See how Centralis helps identify bad numbers, reduce repeat failures, and keep information moving.
Earlier this year, we set out to make faxing a bit more efficient by removing the “easy button” that let users resend failed faxes without first confirming the fax number. Users can now retry a failed fax twice; after that, the resend option is removed, prompting them to verify the number or contact our support team for help.
Here’s what we’ve confirmed through this initiative: Of the last 370 reported faxes, 230 were sent to numbers that were either disconnected or answered by someone frustrated from repeatedly receiving faxes on their voice line. In other words, 62% of reported faxes were sent to the wrong number. Because users had to send each fax twice before Centralis could investigate, 460 total faxes were sent to incorrect numbers—delays that can slow patient care and add work for already overburdened staff. When this happens, we blacklist the bad numbers so no additional outbound faxes can be sent to them. This allows the faxes to fail immediately and notify users that they need to update the number and refax.
Of the 370 reported faxes, 64 were sent to numbers the receiving office used for both incoming and outgoing faxes. This often caused busy signals and repeated failures. Reporting these faxes to Centralis allowed us to update our system and reduce the number of simultaneous faxes sent to those lines, helping minimize busy signals. However, this does not stop other carriers from sending to those numbers or fully resolve chronic busy signals on the receiving side. To resolve the issue completely, the receiving organization needs to contact its carrier, obtain separate fax numbers for sending and receiving, and increase inbound call capacity. Centralis provides this setup for all participants, which is why we can guarantee no busy signals on ported inbound fax lines.
Faxing has its limits, and larger files can create delivery challenges. Of the 370 reported faxes, 25 were too large to send successfully because of page volume, page complexity, or both. For these files, our team first attempted to compress them to improve the chance of successful delivery. When that was not enough, we used our Digital Download Fax option, which sends the recipient a single-page fax with instructions to download the full-color file that otherwise could not be delivered.
The remaining 14% were typical fax failures that either succeeded after a retry or required our carrier to adjust routing to improve delivery success.
All in all, we believe this new functionality helps users troubleshoot fax issues before they escalate or cause further delays in patient care. With continued feedback, we hope users will be more likely to validate fax numbers before sending, resulting in fewer reported issues tied to incorrect numbers.
Does your current fax provider offer this level of support? If you’d like to see what faxing with Centralis could look like for your organization, schedule a demo and let’s start the conversation.