DataPro's ProFax to snatch part of R1bn emerging market

ProFax, a company within the listed telecommunications DataPro Group, has announced the launch of a new managed faxing solution that undercuts Telkom's national and international rates - currently the only solution in this country to do so.

The launch of the new solution follows the signing of a joint venture agreement between ProFax and AmVia at the beginning of December. AmVia dominates the corporate fax software industry with up to 60% of big enterprises, including banks and retailers, making use of its product.

Martin Kuhlmann, MD of ProFax, estimates the South African fax market to be worth over a R1 billion a year. "The AmVia JV gives us access to the traditional Telkom fax market, with a total of 250 million fax minutes a month; penetration of this I believe, could exceed 50% within the next five years."

Kuhlmann believes this is still an "embryonic" market. "As companies realise the time and cost saving benefits of electronic fax management, companies like ProFax are well positioned to take full advantage of the anticipated demand."

Kuhlmann went on to say that ProFax is focusing not only on the corporate market - the market normally focused on by vendors - but is also looking to penetrate the consumer and small business market. "We are providing a high-end solution, with all the bells and whistles that a company would require - but we are able to pare the features down in order to suit the user's requirements."

The ProFax suite of solutions is able to offer a comprehensive "real-time" point-to-point solution, thus allowing an individual or corporate user a fully managed faxing experience without the high costs associated with traditional fax machines and the like.

The software on offer provides a trusted and reliable fax server and electronic document delivery solution that assists companies to comply with ECT legislation while still safeguarding information security and privacy.

In closing, Kuhlmann emphasised the potential growth in this Market: "The idea of converting traditional analogue fax to an electronic medium, using e-mail, was only conceptualised eight short years ago. During 2005, the total South African fax market grew by 2.5% to 250 million minutes and of the total fax minutes generated, "fax-to-e-mail" accounted for seven million of these minutes, indicating that the fax industry is far from slowing down and creating huge potential for our business."