Jack Wallen at TechRepublic has written an interesting commentary on Gartner's recent prediction that by 2012 90% of all businesses will be using open source. THAT is one easy prediction to make. Check out the ZDNet Asia article. Here's why and here's how you can begin a drastic reduction in the money you currently invest in operating systems, software, implementation, support, and maintenance--today--while maintaining, and even improving, existing services--No need to wait until 2012.
Read on for more common sense solutions to software asset management and IT cost reduction problems.
Cost Savings One - Just because you are a small company doesn't mean you have to spend more for proprietary software. Use what works, NOT necessarily what's popular or what's on TV. Take a look at the OpenOffice desktop productivity package.
The vast majority of business
technology consumers are small- to medium-sized businesses. In
general, these folks (especially at the small end of the pool) have
very little tech sophistication. Essentially, they either buy what
their "hired" tech consultants (usually somebody's cousin
or brother-in-law) recommend or what the local tech store has on the
shelves. Neither is necessarily the best solution.
Cost Savings Two - Get yourself a technical person who has an open mind and is willing to test / evaluate new resources. Remember, as your tech environment becomes more complex, your process for changing the standards will also become more difficult. Businesses just starting out can save an enormous amount of money by selecting a quality open source product that does the job.
Proprietary operating system &
software sources spend the big bucks on PR carefully designed to
imply that they have the only credible products. “Captive”
technical people (for the most part) don't have the time, interest,
or patience to re-educate ownership or management about the “Dark
Side” of proprietary SW. However, and despite all the money being spent to
maintain the status quo, an enormous number of us are working quietly
behind the scenes to bring sanity back to IT software spending.
Cost Savings Three - Proprietary software means that some software development corporation, somewhere, owns and controls the product source code. That means you have to rely on that company, and that company alone, to develop patches and fixes for defects in the product. Open source is a community of mutual support that permits you to actually control the product--instead of the product controlling you.
The era of “I own it all” is nearly
over. Proprietary lock downs of our tech environments are slowly
losing their grip. The era of communities of interest, mutual support
and production of products that are open for everyone to use has
begun.
Cost Savings Four - There is no shortage of quality open source solutions to your problems or needs. Invest some time reviewing what is actually out there--now--before you invest a great deal of money on a product or supplier that is specifically designed to take, and hold, control of your systems. Cost-effective solutions abound. You just have to get through the vendor hype to reduce your costs.
No-Brainer prediction Gartner. NOT
worth the big bucks your members pay for advice. And, yes: I typed
this in OpenOffice.
Last Shot - Read your license agreements! READ THEM! Before you accept the product or pay a penny! Remember, software licenses are permissive documents. They tell you specifically how you are allowed to use the product--as well as who can use it. If you see anything in the license that limits your use or that is contrary to your requirements criteria--do not buy the product.
At the end of the day, it it's no longer about what products you have in place. Instead, today, it's about the value those products drive to the bottom line. That value MUST exceed the costs to acquire, implement, and support the product across its entire life cycle. I'm Alan Plastow and THESE are some of the multitudes of proven ways that you can modify existing processes to reduce IT costs and increase the benefits.
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