The Top 10 Motivations to Build Your Business Using Open-Source Software

Our last blog examined how open-source software (OSS) vendors make money when the software is free. In this post, we explore what motivates CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, or entrepreneurs to build businesses on open-source software.

When you choose technologies, you’re committing to solutions that will help your company grow and continue operating for the long term, which necessitates careful analysis and planning. Unfortunately, betting on the wrong horse often leads to higher development costs and lost time due to inflexibility issues.

Over the last decade, we have seen a proliferation of OSS by businesses across the board. This has been fuelled by the realisation of the considerable benefits open source offers over proprietary software and a shift in software policy in boardrooms around the world. Nothing best demonstrates this than Redhat’s 2020 State of Enterprise Open Source Report. The survey found that 82% of 1,296 C-suite IT leaders are now more likely to choose a vendor who contributes to the open-source community.

Organisations looking for motivations to build their business using open source will find plenty of them. So, let’s dive right in and see what some of these motivations are.

When it comes to software, “freedom” refers to using, studying, modifying, and redistributing the software. It is also the freedom from vendor lock-in. When you have access to the source code of a program, you can customise it according to your specific needs without having to wait for someone else (the vendor) to do it for you. This gives you more control over how your programs work and lets you get started right away with developing them instead of waiting around idly. And if you ever need help, you can always turn to the massive open source community for assistance, since there will be others facing similar challenges as you are.

The cost-effectiveness of open-source solutions is hard to ignore. Proprietary software often comes with expensive licensing fees and maintenance costs. With open source, you get the same software quality without having to pay a penny. In addition, you can avoid the high upfront costs associated with purchasing proprietary software since you can start using open-source solutions immediately.

Open-source solutions are usually developed in a more agile manner compared to their proprietary counterparts. This means that new features and updates are released faster, giving you the ability to quickly respond to changes in your industry and take advantage of new opportunities.

In our last post, we discussed how having more developers leads to faster discovery of bugs. When it comes to developing software, two heads are better than one. With open-source, you have access to the collective knowledge and expertise of the entire open-source community. This allows you to benefit from the work of others and avoid re-inventing the wheel.

Open-source solutions are generally more flexible and agile than proprietary software. This is because open source encourages modular development — dividing functionality into small, independent modules that can be easily replaced or swapped out. As a result, you can easily make changes to your programs without waiting for the vendor to release a new version. In addition, you can mix and match different modules from different projects to create custom solutions that fit your specific needs.

One of the benefits of using open source is that it’s usually more reliable compared to proprietary software. The reason is that open-source software is developed by a community of developers who are constantly working to improve the quality of the code. In addition, open-source software is often more thoroughly tested than proprietary software since anyone can contribute test cases to the project.

Another advantage of open-source software is its transparency compared to proprietary software. Open-source projects must publicly disclose their source code, making it easy for anyone to audit the code for security vulnerabilities. In addition, most open-source projects have public bug trackers where users can report and track issues with the software.

Despite what some developers may think, open source is actually more secure compared to proprietary software.
The open source development process allows anyone to audit the code and find security vulnerabilities. In addition, the transparency of open source makes it easy to track and fix security issues quickly.

Most open-source software is designed to be interoperable with other software applications. Therefore, your company can integrate open-source solutions into various apps by utilising standard file formats and network protocols. This is considerably easier than with proprietary software, which often restricts organisations and causes interoperability issues in their software environments/infrastructure.

Finally, one of the biggest advantages of using open source is that it encourages innovation. Open source allows developers to freely experiment with new ideas and create unique solutions. As a result, you can benefit from the latest advances in technology and stay ahead of your competition.

These are just some of the reasons you should consider building your business using open-source software. In our next blog post, we’ll be discussing Digital Sovereignty and why it is vital for SMEs. Stay tuned!

Talk to us here at metasfresh. With complete vendor-independence and freedom from licensing, ready access to community development resources, the ability to customise and modify at will, and full control of updates, security and maintenance, metasfresh open source ERP is built to support digital transformation and fuel corporate growth. Our mission is to enable each and every company to access a powerful ERP system — and open source is and has always been the best way to do it. Get in touch today to find out more about what our open source ERP can do for your business.