Web terms SME operators need to understand #6: Proprietary systems

Because from a business perspective, “proprietary” is essentially “situation normal”.

Normal because it’s the notion of a free or community service that to business is in fact pretty unusual.

Because there are few business assets that haven’t been paid for and produced by a commercial organisation.

Everything from paperclips to HR systems are a normal cost of doing business and as such, businesses are quite prepared to pay for them – albeit as little as possible.

So the introduction of the open source option has meant that a term had to be found for something done “the old way”, ie. paid to an organisation to provide.

A low media profile

Interestingly, this standard way of doing business – particularly when it comes to website technology and platforms, gets precious little attention in a world seemingly obsessed with free stuff.

Not that there’s anything wrong with free stuff, but as any business operator knows, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

One thing that needs to be set straight from the outset is that while the software and platforms may well be free, the labour required to establish and maintain it is not.

So while open source software and platforms may well be free to the developer or designer, the labour cost of establishing a website or platform in open source can often exceed that of a proprietary system.

In fact, many web writers and educators are so obsessed with so called free open source, that the proprietary alternative barely rates a mention.

I suspect this is because they enjoy tinkering with the technology themselves – something proprietary systems don’t readily allow them to do. Not only that, they may well have a sideline in developing open source solutions, meaning that proprietary providers are in fact their competitors.

But from a business perspective, proprietary systems provide a range of benefits that open source has difficulty competing with.

1. The assurance of being backed by an organisation

As discussed last week, nobody really owns open source software or systems as its belongs to the development community or a committee established to oversee it. While this might be acceptable to community and sports groups, etc, it’s a situation that sits uncomfortably with business that need to be able to identify who is responsible so as they can take action in the event of a failure. This is usually backed by sound Professional Indemnity safeguards.

If push came to shove, business operators know that they are protected by the legal system when it comes to proprietary providers, unlike most open source enthusiasts.

2. Free upgrades

Because proprietary providers have to contend with commercial competition, improving their software/platforms is a necessity of success and survival. So simply to stay ahead of the competition, they provide free or low cost improvements to the system. Failure to do so means loss of their valuable customers.

Few open source providers provide upgrades seamlessly and automatically. In most cases, business clients need to ask for the upgrade to be added, attracting further labour costs.

3. Low cost

When proprietary systems were beyond the reach of the budgets of smaller business, open source provided a real alternative for them to operate systems that would otherwise be well beyond their reach.

But proprietary systems have since plummeted in price. Now you can’t get a fully hosted, supported website management system for a few dollars a month – amazing value given the benefits of having a professional and fully supported website system.

4. True scalability

With open source systems, there are often a range of modules or feature improvements that are available to complement the core system. For example an email broadcast system that can be plugged into a Content Management System.

But as much as developers try to maintain the standards of the open source platform concerned, often these plugins don’t work as hoped, leading to much additional labour time in resolving and often replacing it.

Proprietary providers develop their own add-ons and modules and don’t release them until they have been stringently tried and tested. So you can rest assured that the improvement you want is going to work first time every time.

5. Professional support

Whilst the hosting that many developers provide may well be backed up by professional and accessible support, the actual software underpinning your site may not be. And when something falls over, you want it to be attended to very quickly indeed, or suffer the consequences. Is your open source developer prepared to make themselves available in this way?

Of course, open source advocates would argue that with their technology, you can easily find a replacement developer in the event that your relationship with them ceases – if you can get access to the system of course.

They also argue that proprietary systems are in danger of failing as a business, thus taking down your website with them. However, I’m yet to come across this situation as struggling providers are usually bought out by another firm who either continue the platform or provide a replacement at no or little cost.

So next time your web designer or developer offers to build your site in open source, it’s a real good idea to get an alternative proposal from a proprietary provider, just so you can compare both the immediate and longer-term impacts of adopting it for your business.

In addition to being a leading eBusiness educator to the smaller business sector, Craig Reardon is the founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which was established to address the special website and web marketing needs of SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.