Every business needs to manage its finances effectively. With rising costs and a weak economy in almost every country, entrepreneurs and CEOs just cannot take the risk of over spending. With that in mind, it is becoming increasingly clear that companies must focus on cost reduction and when possible, consider improvisation.
Improvisation has always had a negative connotation but when it comes to cost cutting, it can work like a charm. One of the more effective ways of improvising technologies is to customize existing open source technologies and applications. Most companies can make use of the plethora of open source technologies that are available for free, and get a professional to customize it for them for a relatively lower cost. Custom open source technologies are cheap, unique and cost effective. They are also effective from a technological standpoint because even after customization, one can always fall back upon the robust help communities online. Using custom open source applications and technologies is a great way to start and sustain a business which otherwise maybe unsustainable.
• No licensing fees
When we look at proprietary software programs, we realize that we have to shell out a lot of money just to be able to use it. Customization of licensed software may attract copyright infringement laws and is not advisable unless otherwise specified. If a company specifically allows you to customize their licensed software for an additional cost, it is a different story altogether. However, what we must bear in mind is that it is nearly impossible to use proprietary software programs without paying hefty licensing fees. When we use open source software programs, applications and technologies, we do not have to pay any licensing fees. All that we pay is the professional fees that a developer or web professional charges for customizing the software for you.
• Easy to copy and modify
Open source technologies can be copied, modified and even used as inspiration for your own proprietary software program. You can run any number of programs on different devices and not be forced to up hefty licensing fees, You could redistribute the source code to your employees and use it as learning and educational material. All this leads us to believe that open source technologies pose less of a headache when it comes to redistributing, copying and modifying.
• Enhanced portability
When you use an open source application, you will be granted enhanced portability. You can use and install the technologies wherever you want, even if that means, using the software on devices used by your outsourcing partners. The bottom-line is, you will have more freedom over open source software programs than licensed ones.
• Easy integration
If you already have your own software programs or if you wish to combine two different open source applications, you are very well allowed to do that. In fact, if you end up creating something awesome, you can file for a patent application and charge licensing fees for something that you created from open source technologies. Easy integration and enhanced freedom are some of the most attractive features of open source software programs.
• Popular tools
Most popular tools and applications are already open source. Joomla, Drupal, WordPress and other content management systems are all open source. You can modify these tools and applications to suit your needs. Likewise, Ruby, PHP, Python and other software programs are open source too and can be altered, modified and customized to suit your needs.
Why you must outsource customization of open source technologies
With these 5 reasons in mind, you can reduce your costs further if you choose to outsource your customization needs. You will not need to go through lengthy recruitment and hiring processes and you will not need to oversee progress of projects that you may not even understand. When you outsource tasks related to customizing open source software programs, you will end up saving money, time and costs. At the end of the day, you will have more money and time to invest in your core business activities. And that is the focus and goal of every outsourcing venture anyway. Thus, if you are planning to purchase a licensed software, give a second thought. An offshore IT agency may be able to customize an existing open source software for a fraction of the cost.
