An Accenture survey found that two-thirds of all participating organizations planned to ramp-up their open-source investments. These findings compared with a Zenoss survey, which noted that 98 percent of all enterprise companies use open-source software in some capacity.
The writing is on the wall
According to PC Magazine, a survey of 300 large private and public sector organizations found that half of the respondents (50 percent) are fully committed to open-source in their business while almost a third (28 percent) say they are experimenting with open-source and keeping an open mind to using it. Furthermore, two-thirds of all respondents (65 percent) noted that they have a fully documented strategic approach for using open-source in their business, while another third (32 percent) are developing a strategic plan. Of the organizations using open-source, almost nine out of ten (88 percent) will increase their investment in open-source software.
What experts say about savings, speed, reliability and quality
“What we are seeing is the coming of age of open-source,” said Paul Daugherty, chief technology architect, Accenture. “Through both our research and our work with clients, we are seeing an increase in demand for open-source based on quality, reliability and speed, not just cost savings. This is a significant change from just two years ago when uptake was driven mainly by cost savings. We can expect to see this trend develop as open source continues to evolve and address even more business critical functions.”
Quality and improved reliability cited as key benefits
When it comes to the benefits of open-source, the cost was no longer viewed as the key benefit, with respondents focusing instead on other aspects:
(1) 76 percent of respondents in the UK and US cited quality as a key benefit of open-source
(2) Two-thirds overall (71 percent) cited improved reliability
(3) Better security/bug fixing was cited by nearly as many (70 percent) across both countries.
Cost control with open source
Although cost savings are not the primary driver for open-source adoption, half of the respondents (50 percent) do cite open-source as contributing to an overall lower total cost of ownership. When asked about the greatest cost savings in open source, the vast majority of organizations surveyed believe they can be made on software maintenance costs (71 percent), initial software development time (33 percent) and initial development costs (33 percent).
