Financial Control
The internet has spawned a whole new approach to financial management and financial control. At its most basic, this new approach is all about saving money. The most obvious example is online banking, which not only offers cheaper transactions but is also much more convenient because it's available on a 24x7 basis.
E-procurement also has a big impact on costs. For most major organisations the average cost of processing a purchase order traditionally is around £60; online it is as little as £2.50. As a result, many many organisations today are insisting their suppliers are able to handle e-procurement purchase. So, if your business can't, you might be at risk of being sidelined from the supply chain.
There are also new opportunities to manage cash flow. One recent trend is not to buy software yourself, but rent a third party's online. Not only does this reduce upfront costs and maintenance costs but the third party is responsible for keeping software up to date and for repairing anything that goes wrong.
One example is Sage accountancy products, another is eBay - many companies use eBay as their primary payment systems - much cheaper than building your own from scratch.