In Pakistan, there is a growing trend that major Organizations and Companies have shifted and are planning to shift towards Open Source ERP solutions for their Businesses. This is because of being a part of the International shift which erupted in the last decade as there has been a significant change in the preferences of the International Big Companies towards open-source ERP Solutions. Today nearly 78% of corporate businesses run some kind of open-source solution. According to the “2015 Future of Open Source Survey”, the use of open source solutions has doubled since 2010, and 67% of the organizations with more than 5000 employees participate in open source software projects. Open source has become a default approach for software. Today, nearly 66% of the companies consider open source solutions before any proprietary software alternative.

So now comes the big question: Why corporate companies prefer an Open Source ERP Solution?

Answer is:

1- Affordability and Savings

Open source is free solutions under a free license. Using an open-source ERP solution will save you a lot of money in the long run. Take into consideration no licensing fees or software maintenance costs and you should be able to visualize how much money you can save. You also get access to open source databases and operating systems which further indirectly reduces the cost of licensing. Again if you face the need to hire available consultants and programmers - not free but with a significantly lesser fee.

2- Innovations and Customizations

Open source makes it easier to innovate and customize software solutions to your business processes and needs, using global best practices. Business software technology is still a complex tool, and not every company has the time and internal IT resources, or the programming background, to tackle it. Well-heeled community-minded open-source vendors typically include internal custom development teams who are subject matter experts with the skills to analyze your needs and deliver a high-value solution, on time and on budget.

3- Adaptability

Open source is not tied to any one individual vendor. The open-source development model allows the software to adapt quickly to changing times, to evolve as the industry does.

4- Community

Open source has the power to build communities of passionate people who believe in the technologies. Encouraging the collective brainpower of the many — anyone can participate regardless of affiliation — to overcome an industry's toughest challenges together. Collaborative development not only makes individuals smarter; companies benefit from a much larger R&D effort, exposure to new tools and development practices, and a shorter product development cycle/faster time to market.

5-Technical Superiority

Open source ERP solutions are preferred by the big companies because they are easier to upgrade when customizations are properly implemented. Upgrades can be done more often without disruption of the production system. In this way companies using open source, ERP solutions are always one step ahead of their competitors and are harvesting the power of the latest technologies and innovations. Whereas closed source ERP solutions are slower to change and lack innovation.

6- Freedom

Unlike a proprietary solution, using an open-source ERP will give you complete access to its source content/code. You are the owner of the system and need not be dependent on your service provider. You can implement the software yourself in any way you want(and it is capable), or “opt” to hire a service provider(it is not compulsory).

7- Quality

The code quality of open source software is better. It is not about the money you pay to the developers but more about the passion of the developers building the software. Also, more developers work on the software over a long period of time, making the code quality higher than proprietary software. Furthermore, the competition between the developers of open-source software leads to the improvement of the overall quality. Just think about how Chrome and Firefox are ahead of Internet Explorer and Safari.

8- Frequent Updates

No software ever created was made perfectly. There are always improvements that can be made. Plus, as time flows, tastes, as well as requirements, change and to meet up with them everything must be up-to-date. Open source ERPs manage this wonderfully and you will be amazed how frequently updates are available, all fixing bugs and providing new enhancements and features. Odoo ERP and CRM solution is a notable example; it climbed from an ordinary piece of freeware to an incomparable all-in-one business solution.

9- Audit-ability

While using a closed source ERP solution or any closed source software in general, the vendor will force you to them when it comes to questions of quality, security, flexibility, etc. also most of the time you will be deprived of the source code. While using any open source ERP solutions, such problems are unheard of. You get complete access to the source code and understand how the software functions. Also, as mentioned above, many experienced developers also can take a look at the piece of software and provide fair criticism which will be helpful for you to choose the software.

10- Open Source ERP Solutions Migrates Risks

Another, reason why big companies use open source ERP Solutions, is because they reduce dependence on a single or multiple vendors, and in this way, they may reduce business risk. Open source ERP Solution providers like VIENNA Advantage, allow you to integrate apps and modules from different vendors in a way that will increase the overall productivity of your daily operations. The advantage of choosing open source ERP Solutions against the proprietary ERP Solutions is that you own the system and its full source content. There is no lock-in or dependency on the vendor, and you are freer on how you are going to implement and modify the software. You can do this all by yourself or hire an ERP provider.

11- Simple license management

When you use open source software, you would no longer need to worry about licenses. Open-source software enables you to install it several times and also use it from any location. You will be free from monitoring, tracking or counting license compliance.

12- No vendor lock-in

IT managers in organizations face constant frustration when dealing with vendor lock-ins'. Lack of portability, expensive license fees, and inability to customize software are some of the other disadvantages. Using open-source software gives you more freedom and you can effectively address all these disadvantages.

CONCLUSIONS

In a nutshell, companies in Pakistan are shifting toward Open Source ERP Solution because if your primary requirements involve customizability, cost reduction, and freedom then there can't be a better answer to go for an open-source ERP for your organization.