Recently I have been working with an Irish micro enterprise who is looking to update their web site. The web site is relatively straight forward and the functionality required is “de-facto” standard for most online trading web sites. So I thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to encourage the use of an Open Source Content Management System (CMS).
The theory is simple. Having listened to a few web designers pitch their services for the development of the site it became obvious that all were suggesting the use of proprietary solutions to handle updating the site content. [Explanation: The site, at its simplest, is a set of web pages that need to be updated frequently with new content. All the designers were offering this functionality as part of their service. The designers had developed software of their own over the years that allow this functionality to be provided. The end result is that the site owner can edit the pages online.]
The issues with such a solution are:
- Who owns the software? What are the Intellectual Property issues? For example, can I modify the software, if I sell the business (and the site) can the buyer modify the software?
- The site owner is potentially “locked in” to using the designer for future updates.
- The site owner may be overly restricted in where they can host the site as the proprietary software that allows for online editing may require “uncommon” technologies.
- What happens if the designer goes out of business?
Open Source holds the promise of addressing most, if not all, of these issues, as:
- The software license for many Open Source products allow for the software to be modified and resold.
- Popular Open Source products have a large community of developers that support the product and thus provide a healthy market for product support.
- Many Open Source products use “ISP friendly” technologies.
The theory started to fall apart a bit when applied in the context of an Irish micro enterprise seeking to use an Open Source CMS. So where does it fall apart? Essentially the lack of an Irish based Open Source CMS industry. I found it very difficult to find Irish based developers who specialise in any of the popular Open Source CMSs. There are some out there but the list is short. Why do they need to be Irish based I hear you ask, because the enterprise developing the site would like to meet face-to-face with the developer, get a feeling for what they are like. The enterprise, and this is true for many enterprises, feel the need to tread carefully when investing in technology, not that they don’t appreciate its value but because it is something they don’t fully understand.
So what can be done to overcome this barrier to adoption?
- If the enterprise was willing to learn the skillset required to use (in the broadest possible sense) an Open Source CMS then there would be no need for the “middle man”. True, but most micro enterprises neither have the time, resources or inclination. It’s not part of their core business. Which leaves me wondering whether those enterprises who can take the Open Source product in-house and upskill are the ones who will benefit the most from Open Source.
- Train micro enterprises in the use of online communication and collaboration technologies so that they don’t feel a need to meet face-to-face with the developer. This would certainly open up a huge market for Irish micro enterprises.
- Encourage and assist Irish web designers to adopt Open Source products as part of their offerings. For example, here at Tipperary Institute we could offer training targeted at Irish web designers.
The use of an Open Source CMS is not without its disadvantages, but for the time being this choice simply isn’t available to most Irish micro enterprises.
Recently I was perusing the slides from the launch of the EU Finance Day for SMEs initiative held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I found the following information interesting.
- There are 23 million SMEs in the EU (99% of all enterprises) and they account for about 75 million jobs.
- SMEs are defined as firms with less than 250 employees and annual turnover of less than €50 million and/or annual balance less than €43 million.
- Small enterprises are defined as having less than 50 employees.
- Micro enterprises are defined as having less than 10 employees.
- Main Business constraints for SME’s:
- Purchasing power of customers(46%)
- Administrative regulations (36%)
- Lack of human resources (35%)
- Cost of human resources (33%)
- Infrastructure problems (23%)
- Limited access to finance (21%)
- 70% of SMEs have no or few R&D activities.
- 20% of SMEs (termed “technology adoption enterprises”) adapt existing technologies.
- Less that 10% of SMEs (termed “Leading Technology Users”) develop or combine existing technologies on an innovative level.
- Less than 3% of SMEs (termed “Technology Pioneers”) have high levels of research activities.
I am keeping a close eye on when the EU Finance Day for SMEs is going to happen in Ireland and I’ll post here as soon as I find out.
A popular business adage is “if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist” (I’ve also heard it extended with “and if it doesn’t exist you can’t manage it”). I’ve regularly heard business consultants recite this when they are justifying the need for key performance indicators in relation to a set of objectives.
Anyway, the same holds true for the TippSoc community blog. I have noticed that, according to the TippSoc home page, I regularly have 1000+ “hits” on my blog. But what exactly constitutes a hit? Where are the hits coming from? What percentage of hits actually represent “eyeballs”? If I can’t answer these questions, and I can’t, it means I can’t measure what is being asked of me, and if I can’t measure the number of visitors to my blog then they don’t exist.
So what next? We at TippSoc need to measure who/what is visiting our blog site, when they are visiting our site, how often, what do they read, what do they have for breakfast? Has anyone any ideas how best we can do this?
Last night I was reading about technology management strategies, most of the comments were centred around organisations that provide products and not services. It got me thinking about the service sector (the biggest sector in Ireland and in many other “developed” countries) and how technology can be used as an innovation tool within the sector and in particular the professional service sector e.g. healthcare, education, finance, legal, etc. As with all innovations the focus should be on improving customer value. One characteristic of the professional service sector in general which differs from the industrial sector is the time required to “transfer” the service to the customer. I can purchase an iPod (once I have decided that’s what I want) in minutes, but to purchase the service of a doctor, solicitor or teacher can take anything from hours to years. That increases the cost of the service (the cost of time) for the customer. Surely technology can be better used in innovative ways to reduce this cost? Do I have to visit my solicitor in person to discuss the purchase of my new house? Do I have to sit with my mortgage provider for an hour as she “transfers” her service to me? Do I have to go to class to learn how to do my business accounts?
There are many arguments for and against outsourcing IT functions. Many believe that if it is not part of your core business then you should outsource. I tend to agree. But one thing is for sure - if you can’t do it in-house don’t try. If you have problems managing your email (or are simply fed up with it) then you should seriously consider moving to Google Domain Apps.