In my career I was fortunate to learn about open source, the importance of community, the relevance of the open web and of course about Drupal.
From my point of view all relevant and great topics to spend time thinking about. In this post I will focus on open versus closed.
Open Source versus Closed Systems - no simple answer
An interesting - for some a philosophical (oh yes) - topic I spent lots of time and had interesting discussions with my partners, colleagues and customers. I am not the one to tell you that there is only one right solution or answers. Cause there is not. There are solutions that better fit your (company) purpose, size and are a better match to how you think, run and manage your organization. Offers that reflect your attitude towards community and open source . It's also important to understand in which cycle (need to change quickly for example) you are currently in, what your requirements are and what governance needs to be followed, just to name a few. There are a number of factors that influence the decision, money being just one.
Key points that are always used are: time to market, speed to iterate and open APIs. Also not to underestimate is available budget (set up costs / running costs), your attitude and understanding towards open source versus established closed systems (if company XZY uses them, we should do the same), the way you operate, the preference of the person in charge to implement new systems, the knowledge and preference of the tech team, the question of buy versus build, your ability to explore or simply the pain level you experienced with either solution or one in particular ... you know what I mean ...
A good way to start is to do an audit and clarify a few points:
- check your current infrastructure and compare what the alternatives are build on.
- create a need list on: what worked well in the past, what isn't and what will you need going forward (best if other departments are included in the need definition, still way to many silos out there)
- how fast can the new solution be in place without harming my existing business?
- how easy can new experiences be assembled? - it's all about the experience as we know.
- how important is innovation for you? how are these needs met in the new solution?
- do you need to think about scalability?
- do you need support to get the internal buy-in? especially important if you want to introduce something new.
- how important is customer support for you? language, location, 24/7?
- do you have access to programmers and partners who can implement or do you rely on a strong partner with qualified teams? - we all know qualified resources is a huge topic.
There are, of course, many more questions and considerations. Best is to design a checklist. The answers will provide you with a solid overview so that you can make a sound decision, or at least you will narrow down the questions that come up which will be the basis for next steps.
Contact me if you need support!
As for me: I am excited to join Drupal Europe ( https://www.drupaleurope.org/). Europe's largest Drupal event to get inspired and see what is state of the art. Looking forward to meeting old colleagues, partners, friends and listening to great content.
About the author:
Birgit Baier is a Female Entrepreneur international and digital at heart. She is a passionate Business Transformer with over twenty five years experience in leading digital and integrated marketing, innovation, brand development companies and managed strategic technology alliances/partnerships. Creating meaningful solutions, products, services and brand experiences and delivering strategic innovation is what drives her. www.bempowered.de