Many people have asked the question whether an Enterprise operated only using Open Source software is possible. Well, today, certainly this is possible and many of these companies do exist. It’s not really the question whether the right Open Source software exists, it’s more the question whether the decision makers and users are ready to adapt to it. Of course, changing from MS Excel to OpenOffice Calc takes time and doesn’t happen effortless. And this is enough for many people to decide to not do it. Same with ERP or CRM. As we know Open Source ERP or CRP is not on the same functional and scalability level as SAP or Oracle/Siebel. But do companies really need that level of perfection? Couldn’t complexity be reduced by focusing on smaller units and creating intelligent interfaces for consolidation and reporting instead of trying to model all the complexity in one tool? Most applications areas offer a lot of software choice, including Open Source alternatives. Focusing on Open Source asks often for braver decisions and more know how allocated internally. This is often difficult to justify in front of the top management, the board or even the shareholders. But, interestingly, even government often hasn’t the guts to move ahead with Open Source and it’s mostly because of the unwillingness to adapt!

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This entry was posted by Bruno von Rotz on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 3:53 am and is filed under Enterprise open source, Open Source projects, SME adoption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.