The cost effective and flexible benefits of Open Source software for business

Open Source software is a solution that can be used for free without the need to purchase expensive licenses.

It is designed and developed by a global community of computer professionals, a community of people that are passionate about building high quality, innovative software. They do this largely in their spare time, for nothing more than the infamy or the possibility that Google may offer them a job.

Software that is created by a community can develop at an extremely fast pace, often much quicker than licenced software developed by large companies. Unlike these larger companies the community can take advantage of evolving technologies more rapidly and distribute new releases quickly, providing their users with the latest features as soon as they are available. Open Source software also often adheres to universally agreed standards rather than inventing new ones that lock the user into a specific solution.

Solutions that meet your business needs now and in the future

Open Source software is often developed to meet the needs of the community as whole rather than the specific needs of your business. However, Open Source software can usually be modified and extended by skilled developers to meet their unique requirements.

By using Open Source software as a starting point, we can create a comprehensive tool that meets your specific business requirements at greatly reduced costs and in much shorter time scales. You can also take advantage of future developments in the original software by merging your bespoke solution with any new releases of the Open Source project.

Over recent months there has been a large scale shift towards Open Source software. The government has commissioned reports on its use and Local Authorities and other public sector organisations that were once reluctant to consider its use are now opening up to the idea.

These changes may be inspired by financial considerations alone or dissatisfaction with recently release software by major sofware vendors. Whatever the cause there appears to have been a paradigm shift in how government / businesses / people view Open Source software.

There are a number of high profile companies including Google, Yahoo and Mozilla that are taking advantage of Open Source software to deliver products to their customers for free. These companies are not only raising the profile of the Open Source community but they are also contributing development time and large marketing budgets.

The right solution that scales with your requirements

As you’ve probably guessed, the reason we’ve written this article is because we have been advocates of Open Source software for many years and have created cost effective and scalable solutions for dynamic websites, intranets and e-commerce sites across a range of sectors by using Open Source projects as a starting point.

These include successful delivery of national and international projects for the likes of BBC Worldwide and the British Library to regional solutions for organisations such as Steffans Jewellers and WNDC using solutions including WordPress, Drupal and Adobe Commerce.

What next?

If you have or need an online presence, e-commerce requirement or intranet then consider the following two questions:

• Do you consider the software you use is fit for purpose and that it meets all of your requirements?
• Do you simply continue to use the same software with the features the vendor tells you you need?

If you have any doubts then give us a call 0845 454 1000) or drop us an email and we will evaluate your specific requirements and create a proposal for your immediate and long term needs