Probably the biggest irony of my day-job is that in the course of booking digital media I am routinely left to resort to technologies that have long since been improved upon.

Whilst I’m sure the traditional fax machine has played its part in share-shattering business deals (not to mention being one of the best ways for film and TV cop dramas to reveal the identify of the killer) I tend to look down on the humble facsimile with a little disdain, because, surely, in this day and age, there’s a better way of doing things.

In my experience of booking digital media I’ve only come across a handful of companies that don’t require a faxed document to make a booking. It won’t surprise you that one of them is Google, who of course, digital acolytes that they are, decided that making multiple physical copies of a paper document (including reams and reams of rainforest destroying Ts & Cs) was a little on the silly side given the available technology. The world leader in online problem solving instead opted for a check box and a nifty piece of HTML verification. Simples.

I guess the odd fax now and then doesn’t really pose me too many problems. It’s a nice illustration though of how digital is still not being used to its full potential. It’s still an add on for many people: support for TV ads or a funny little distribution channel that brings in money at the expense of bricks and mortar stores.

Digital is far from either of those things – it’s a revolution in the 4Ps of marketing (or the 7Ps if your a more recent graduate of Jobber et al). Digital is fundamentally driven by technology that makes thing s easy and enhances communication. Fax machines do not belong in the digital world as much as digital isn’t a way to whack a TV or press ad online.

The technology is there to used folks, so use it. It’s not exactly rocket science is it.