Arindam Baruah, Consultant – Business Solutions, NGIT
Open Source: What is it ?
This is with the continuation of my previous article :” CRM – An Asset or Liability”. In the previous article I tried to address the need of a CRM system in any organization and also why it is an asset and not a liability for any organization.
This article would focus more on the philosophy of Open Source and why using an Open Source CRM is advantageous over using any proprietary CRM. Open Source as we know is nothing but a philosophy, a concept and an idea of doing various things. To start talking about open source we can start with a very common saying :sharing of knowledge, increases knowledge!!! Thats Open Source for you. For past few years there has been a buzz in the information technology world and beyond that – Open Source. People use this word for defining free software, free source code, community work and so on and so on...but what is actually open source where did it started, where is it heading and what is its future.
The concept of Open Source started way back in 1911 when a group of capital monopolists owned the rights to a2 cycle gasoline engine patent originally filed by Geaorge B Seldan( A Patent Lawyer and inventor who was granted a U.S. Patent for automobile in 1895). By controlling this patent, they were able to monopolize the industry and force car manufacturers to adhere to their demands, or risk a lawsuit. In 1911, independent automaker Henry Ford won a challenge to the Selden patent. The result was that the Selden patent became virtually worthless and a new association (which would eventually become the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association) was formed. The new association instituted a cross-licensing agreement among all US auto manufacturers: although each company would develop technology and file patents, these patents were shared openly and without the exchange of money between all the manufacturers. This helped the automobile industry to share each others knowledge and develop more and more( as I said - sharing of knowledge, increases knowledge) . This was one of the incidents which proves that Openness always leads to growth and more development.
In the world of Information Technology, Netscape released the code for Navigator in January 1998 under Netscape Public License and subsequently under Mozilla Public License. The term Open Source was given a big boost in the year 1998 in an event where all major preachers of Open Source participated and formalized the word – Open Source. Okay enough of history, by this time you must have got a little bit of idea what is Open Source – you create something and share with the community for more improvement and distribute it free for use.
In a typical IT language it means sharing your software code( source code) with a community for faster growth and development and also making it available for free. You use a open source software, you get the source code along with the software. Because of this approach, today as a user or as a developer you can actually own a software, be it an operating system or be it an ERP/CRM.
Today IT world is no more a closed environment, it actually has opened up to so many new options that as a customer or as a developer your are not restricted to any technology or any company for using or developing a software. It is also true for a CRM solution built around open source technologies.
Why should anybody use his desktop or server according to the company who made it. Rather they will use it the way they like it (its possible with the source code available). For any proprietary software a user is given an end user interface to use and administer it but if someone wants to know how exactly is the software working and do any sort of enhancement, it is not possible because you are not provided with the source code. Buying a proprietary software will always lead to vendor lock in which means till the time you are using that software you are a bound to pay that company for support and updates which is not the case for any open source software. Since you get the source code for the software you can maintain the software by your own or let any open source company maintain it. If you have expertise you can optimize the software the way you want it without being dependent on the company who made it. Open Source gives you options and choices.
But the big question - are these softwares stable enough and are they enterprise level, who will give us support ? Very valid questions !!!! who will support a free software? Are there any supported hardware?A software bought from a non open source company( a proprietary software company) comes with a support component, updates and patches for which you have to give a huge per user licensing fee, more huge support cost and vendor locking( till the time you use that software you have to stick to that vendor for support even he gives it at a very very very high cost). There's again a saying : No lunch is for free, so to get support on a Open Source Software you have to pay( Not as high as any proprietary software).
Over a period of time companies have come up with innovative business models to support Open Source Software. For example, Linux( most popular Open Source Operating System) was build by Linus Torvalds as an answer to the very costly but stable - Unix Operating system. The kernel (the heart or the base of an operating system) was freely distributed over Internet for further development. Companies like Redhat and Suse (you can also own your own Linux OS) used that Kernel to develop their own flavors of linux and sell it with a support component bundled with it. But they sell it under GPL ( GNU Public License) which means source code is given along with the software and there is no per user licensing cost. This was one example. For any other open source software it works in almost the similar way. This cleared one question – “What about support?”
Now lets address the second question- Stability of Open Source Software. What if a bug comes in a proprietary software? You have to wait for the next release or next update from the company you bought from (till that time live with it). But if you talk about an Open Source Software a community works for that software not single company and the software is continuously be tested and updated which means two things ,one - you don't have to wait for the next release or update and two – the software becomes more stable and robust. Lets take the previous example of Redhat. Redhat also has a community Operating system which is free and is without support called Fedora. Its free and everybody can contribute to its development. Redhat also has its Enterprise Level Operating system call RHEL ( Redhat Enterprise Linux) which comes with support( and you have to pay obviously). So how does it work? A Community gives all its input for Fedora then Redhat puts its own engineering and makes it Enterprise Level and releases it as RHEL with the support component. So it means that its not only the company who is working to make the software stable but a big community of developers are also contributing to it. Actually this answers two questions – “Are they Enterprise Level and Stable?” They are much more stable than any proprietary software.
Now lets talk about hardware support. Today all major companies like IBM, SUN etc. support open source softwares on their hardware. IBM is a big time promoter of Open Source. It has taken many initiatives around the world to help organization adopt Open Source.
Now there are various small and mid level companies who provide solutions on Open Source Technology. In UAE Network Gulf Information Technology is one the premier Open Source Solution provider. Its wide range of enterprise level solutions has helped its customers to reduce TCO and increase ROI.
Who all adopted Open Source? The list is too long because almost all major companies organizations are using some or the other Open Source Software. Lets start with the some big names : Yahoo.com, Google.com, Rediff.com, gmail.com, Pentagon( US Government), Government of India. Other than these big names there are numerous corporates who has already adopted Open Source or are in process of adopting Open Source.
Open Source CRM : SUGAR CRM
Today for every proprietary software there is an answer with Open Source Software. For Windows Server there is Linux, for MS Office there is Open Office, for Exchange Mail there is qmail, sendmail, postfix and so on and so on. As a developer you have an option of getting the code for an enterprise level Operating System and for a user you are freed from vendor lock in.
Sugar CRM is built around an open source model so it inevitably inherits all the characteristics of an open source software. Today markets are flooded with numerous CRM solutions but choosing the right CRM solution is very important. If you choose to go for an open source CRM, Sugar CRM is the best option available. Its not only because it is a open source CRM but also in terms of support, flexibility, scalability and stability it is one of the best CRM solution available today.
Another beauty of this crm is that its fits into any kind of organization whether its a big Enterprise or a SME. CRM is no longer a software which can be afforded only by bigger corporates. With CRM's developed in Open Source Platform it has become quite cost effective and can afforded by small and medium level companies also.
Today even smallest of the companies doesn't have to depend on spread sheets for their sales and marketing activities but instead can afford a CRM to manage all the sales activities.
Network Gulf has done an excellent job by recommending and implementing the CRM system for our office. It has greatly improved our co-ordination and enables us to better manage our customer facing activities.![[FSF Associate Member]](/newngit/images/stories/getButton){kind=small}
