Jabit

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:

1. 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?
2. The site owner is potentially “locked in” to using the designer for future updates.
3. 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.
4. What happens if the designer goes out of business?

Open Source holds the promise of addressing most, if not all, of these issues, as:

1. The software license for many Open Source products allow for the software to be modified and resold.
2. Popular Open Source products have a large community of developers that support the product and thus provide a healthy market for product support.
3. 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?

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.