ERP Open Source

Open Source Software Versus SaaS

or those of you techies out there, who know everything there is to know about SaaS, skip this paragraph and proceed to the next.  For the rest of us regular folks, SaaS stands for Software as a Service.  Software as a Service has become quite popular lately.  A SaaS vendor builds the software and you pay a service fee to use the software.  You don’t have to purchase a license for the software, as it doesn’t reside on your servers.  The software is truly used like a service is used.  For example, if I take my dog to Petco and use their bathing facility, they will require that I pay them two dollars.  The two dollars is my use fee.  I pay, I wash my dog and then I leave with my clean dog.  I didn’t have to purchase the dog bath, as I only had to pay to use the bath.  There are many benefits to having SaaS but do they outweigh the benefits of open source?

Open source has improved greatly in the past few years.  If you want an open source ERP system, all you have to pay for is support.  Of course, you don't even have to pay for support should you choose to take this task on yourself.  Open source security was a bit of a problems years ago.  But, in the past few years, open security has improved greatly.  So, how does open source compare to SaaS? With SaaS, you pay the vendor to customize, upgrade, support and essentially manage all components of the software that is housed on their servers.  With open source, you manage the software.  SaaS is more expensive then open source because you pay to use it.  You also have to pay the ERP SaaS provider to manage your use. 

Determining whether SaaS or open source is best for your business isn’t easy.  There are benefits to both.  Each individual business has different needs, which means that open source isn’t necessarily better than SaaS or vice versa. When making a decision between SaaS and open source consider your company’s structure.  Thank about what you afford.  In what ways do you like the open source software you’re interested in?  Is it easy to use and will it be easy for your users to learn?  If you don’t want to support open source, who will support it for you and how much will they charge?  There are plenty of support vendors to choose from.  If you choose to support open source, how will your company handle bugs, security, and other technical needs and responsibilities.  Perhaps having the comfort of knowing your company will perform “business as usual” with a SaaS system suits your needs better?  Whatever the case, choose the software that works best for your company.

Written by :

kristine H