FEATURE: OPEN SOURCE
thorough understanding of the market
and business challenges facing most
enterprises.
Dispel myths and
communicate value
For most enterprises, the biggest
roadblock to adoption of open source
solutions is skepticism around security.
One frequently cited misconception is
that open source solutions are more
vulnerable to security threats than
their proprietary counterparts, in large
part because the source code is openly
available.
However, the opposite is in fact
true – open technology allows entire
industries to agree on standards,
encourages their brightest developers
to continually test and improve
the code, and ensures that the
best patches are released quickly
and proactively in the event of any
vulnerabilities.
For other enterprises, the roadblock is
inertia. Enterprises are often reluctant
to switch to a new technology for
technology’s sake. Partners need to
be able to articulate both the business
and the economic benefits. One of
the biggest business benefits is that
open source solutions are ‘vendor
agnostic,’ increasing flexibility and
interoperability as enterprises are no
longer ‘locked-in’ with a vendor. From
an economic standpoint, open source
solutions have a much lower Total
Cost of Ownership (TCO) than their
proprietary counterparts.
All vendors are NOT created
equal
Partnering with the right vendor is
critical to building a robust open
source practice. From a product
standpoint, partners need to pick
vendors that offer the solution
sets that align with their choice of
specialisation. For example, if you
choose to specialise in cloud solutions,
then pick the leading OpenStack
vendor – this will ensure that you
will always have access to the latest
solutions and technologies.
From a capability standpoint, the
vendor needs to have an effective
www.intelligentcio.com
ASHLEY WOODBRIDGE
Customer Solutions Architect,
Cisco UAE
FROM A CAPABILITY
STANDPOINT, THE
VENDOR NEEDS TO
HAVE AN EFFECTIVE
AND EFFICIENT
CRITICAL RESPONSE
SYSTEM AND HAVE THE
ABILITY TO PROVIDE
TROUBLESHOOTING
SUPPORT AND PATCHES
ON EXTREMELY SHORT
NOTICE TO HANDLE
VULNERABILITIES
and efficient critical response system
and have the ability to provide
troubleshooting support and patches
on extremely short notice to handle
vulnerabilities.
Secondly, the vendor needs to have
a robust partner program, as well as
a comprehensive training program to
support the partner ecosystem. Finally,
the vendor should provide sufficient
sales and marketing support, be it joint
customer visits or joint participation in
trade shows and other industry events.
In today’s hyper competitive world,
enterprises are turning to IT solutions
to gain the smallest (and in many cases
fleeting) edge over the competition.
The answer lies in cloud computing,
big data, IoT, social and mobility
technologies, and the way to effectively
leverage these emerging solutions is
through open source. Building an open
source practice today will ensure you
are relevant tomorrow.
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