The growing popularity of ERP systems doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone due to its core functionality. Furthermore, the ERP market is expected to reach $78.40 billion by 2026. So the most obvious question is why the sudden admiration for this ERP system you ask? Well, there are many grave reasons why it is picking up this pace in every industry and not just some supply chain management industries like manufacturing.
ERP is used widely and unbiased by every industry like manufacturing, education, healthcare, agriculture, non-profit, hospitality and many more. ERP are systems used by organizations looking to manage their complete business functions within one single integrated system.
At a very high level, IT leaders have 2 main choices concerning ERP: commercial or open source. In the last 15 years, open source has gone from being side projects for programmers to being one of the best Go to Market (GTM) strategies for software and hardware companies. Companies like RedHat, Alfresco and SugarCRM have formalized open source business models using commercial support options.
WHY OPEN SOURCE ERP?
Here are the top 10 reasons why it’s time to seriously consider Open Source ERP as one of the options for your organization.
- MATURITY OF OPEN SOURCE ERP
Some of the open source ERP solutions have been around for 7+ years and has the necessary breadth and depth to run entire Medium and Large enterprises or departments within enterprises. Many of the CIO and CTO are not aware that there are quality and affordable open source ERP solutions in the market which many companies have already been using for some time. Some of the Open source ERPs in the market have the necessary stability, maturity and support system to be able to support many of the organizations.
- YOU ARE UNIQUE
Every business nature is different and likewise, every function within the business too is different. If that’s the level of variation we see in every business how can a standard ERP work best with any organization? In Fact many organizations have to change or tweak their process based on the ERP system they get on-board. Open source ERP, on the other hand, can be changed to the T as per any requirement based on the organization’s requirement.
- COST
How can we neglect the most important factor? Typically the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Open Source solution will be around 50% that of a commercial solution if you include implementation, licensing, support and customization cost over 3 years. As a scaling company cost is one thing that can be a make or break deal so if you can get the same capabilities at par with commercial ERP at a lower cost, open source ERP will emerge as a clear winner.
- FULL ACCESS TO CODE
Undoubtedly this is one prime reason why anybody would even remotely think of open source. As soon as we hear of open source you know you’ll have access to the entire code with no restriction.
- CUSTOMIZATION
Now that you have access to complete code, you can customize it inhouse which again curbs down the pricing by nothing less than 20-30%.
- NO VENDOR LOCK-IN
This is another important thing that needs to be noted. If you own a commercial ERP and later decide to switch vendors, you will not be able to do that on your own and will have to involve them at every stage. Whereas its just the opposite when it comes to open source ERP. Here you can move your data at your convenience.
- INNOVATION
When you are dealing with open source, you can change, modify and innovate at ease. It is really important for every organization that every system they use tailor fits and that’s something which can happen easily with open source systems alone.
- SCALE
A real open source ERP not only makes your company grow but grows with it! Another important feature noteworthy. As your requirements and your company grow, ERP software can increase its capacity in all areas. This way you can start integrating it with other platforms, give it more space, include more complex features, run advanced reports and much more.
- COMMUNITY
Get real support from real users within the community. Discussions, feedback, industry news on ERP technologies get all updates in ERP community forums. There are many free or paid add-ons available in the market to extend the functionality. Many companies are open enough to share their innovations on GitHub for everyone to use for free of cost.
- ON-PREMISE OR CLOUD
Many of the proprietaries, closed source ERPs are forcing customers to go on the cloud. Open Source ERPs keep normally offer both options. Even though the cloud has its benefits, it is not the best solution for all the companies.
Overall right now is a great time to seriously consider Open Source ERPs as one of the top options for your ERP initiatives. Some companies use commercial ERP like SAP or Oracle in their code business and start off with open source for one of the areas such as accounting or HR or one of the new divisions and then gradually move over to open source completely in phases.
Paradiso has been implementing commercial and open source ERPs for many years. Please email us at sales@paradisosoftware.com or call us +1 800 513 5902 to get a free consultation for your ERP needs.
