El Free software It is intended to cover each of the technological areas that exist today, its concept, its advances, its community and its freedom of code have made it the perfect paradigm for the universalization of software. Its SMEs the main beneficiariesDue to the possibility of using endless tools that were previously only intended for large companies.
Now, SMEs have a very important challenge, to make the use of free software a perfect complement for their growth. It is where the community must certainly contribute its greatest grain of sand, contributing its ideas for the use of free software in SMEs, giving adequate support to each of the applications, creating adequate documentation and above all innovating in each of the solutions made.
There are numerous success stories where the use of free technology has allowed SME earnings have grown, In addition to that, many processes have been standardized thanks to free tools, in the same way small family businesses have become large production companies due to the use of for example web technology for your online sales.
Among the many Ideas to use free software in your SME, the following stand out:
- La creation of web portals It is undoubtedly the easiest way to introduce free software in SMEs, we can create from small blog, pageto institutional, online stores to complex intranet. There are several free tools such as wordpress, mambo, joomla, drupal, quanta and many others That allow us make professional quality sites quickly. Many are the brands that have bet on the use of free software in their web development such as: Google, Amazon, Twitter and Wikipedia among others and in Spain sites such as make meprecio.com y homemania.com are an example of this.
- Convert any computer into your SME's Server It is possible thanks to the various GNU / Linux distros such as Zentyal, Centos, Ubuntu, Red Hat, Open Suse among others. In the field of servers, almost any company including Microsoft, Stock Exchanges, Amazon, Facebook, Toyotas, among others, use Linux to manage their servers and it is something that SMEs should imitate.
- In the area of office automation free software is not far behind offering robust tools such as LibreOffice, OpenOffice and several dozen other applications, which will allow you to work from plain text documents to spreadsheets.
- But if of fully manage your company's processes It is, free software offers excellent ERP that will allow you to manage from the receipt of merchandise, inventory, sale, purchase, storage to billing and accounting. Among the many ERP we can highlight Idempiere, Adempiere, Odoo, WebErp, Saltos, Einestic among others. Complementing with other Business Management tools such as SugarCRM, Vtiger, SplendidCRM, etc., you can create large totally free management suites.
- Thanks to tools like Alfresco or Knoledge Tree your SME can have a very professional and organized document management.
- A very neglected area in SMEs is communication, but thanks to Asterisk you can have an authentic telephone exchange where VoIP communications stand out.
There are open source alternatives for almost all proprietary applications on the market, at the enterprise level open source not only competes but also surpasses many already established applications in quality. The use you can give it is in your imagination and your desire to learn. But if you still have doubts about the use of free software in companies, do not forget to read Who uses GNU / Linux? and surprising.
Hello,
First of all: congratulations on your publication which, leaving aside certain aspects (I will mention them later), contributes a lot to the growth of free software.
Now yes, I must say those «certain aspects», let's start: you must clarify yourself since you play with the terms open source and free software as if they were the same. This is not beneficial at all, those people who are new to free programs could get confused and think that both terms mean or represent the same ideals.
«Converting any computer into your SME's Server is possible thanks to the various unix / linux distros such as Zentyal, Centos, Ubuntu, Red Hat, Open Suse among others. In the field of servers almost any company including Windows, Stock Exchanges, Amazon, Facebook, Toyotas among others use Linux to manage their servers and it is something that SMEs should imitate. "
Two corrections in the previous paragraph: it is GNU / Linux distributions, you do not mention any that are totally free and second, "Window $", it is not a company. I use the same argument as before, new users would tend to get confused, thinking that GNU, GNU / Linux and Linux are terms that represent the same thing.
"... and several dozen more applications, which will allow you to work from plain text documents to excel sheets."
A small correction, they are spreadsheets, Excel is a proprietary program of an even more proprietary suite.
"But if it is about completely managing the processes of your company, Linux offers excellent open source ERP that will allow you to manage from the reception of merchandise ..."
The same, you flirt with both terms again, you confuse the Linux kernel with the GNU / Linux operating system and free programs with open source programs.
“There are open source alternatives for almost all proprietary applications on the market. At the enterprise level, open source not only competes but also surpasses many already established applications in quality. The use you can give it is in your imagination and your desire to learn. But if you still have doubts about the use of free software in companies, don't forget to read Who uses GNU / Linux? and amazing of the power of Open Source.
More of the same, I end by citing a very precise sentence that I hope will help you improve for future publications:
"Open source is a programming methodology: free software is a social movement."
A digital greeting.
Fully grateful for your clarifications and taken into account in the article
Excellent complement to the article, you have also clarified doubts that I had until today.
Hey.
Red Hat is 100% GPL. That makes it free "by definition", whatever some may think 😉
Linux vs GNU / Linux is a matter of principle for Stallman, but the rest of us use both interchangeably. What's more, I always use the second one, but from a commercial point of view it is a potato named xdd
Finally, open source is a way of working or organizing. There are many methodologies and they may or may not be used in open source. The difference between open source and free software is so subtle that hundreds of pages have been written about it. There is even FOSS for Windows that, by definition, should not be considered free software (since it requires the installation of a proprietary system).
Excellent report of free tools, I have been testing different software for management, administration, web, such as tryton, cyclope3, stoq, all very good, but somewhat complex for the intermediate user.
Thanks for the info!!
Moving the Linux world to other areas is very important for the growth of the community.
Good article, a pity that when you talk to people about Linux it is as if you told them something prohibitive that they will never understand ... a pity (yes, they put office and adobe there and I assure you that then the tables are turned ...) ...
Greetings.
In my company we use the "formerly known as" OpenERP, now Odoo and although the implementation was not simple or cheap (although much more than the rest of the alternatives studied), we are very happy with the acquisition. And also, the implanting company helped us transfer most of the services and software that we already used to their free alternatives.
The truth is that the business world should have more knowledge about free software. Once you discover it, there is no going back.
If there is someone interested, they can search in google, or go to their portal in Spain: http://www.openerpspain.com.
I agree 100% with your comment, we also have Odoo in the company and it adequately fulfills its mission. A pity that these types of solutions are not known by companies that associate the expensive with the good.
Well, I agree with all the comments they have made, but in itself it is a good article, and now in terms of use, because everything will depend on how the company wants to invest, if it invests in people with the necessary knowledge to carry out the implementation , as well as staff maintenance and training, or investing in proprietary technology that is easier to maintain and is what staff end up being used to; We must remember that if we want to see changes like these, we must set them by example, be ourselves the ones who implement in our homes and / or businesses, free and open source systems to promote the use and security provided by software that gives maintenance of a community.
Note: In my home I have linux installed, in my own business I have linux installed and a small server that provides storage, repository and hosting for a small site that I want to start implementing. Currently in my work, I do not have any desktop or latptop computers with linux operating system, except for the servers that we use with Debian "Jessie".
I agree with your comment, but I allow myself a clarification:
I doubt that "a proprietary technology that is easier to maintain" we made the change from a commercial solution to a free one and you only have to change the company that supports you. When it is a simple solution and you have some knowledge you can do it yourself, when it is something more complex, you resort to a company that installs and maintains it for you, and in this case it does not matter to you. The advantages you have with the free solution are that you do not pay for the program or the licenses (which is not a little) and that you are not "caught" with the company that owns the program, you can choose.
Hey.
In my opinion, there is a big problem using free software at the enterprise level, unless you have a lot of resources. The Administration, which does not provide facilities for you to work with them. In addition, for SMEs there are shortcomings in certain programs, which are only available for windows and rarely under wine.
And it will not be because I do not do my bit. But easy, easy, it is not.
Health!!