OSS (Open Source Software) is an innovative and productive leap to steer through today’s digital chaos. It is for organizations that want technologies that adapt, evolve, and scale with business operations.
Make technology work for you, not the other way around.
An open transition to modern technologies. Build better roadmaps, chart clear business directions, to maximize performance, capabilities, driving value to perform better, and achieve more!
Challenges Traditional Business Face
Proprietary or Closed software often takes organizations into a complex spiral, both technological and operational.
These challenges are not limited to, but include:
Costs
Closed software often leads to increasing costs, and increases with time. Costs in terms of purchase, implementation, license fee, maintenance, and support
Customization
Closed software takes away the flexibility of business operations. Business have to adapt to technologies, change their functions to use different technologies.
Restrictions
Closed software poses restrictions to users in terms of limited integrations, desired features, cost-optimization, and functionality.
Lesser Integrations
Most closed software do not allow integrations with different technologies, due to architecture complexity, monolithic design, limited system capabilities, etc.
Complex to Migrate
Closed software often come with a complex architecture, making migration to different platforms a complex and challenging task.
Vendor Lock-in
Users often get stuck to a single vendor, unable to move or migrate due to complex architecture, limited flexibility, thus, adding on to the challenges.
Complex Architecture
Difficulty in extracting optimum performance, creating bottleneck situations, lower product value, leading to customer dissatisfaction.
Dependent Operations
Proprietary systems often leave no room for a rollback or upgrade to newer technologies owing to a closed loop of features and limited user controls.
Limited Future Scope
Today technologies change fast. Closed software require core changes to integrate these technologies, which is either delayed and complex to achieve.
Closed Software: Closing the Gap?
Proprietary or Closed software deliver solutions to different businesses, across different industries. But more than often it creates a complex dependency for organizations.
Let’s take some real-world scenarios to better understand problems faced by businesses today:
Example 1: A CRM is used to manage a company’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. A CRM is an essential tool for any organization.
Taking the example of SAP, a leading CRM provider. It provides CRM and CX (Customer Experience) as a service. The CRM offers latest features, benefits, and functionalities.
But that does not make it prone to drawbacks and complexities. The problems faced by the users of such software are:
- Costs: With a big license fee to annual user fee. The costs are increasing with the number of users. Plus, such software requires constant maintenance, training for teams, even trained personnel.
- Features: An array of features to choose but that might depend on the plan you choose. Addition of new features, integrations, etc. might not always be possible. If possible, it is often subjected to additional costs.
- Limitations: With a closed software more often you will face the need to train your teams for the software and change operational procedures to work with it. Thus, limiting the flexibility of business operations.
- Integrations: Every business is different, so are its needs. Closed software often integrate new technologies at a later stage owing to architecture complexity, etc. For custom features, there will be additional costs.
- Smart-Capabilities: Closed software are not readily built to integrate AI, ML, and other smart technologies. This can be a defining edge in today’s technologically competitive business world.
Example 2: A business communication platform is used to facilitate external and internal messaging utilizing different channels like phone, video, task management, etc.
Taking the example of Microsoft Teams, a leading business communication platform. It offers workspace chat, video-conferencing, file storage, and application integration.
There are many limitations to a proprietary business communication platform. The problems faced by the users of such platform are:
- Cost: Closed communication platform often comes with a license fee with additional charges per user. Moreover, the integrations might come with increased costs due to compatibility, complexity, etc.
- Innovation: They often use technologies, which are tried and tested, which is good. But, in a rapidly evolving digital space, it is the power of new technologies which gives an edge.
- Flexibility: They come with many features and functionalities, but leaves little to no scope for customization. It can be done but with heavy costs and architectural complexities.
- Transparency: The source-code of closed software is kept a secret. Users have no way of knowing what the software is doing behind the scenes. Raising concerns over the security and integrity of the software.
- Community-Support: OSS have a large community of developers and users who provide resources and support. This is a valuable resource to businesses looking for customization or troubleshooting easily.
Advantages of OSS: Flexibility at Your Fingertips
OSS (Open-Source Software) gives an advantage of technological intervention with innovation. It works for and with businesses.
The advantages are not limited to, but include:
Costs
OSS comes with significant cost saving for an organization. Enabling SMEs to use latest tech at a cost that fits their budget.
Endless Customization
OSS provides endless customization to its users. Features, functionalities, integrations, readily available at command.
Freedom
Complete control over the functioning and performance of the software. Freedom to change the core software to get desired results.
Scalability
With OSS organizations get the choice to scale the platform, its features, performance, and overall output to best meet with the organization’s goals.
Interface to Behold
OSS come with an interface that is custom designed to provide the best user interaction and experience. Achieve more with less!
Vendor Independence
OSS comes with the freedom to customize, build, troubleshoot without any vendor dependence. Granting complete control to user.
Future-Ready
OSS comes integration ready to ensure organizations get the latest tech, which is a major edge amongst the fierce competition.
Interoperability
OSS works for and with organizations. Numerous integration possibilities to ensure a seamless workflow and one-platform operations.
Composable Architecture
An architecture that supports your current needs and is ready to evolve and adapt to meet your growing wants of tomorrow.
Cost Optimization and Budgeting Impact of OSS
Organizations consistently look for cost optimization, especially in an era where technologies become obsolete fast. Managing through this digital chaos, enterprises need to have a close knit cost and budgeting structure.
We are OSS Evangelists!
CloudRedux is an OSS playground. Trying new technologies, integrating them with different platforms, and capabilities testing. We’re all about technology and Open Source gives us the tools to explore.
It’s not the company, our whole team has immense experience and expertise in OSS, using and implements OSS across the organization and delivering with precision to our clients.
Here are some technologies we use which are OSSsome:
- Hosted Gitlab: Setup Gitlab for project development, deployment, and maintenance, both for in-house and clients. With this one gets all the premium features to power all OSS initiatives.
- ERPNext for ERP and CRM implementation for in-house and client project requirements
- Mautic for email and user journey mapping requirement
- OpenProject for project management
- Hosted Rocket.chat implementation for internal communication
- Hosted Jitsi implementation for internal and external web meetings
- WP,