So far, the marketing and sales functions have received the most attention from organisations who are attempting to make strategic use of the Internet. The cost of advertising on the Internet is a fraction of advertising in a newspaper, over the radio or on television. Providing product specifications on-line is cheaper than conventional printing and publishing, and can be changed easily as the details change. Using an Intranet, Lotus notes style, to keep track of customer details and the progress of customer complaints is much cheaper and more effective than running a cumbersome, paper-intensive system. The possibilities in this area are almost endless.
Communication costs throughout the value chain are an obvious candidate for reduction.
The direct cost of communication by mail, telephone and fax is often very high, particularly for global companies. A simple Intranet can be used to replace the plethora of hard copy materials which are so expensive to print and distribute, and yet so essential for the smooth day to day running of a business. Electronic publishing and distribution of telephone number lists, human resource manuals, price lists, documents and newsletters can result in enormous cost savings for a relatively low investment Human resource departments can significantly reduce their training costs by using Intranets for training purposes. Granted, some information will still be paid for, but the costs of locating and accessing the information available will be much lower, and the quality of information accessed is likely to be higher as a result of the greater choice. The Internet has significantly reduced, if not wholly eliminated, many of the communications and cost barriers to building an effective global organisation.