The concept of open source solutions continues to grow in popularity, but what are some practical uses of open source solutions? How are companies using open source today?
You may be surprised to know some of the most common languages are also the most popular open source languages today. Your organization may already be using open source languages because most of these languages are used for web and mobile development. PHP is the most common language my team has used with clients. Other popular open source languages include C, C#, C++, and Java.
IBM has published a number of case studies which highlight how open source is being used on IBM i. Jori is a luxury furniture manufacturer based in Belgium. Using open source technology, they created a web-based 3D configurator for customers to customize furniture. But, they took it a step further into real life. Once the furniture is created in their program, you can upload images of your house to see what that piece could look like in the space. This added feature not only impacts the customer experience, it also has had large impact on Jori’s business. Before this technology was in place, it would take 8 weeks from the time an order was placed to the product being finished. The configurator was based on a simpler version of the 3D models’ Jori’s designers would use and is fully integrated within their manufacturing. This resulted in much quicker production, cutting the wait time to just 5 days. Open source had a huge impact on Jori and will continue to in the future.
Although open source is a fairly new concept, it does not have to replace or rewrite business logic. Actually, it can work with business logic that written long ago, be easily maintained, and stay up to date. Dekndudt Frames, worked with their IBM business partner to create a new e-commerce platform using open source. They were able to integrate their Db2 database with their operating system to maintain their core business logic and rules, while offering over 8,000 different products. This enabled them to eliminate human intervention and automate order confirmations, invoicing, and pass order information to their logistics partner. For Dekndudt, open source on IBM i was the picture-perfect solution.
The majority of use cases I have seen for open source are based around web development. But that is not everything open source can be. Odoo is an open source ERP package. Compared to other ERP’s, it is extremely affordable, based on user pricing, and has applications you add on. You can try Odoo and 1 application for free. Unlike other ERP packages, Odoo is actively maintained thanks to the open source community and is constantly updated. Odoo is flexible and allows an organization to scale ERP as the company grows. They currently have nearly 1000 partners and over 3.7 million users.
Open source solutions are an interesting concept. It continues to grow in popularity and acceptance. It will be interesting to see how organizations adopt this concept and put it to use. If your organization is interested in pursuing open source solutions, please consider my team at Arbor Solutions to help. Email or call me anytime to set up a time to discuss your project goals and how we could be a fit.
Want to look at these case studies for yourself? Click the links below:
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