How Embracing Open-Source Software Can Be A Competitive Advantage

If you write software, chances are I don't need to sell you on the benefits of open source. As a business leader, you might not be so attracted to using code that's open to the public.

Even if you are not directly using open-source products, as the Linux Foundation reports, "It has been estimated that free and open-source software (FOSS) constitutes 70% to 90% of any given piece of modern software solutions." You may also be surprised to know that 50% of Fortune 500 companies use open-source software (registration required) for mission-critical work.

Properly adopting open-source software can arm your IT department with the tools to create low-cost software that's customized for your business. As software becomes a larger part of your company's competitive advantage in the market, it's valuable to understand the benefits and be knowledgeable about what to look out for when using open-source software.

Five Benefits Of Open Source

1. Flexibility: Your company's needs are unique, and the ability to adapt the software you're using can significantly improve its value. Open-source software is highly customizable and allows you to build and alter the product to your requirements. Customization is impossible for most SaaS products (unless you're a top customer).

2. Lower Cost: The cost profile of open source differs from traditional SaaS products and software developed in-house. Compared to a cloud-hosted SaaS product, an open-source solution can offer cost savings over the long term, especially when self-hosted on your infrastructure. Software developed in-house will require a significant upfront investment, so selecting an open-source alternative will leverage existing work from the community that your developers can build on.

3. Security: Today, major cloud-hosted products are targets for hackers. When Okta or Github goes down, you and all the other users cannot use the service. Not all open-source software is secure, but larger projects have been battle-tested over time. Look for a history of properly handling security vulnerabilities and a community actively engaged in reviewing the code. One strong signal for quality is that notable companies actively contribute to the code and use the project in production.

4. Data Portability: Have you ever tried to take your data off a SaaS product? It's usually a horrible experience—email someone, wait a few days, then get a zip file with no explanation of what's inside. The experience is different for open-source projects. The community will almost always push for data to be stored in an accessible and open format. And when self-hosting, the data will be stored on your infrastructure, making it even easier to query and export.

5. Continuity: Proprietary software can reach end-of-life. Whether due to a bankrupt company or the launch of a new product, the software will stop receiving updates and be more susceptible to security vulnerabilities. In contrast, open-source projects are supported by a community of many individuals and groups who are unlikely to all stop contributing to the project. Even if they do, you will have the freedom to access and alter the source code.

Three Things To Look Out For

1. Frequency Of Updates: Infrequent updates by a few individuals can indicate a project that's at risk of being unsupported. If updates are too frequent, the community may not have enough time to check and maintain the product's security and reliability properly. One way to mitigate this is by only staying on stable releases of the product and upgrading when newer versions have been audited by experts.

2. Team Expertise: The freedom to modify the software is moot if no one on your team has the expertise to do it. When deciding on what software to use, ensure your technical team is involved in making the decision. It's ideal when an open-source project has a company actively supporting and offering value-added services. You'll get the full support of proprietary software with the benefits of an open-source code base.

3. Quality Of The Community: Two things matter here: Who is building the software and who is using it? Contributors develop the project. Look for people who have deep expertise and a long history of being with the project. Notable company adoption is another indicator of a great project. These companies don't make investments in new software lightly and will often put their resources into contributing to the project as well.

Open Source: The Future Of Software

For your future technology decisions, consider the open-source options. The open-source market was $21.7 billion in 2021 and is expected to double within five years. With the ease of collaboration among developers worldwide, more amazing projects will emerge as alternatives to existing proprietary software. They could prove to be a lower-cost alternative that can adapt to the changing landscape of your industry and the growth of your business.

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