Focusing on an internet-based approach can save companies millions of euro in advertising and personnel costs, writes Claire Shoesmith

Many of the tasks you carry out on a daily basis will be linked to an electronic or "e" function. You can contact your friends using e-mail, pay your bills through e-banking and e-ticketing brings you your bus, airline or rail ticket. You can even avoid that dreaded call from the taxman by filing your tax returns using the Revenue Commissioners' e-service.

E is a letter that we come across early on in our lives. Not only is it the fifth letter of the alphabet, but it's also the second vowel, meaning that it's probably one of the most used letters in the English language.

Most people associate the letter with modern society, but the internet isn't just there to make your life easier - businesses can also benefit from its use too.

In many cases, adopting an internet-based strategy has saved companies millions of euro worth of personnel costs and advertising time. Over the next two weeks, we shall be taking a look at the benefits, and in some cases the downsides, of the dawn of the internet age on both business and society as a whole.

While founding a business based on the internet has proved successful for the likes of Michael O'Leary and Stelios Haji-Ioannou with their budget airlines, Ryanair and EasyJet, adapting less flexible corporate structures such as Aer Lingus to cope with the onslaught of the internet age is slightly more difficult.

The switch by Aer Lingus, the Republic's national carrier, to focus on internet bookings, coincided with a change of strategy aimed at transforming the whole business to focus solely on aerlingus.com.

"The internet was not seen as a part of a niche, it was seen as core to the whole business," said a spokesman for the airline, which has increased its internet reservations from just 4 per cent in 2001, to almost 80 per cent today.

To facilitate the switch, Aer Lingus increased ticket prices sold through traditional outlets such as travel agents, and through its call centres to encourage people to buy online.

It even closed down its own shops, making it more difficult for people to buy tickets face-to-face, and in turn pushing them towards its website.

The company focused all of its advertising on aerlingus.com and even encouraged its own cabin crew to promote online booking through their communications with passengers.

"The internet was an essential tool for us as far as cutting costs goes," said the spokesman.

"It also opened up new markets and gave us access to more potential passengers."

Since its inauguration, the company has localised the website so that you can log on in Germany for example, and the flight departure list will feature German airports. It is also in the process of facilitating automatic translations into various languages.

"To push it on further, we have to become a web marketing company," said the spokesman. "It's not an airline issue any more. It's now about the internet itself."

This is backed up by events at Bus Éireann, which after being one of the first Irish companies to have its own website has increased its customer base by translating the site into several different languages and offering European bus tickets to those travelling overseas.

The company is also benefiting from its online offerings because the reduced amount of calls to its call centre has freed up staff for other duties and tickets no longer need to be mailed to customers using the traditional postal service. Bus Éireann has had a website since the early 1990s, but its web presence has only added value to the company in the past three years. Initially, it only contained fixed timetable information, and then, in 2001, the group launched a limited online ticket purchasing service, aimed principally at tourists.

The following year, the service was updated to include all tickets - a move that produced a "huge" spike in usage of the site, according to a spokeswoman for the group. In the same year, Bus Éireann launched a journey planner, which allows customers to plot their route online. Online ticket sales increased by 33 per cent in the year to the end of September, while overall hits on the group's website rose by 53 per cent in the same period.

Tickets can also still be bought at bus stations throughout the country, travel centres, tourist offices and by phone.

"There has been a huge transformation from the initial site to what we have now, and it's benefiting both our customers and the company," said the spokeswoman. "Since its creation, the site has just gone from strength to strength."

Next week, we will see how the internet is improving life for the Revenue Commissioners.