Open Source: An Introduction

If you are new to the term "open-source," the following definition can be found on Wikipedia:

"Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a licence in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose."

When it comes to implementing a core set of marketing technology tools for your business, there are thousands of software offers in the marketplace to choose from. Whether it is a CRM (customer relationship management), a CMS (content management system), or a MAS (marketing automation system), most offers are proprietary, closed systems, which may require monthly or annual subscriptions fees to use.

On the other hand, there are open-source software solutions available in the market. With open-source, you can download the code, own the code, and host the solution on your own servers with no strings attached, (just be sure to read through the license agreements). There are no monthly or yearly contracts to sign, no limits on the features, no surprise price increases, no pushy sales teams, and no limits on the amount of data that can be entered into the system.

With open-source, you simply have more control, ownership, and independence over the entire system. In the case of Mautic, a fundamental piece of the puzzle, marketing automation, is readily available for you to start using in your technology stack today!

The Cost

What about the cost? There has to be a cost associated with open-source technologies, right?

The answer is yes, of course there is a cost.

Software is expensive, whether you build it yourself, lease it, buy, or manage it yourself. There are costs involved. With open-source, there is an opportunity to reduce the cost and to leverage the cost to help improve the knowledge of the internal team.

If we look at cost as a variable that affects the long-term profitability of a company, we can look for ways to leverage the ROI for a business. We can ask the following questions:

What are we getting for our money?

Is there an opportunity to get more value from your spend?

Is there an opportunity we may be missing?

Areas of Opportunity

When it comes to building and growing a company, marketing can be an exciting area for your company to build brand awareness and to showcase the products and services you are offering. Attracting the right prospects through online engagement channels can be exciting when starting new conversations and building new relationships with your target market.

The challenge may also be hidden in the details of growth. As the numbers of contacts grow in your various systems, there may be a need to store more contacts, store digital assets, and to increase the functionality of the system. With open-source systems, there are no limits on the functions, features, and size of the database.

The open-source solution has the ability to grow along with the changing requirements your business has in the moment. As growth occurs, so does the need for increased documentation, team alignment, knowledge transfer, and spend management. Open-source solutions can have a positive impact on the profitability of your company by fostering a sense of independence, and self-reliance.

The Potential

By investing open-source solutions, there is an opportunity to increase efficiency by not having to pay hefty annual fees to third party software vendors. You are not beholden to pricing fluctuations on a user basis, by the functions being used, or by the size of the database. You gain a new tool to plan for the future by building a marketing team that values autonomy and efficiency when it comes to managing marketing activities.

In Conclusion

By investing in open-source solutions, you are gaining more control of how your company scales in the future. By reducing annual subscription fees and by increasing the effectiveness of your team, you may have the ability to improve the relationship between the lifetime value of a customer and customer acquisition cost, unlike competitors in the market.

In short, open-source solutions can be a differentiator on the overall profitability of your company.