There is no advantage to keeping proprietary solutions secret and
as we enter an era of Web-based collaborative effort it is
increasingly obvious that open source is the answer
We are entering one of the most interesting periods in the history
of software. The advent of open source has thrown current software
business models up in the air.
Although fine for consumer markets, the licensing model has never
really suited business, as supplier and business interests are far
from aligned. Suppliers are keen to tie customers in to proprietary
solutions, but this does not mean they don't support open
standards. Open standards are great provided they can be used to
pull more customers in to their web of "gotchas".
It is also generally in a supplier's interests to push the rate of
upgrades, which help suppliers both to increase their licence
revenues, and also to reduce support costs. Supporting old versions
of software is a complex business. It is far easier to say "not
supported - upgrade to the latest version", especially when there
is a charge to upgrade.
Contrast this with the business need to maximise benefit and
minimise cost and risk. Solutions need to be as open as possible to
avoid undue exposure to any given supplier. Change needs to be
managed to keep down costs and to avoid unnecessary risk.
Open source now offers a new model. In an open-source world
suppliers can no longer threaten to "take the software ball away".
Customers are free to choose support and integration from suppliers
which match their needs, and change supplier when service is poor.
I expect we will see the benefit of this in companies in the small
and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector which have traditionally
had little say with the larger players.
Talented IT start-ups specialising in providing open source
solutions are emerging. Their business model also lends itself to
driving collaboration across multiple customers - the start-ups
build their customer base, the customers get shared experience and
safety in numbers.
Being a service- rather than product-based contract there is also
no incentive for such suppliers to force unnecessary upgrades on
customers. The last thing they want to do is break things, as they
will be picking up the pieces. As a result business and supplier
needs are much better aligned.
But what does open source mean for home-grown solutions? I suspect
we have all struggled with the build or buy question. However, we
also know that once home-grown solutions are started they can never
end. A few months of development effort quickly turn into years of
maintenance and upgrade. The off-the-shelf world catches up in the
end, and sooner or later it makes no sense to continue with the
home-grown solution. Little wonder there is so much pressure to buy
rather than build.
At last, open source offers an alternative. Forcing an open source
strategy on your development teams, potentially will put an end to
this waste of human effort. By giving away most of what they
develop smart companies will reap the benefits of broader support,
and software which lives on well beyond the initial outlay of
effort. For too long we have kidded ourselves that there is some
strategic advantage in keeping our home-grown solutions secret. As
we enter an era of Web-based collaborative commerce, nothing could
be further from the truth.
IT industry is on the brink of upheaval. Open source has already
succeeded but what remains to be seen is how fast it will take
market share. Our systems will no doubt be a mix of proprietary and
open source for many years to come, however my bet is that the
uptake will be shockingly fast, particularly at the SME level.
Alignment of business and supplier needs is long overdue.
Ed Darnell, a former IT director, may now be found atwww.itmentoring.co.uk/