Interesting article about open-source software for e-commerce by McKinsey. It compares the “play it safe” approach of choosing a large-vendor solution with the “productive and innovative” digital approach of choosing open-source software. 5 key points from the article:
✈️ Value: “While cost savings are an important benefit, the real value of using open source is in acquiring key talent, helping build up an open architecture, and accelerating the culture of speed and flexibility that’s needed to be competitive in a digital world ”
✈️ Viable option: “open source for e-commerce is an increasingly viable option for large companies, especially for those that have the requisite engineering talent and regard e-commerce as an important strategic consideration”
✈️ Security: “companies using OSS have more control over how they address security issues. In addition, they have access to the open-source community, which is made up of tens of thousands of people who are constantly finding and fixing bugs”
✈️ Support: “In practice, for large e-commerce systems, there are a handful of anchor companies that can offer extensive support”
✈️ Funding: “Walmart famously began using the open-source Node.js server technology to support Black Friday sales traffic in 2013, and then funded an open-source initiative that made this technology available for anyone to use”
Leveraging open-source software is #25 of 30 airline capabilities listed in my white paper. More on this later 😊
