30% of UK workers see fax machines as “essential”

Vaughn Highfield May 19, 2016

Fax machines, remember them? Those old hulking things that whirred away and made dial tones as they shuttled badly copied documents through phone wires and into an office somewhere else in the world? Well, it appears that for 30% of UK workers the archaic fax machine is still considered an “essential” component of the office.

Essential.

If that didn’t chill you to your bones, that same 30% listed fax machines as more important than tablets or smartwatches (although I’m kinda with them on that latter point). Still, it’s nice to know that, in 2016, fax paper is still a thing.

The news comes from the results of a survey carried out by Fuze, a business communications provider. Having asked 5,000 employees about the technology still used in their office, 30% of British workers claimed it was “essential”, with 39% in Germany and 42% in France claiming the same.

While this is a rather amusing fact, it does show the underlying issues that businesses face in the modern world. While it does very much depend on the industry you work in and the countries you work in conjunction with, it’s unsurprising to hear that many businesses are struggling to innovate and adopt new technology if fax machines are still a major part of the technological remit.

Thankfully there’s some hope on the horizon. As part of Fuze’s study, the company found that among 15- to 18-year-olds, fax machines definitely don’t have a place in their tech considerations. In fact, of the 2,500 under-19s surveyed, smartphones and tablets took the top spot, eclipsing desktops entirely. They also shunned the office phone, saying that pens, calculators and staplers are far more important to their work routine.

Again, I’d have to agree – a work phone call is absolutely the last thing I ever want to deal with. This is not an invitation to phone me. Really.