Biggest Drivers for Commercial OSS Adoption

OSS (Open Source Software) is the force behind some of the trendiest technologies in the enterprise segment today, among them SMAC (Social, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Based on the findings of Black Duck Software and North Bridge Partner’s survey of 1240 participants from 453 companies worldwide comprising CIOs, software engineers, analysts, marketing executives. CEOs, sales and business execs, educators, it has been seen that among enterprises, lower costs are not the only reason for increasing Open Source adoption. IT professionals and software engineers.

The top 4 reasons include quality, freedom from vendor lock-in, ease in deployment and access to code and they together represent the Open Source value proposition. The survey results below also measures the progressive rank movement for each reason compared to a similar survey that was taken in 2009.

1. Quality – Moved to # 1 in 2014 from #4 in 2009– Moved to # 1 in 2014 from #4 in 2009

It has been seen in the survey that 8 out of 10 Open Source decisions can now be attributed to quality along with technical capabilities which ranked consistently as one of the top considerations. Open Source advocates have long advocated that having an unbiased, spirited and innovation-driven Open Source community at the helm of R&D is a superior way to write better code. Flaws can be detected early and reliability tests yield fewer defects.

2. Freedom from vendor lock-in – Moved to # 2 in 2014 from #3 in 2009

The “F” in FOSS stands for Freedom aiming to offer enterprises greater control and mobility.

3. Ease in deployment – Moved to # 3 from 2014 from #6 in 2009

Open Source is fast and easy to deploy, delivering superior business agility enabling enterprises to react quickly to changing business demands.

4. Access to code – Moved to # 4 in 2014 from #8 in 2009

Since enterprises have access to code, they can easily integrate Open Source components into custom-developed applications using the “Build once, Deploy many” principle.

The other important reasons to adopt OSS in enterprises include:

Predicted Trends

According to Gartner, Open Source will be part of mission-critical software portfolios across 99% of Global 2000 enterprises by 2016. This would in turn fulfill long-term enterprise objectives such as addressing their Systems of Engagement which aim to inform and engage employees, customers, partners etc. and Systems of Insight which enable more accurate understanding of customer’s wants & needs expressed across channels.

Referring to findings of Black Duck Software and North Bridge Partner’s survey, key OSS trends that will shape the future of enterprise IT are