- Open source CRM has been making the most active inroads into the enterprise
- 45% of people are using desktop applications such as OpenOffice.org.
- You’re probably using open source whether you know it or not
- CIOs still have concerns about open source, most notably in the area of security
Open source software is software for which the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software licence that meets the Open Source Definition or that is in the public domain. It has been making some inroads in the enterprise and open source CRM is one of the most active fronts in this campaign. That said, market share for open source CRM offerings remain - below 1% through 2008 - according to Gartner. Cost is the primary adoption driver but other factors include vendor independence, flexibility and innovation.
A study by CIO.com last year found that 45% of respondents said they are using desktop applications such as OpenOffice.org, while 29% use open-source enterprise applications. The most popular of those enterprise applications are collaboration tools, customer relationship management (CRM) tools and ERP applications. Some 58% strongly agreed or agreed with the idea that Linux is reliable enough to depend upon for mission-critical applications.