Open for business
Open source has found itself into business models and here are three stories:
1) As highlighted in this article, http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5624944 Wikipedia is an excellent example of open-source business models – the global encyclopedia with 120,000 articles is created and maintained by everybody. Just like with Linux, processes and content are being developed by everyone.
2) The other day, we had a candidate from Eastern Mich. Univ interview for an internship and her resume said “head of 500-member recreational activity” in the “extras” section. Obviously I was curious and she told me that it was an online gaming community called World of Warcraft (www.worldofwarcraft.com) and she spent working 8 hours/ day last summer monitoring members!
3) BPM: For the uninitiated, it’s Business Process Management. What it means is that entire functions of businesses (with underlying software code – aka .NET) will be available in a ready-to-use format - for e.g. sending a bill to a telecom customer. So say as a manager you wish to create a business process – all you need to do is pick and choose from the different functions and boom – your entire process with underlying software code is ready. More: http://www.bpmi.org/
Net-net: Viewing all three stories together – there are far reaching implications for global business. For one, it takes outsourcing to an extreme-level – not only will you instantly globalize your processes but you will also forgo control and development costs (e.g. companies using mapquest today). Advancing 5-10 years from now, your business partner/ employee/ consumer will be the girl who grew up monitoring web-communities like World of Warcraft and she will tend to work with an open-source/ unknown world. Finally, if processes (not only software) become “open” and available for anyone’s use (such as BPM modules for different functional areas) – imagine what will happen to speed, place, and functionality of product development.
1) As highlighted in this article, http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5624944 Wikipedia is an excellent example of open-source business models – the global encyclopedia with 120,000 articles is created and maintained by everybody. Just like with Linux, processes and content are being developed by everyone.
2) The other day, we had a candidate from Eastern Mich. Univ interview for an internship and her resume said “head of 500-member recreational activity” in the “extras” section. Obviously I was curious and she told me that it was an online gaming community called World of Warcraft (www.worldofwarcraft.com) and she spent working 8 hours/ day last summer monitoring members!
3) BPM: For the uninitiated, it’s Business Process Management. What it means is that entire functions of businesses (with underlying software code – aka .NET) will be available in a ready-to-use format - for e.g. sending a bill to a telecom customer. So say as a manager you wish to create a business process – all you need to do is pick and choose from the different functions and boom – your entire process with underlying software code is ready. More: http://www.bpmi.org/
Net-net: Viewing all three stories together – there are far reaching implications for global business. For one, it takes outsourcing to an extreme-level – not only will you instantly globalize your processes but you will also forgo control and development costs (e.g. companies using mapquest today). Advancing 5-10 years from now, your business partner/ employee/ consumer will be the girl who grew up monitoring web-communities like World of Warcraft and she will tend to work with an open-source/ unknown world. Finally, if processes (not only software) become “open” and available for anyone’s use (such as BPM modules for different functional areas) – imagine what will happen to speed, place, and functionality of product development.
posted by pravs at 10:01 AM
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