Unless you have a very unusual workflow, IMO a physical fax machine no longer makes sense, especially one that you have not yet acquired.
For receiving faxes:
- Unreliable – can run out of paper, be busy, etc.
- Insecure – people walking by the machine can see stuff they shouldn’t.
- Inaccessible – if you receive an important fax while out, you can’t view it until return to the office.
- If you need to save or forward the document, it must be rescanned, resulting in a generation loss.
- Difficult to search content of document.
- Wastes trees.
Sending faxes:
Most faxed documents were either created by the author on a computer, or originally received by web, email, or fax, then edited and/or signed. Get software to do this electronically.
If a paper document was delivered personally or by post, it’s likely something important that should be scanned anyway.
If it’s an internally created paper document, there is usually a better way to enter the data.
If you’re concerned about HIPAA or other regulations, there are numerous compliant services, e.g. https://www.faxage.com/hipaa-compliant-faxing.php