You know the biggest problem of working in Open Source… people think it is “Free” and in most of the cases, it is Free software as well but hold on is there such a thing called Free Software?
Let us pickup a software (any software and not particularly CRM and ERP systems), Every software has costs associated with it including
- Licensing Costs
- Cost of Installation on a cloud server or your on premise server
- Cost of Customisation to suit your needs
- Cost of Information Migration from the old system
- Training Cost
- Support Cost
So when people say Open Source is Free software generally they are referring to only Licensing Cost but I wish if that was the case with every free software.
When we at Target Integration refer to software cost, we refer to Open Source being “Free Software”, we are referring to the freedom of customisation. We refer to the freedom of providing every client of ours a software which is made ONLY for them and suits their particular requirements rather than closed source products from software vendors which make you fit your processes according to the software.
Imagine this as buying a suit and then trying to fit yourself in the suit, would you not make a fool of yourself? And it is the same case when you ask your employees and your business to fit themselves according to the new software that you are buying off the shelf or software as a service. Open source gives you the freedom to get a software which can be customised to your requirements but the rest of the cost is there.
There are so many occasions when I meet people who would like to get an Open Source CRM or an ERP application and discuss a variety of new features and enhancements but they forget that there is a process and a price to implement a proper enterprise level system. Without that process the implementation of your dream CRM system which can accommodate your growing business will not be successful. And every process requires time, the time of a consultant who can help and your own time to make that implementation a success. And the time of the consultant and yourself is a cost.
So spend that time and make your CRM/ERP implementation a success and don’t forget.. No Open Source Software is Free of Cost.
