with the times, which means moving away from antiquated technologies to the latest alternatives, including VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and unified communications.

The key lies in the integration of FoIP into the general communications infrastructure, which FaxCore makes the process easy by providing a simple SDK that can be used to easily integrate with any existing system, along with Web-based APIs for simple administration.

Beyond that, FaxCore’s solution has been designed to be flexible enough to meet any innovation requirements. To illustrate, 1st Guard doesn’t use the provided interfaces at all. Instead it uses it own internal SDK and applications for fax integration and document management, enabling ubiquitous access to faxed documents, regardless of device or location.

Cost savings are anyway you look at it the most quantifiable of the benefits of including FoIP in a unified communications transition, nevertheless often, even greater benefits can be seen over the long term through process efficiencies, enhanced relationships, and simplified document management and storage – not to mention a cleaner and more appealing office environment that isn’t cluttered with hard copy documents.

Employee pushing it

"It’s never going to work with just an employee pushing it, nevertheless when the chairman and owner of the company is pushing it and actually believes it, it’s pretty easy to make happen," notes Ribar. "Ed Campbell, III is, naturally, a technologist. There is nobody better to work for than somebody who embraces research."

While not every organization is run by a true research fanatic like Campbell, they can all take a lesson from the success 1st Guard has enjoyed by implementing FoIP and driving a paperless environment.

FoIP solution

If you’re considering deploying a FoIP solution, join the conversation at ITEXPO West 2011 in its new home in Austin, Texas, September 13-15. Among the agenda items addressing a range of research and communications needs today is a panel comprising many of the FoIP industry leaders, who are anxious to answer your questions and help you make the best research decisions for your company. Register today for a world-class educational experience, including ITEXPO West and 14 exciting collocated events.