Moving toward Open Source Enterprise

Enterprise software is computer software that satisfies the overarching needs of businesses, governments, schools, and charities, among other organizations. These systems are used to handle a number of operations to enhance business and management reporting tasks. Enterprise software offers business-oriented tools such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), project management, online payment processing, business intelligence, and many more. Most of these are available as a suite of customizable programs, as enterprises tend to have similar departments and systems.

Organizations are faced with a challenge between selecting open source enterprise software or commercial versions. Today, there is an increased use of open-source software.

There are numerous reasons why organizations are moving in this direction. The main reason is that open source software code can easily be modified to suite users' specific business needs. This allows the flexibility to use a version or build of the software that is a good fit for the organization, and it can be used without restrictions.

Those who rely on open source platforms have access to a community of developers who have a common drive to improve open source solutions. These communities have highly talented developers, and when a system has bugs, they only need to share them in the community to get a quick solution. This helps to develop quality products in a short time.

Open source solutions also offer transparency as the code is visible to developers, where they can see any features added and how issues such as bugs are addressed. Since there is no secrecy, an organization can also be fully aware of the kind of software they have decided to use in their operations.

Open source is known for its agility. In a highly competitive business environment, IT departments must be agile so their businesses are not left behind by competitors. With open source software, even when a vendor fails to offer all the features a business needs, users can add it themselves without waiting for the vendor to catch up. In the case of a proprietary product, a business must simply hope for improvements or develop workarounds.

Open source products are also more cost-effective, allowing businesses of all sizes to afford inexpensive solutions. A business running on a tight budget can start small with community versions and later upgrade to paid versions as their business requirements grow.

It is also important to note that open source typically offers better security, since the code is thoroughly reviewed and vetted by a large community of developers. This reduces the possibility of security issues going unnoticed and unpatched for long. Although these solutions have better security, they also have security risks like any other software. However, the responsiveness of open source communities and vendors to security issues is high. Even so, it is important that organizations be careful to choose solutions that are secure and have support from an active community.

Although some organizations may still prefer proprietary software, the future of software is shifting more toward open source infrastructure. Today, there are more open source-based solutions available than ever before, including for mobile devices, the web, and the cloud.