Open-source software as a business strategy for enterprises

Abstract

Open source is becoming the backbone for driving digital innovation. Many organisations are exploring open source to leverage the benefit of the same. Still, they do not pose the right method and tools to adopt Open-Source as a strategy for getting the benefit out of it. In each organisation, the technology innovation leader or enterprise architecture should be in a position to evaluate the risk and reward offered by this software development model. They should be able to do a careful assessment of the total cost of ownership and return on investment (ROI) before embracing the Open-Source software. Most of the organisation has started using Open-Source software in their mission-critical application as well. It is essential for them to assess the maturity level of the Open- Source solution across all the industries, also the different areas within the enterprise where it can be used. Before we start using Open-Source software, it is essential to review the licensing terms along with the associated advantages and risk. Although it helps us to get out of vendor lock-in, then we are heavily dependent on the community to shape the product feature and capability. It is also vital getting used to the mindset of not have a safety net in case of an issue in production. In the case of the COTS (commercial off the shelf) product, we used to get 24x7 support by the vendor, which will not be there now with Open-Source. It is also essential that the decision to adopt Open-Source software is driven by top management. This will ensure that everyone in the organisation is positive about it, and we have all the stakeholder buy-in. The strategy the organisation adopt for moving from a closed source vendor product to Open-Source software should be well thought off to ensure the business is not impacted.