Q: Is open source gaining more acceptance in enterprise IT?
Kerenann: Open source is simply not an option in a regulated industry like healthcare. Most of the innovation in open source is occurring in applications for the core business, where Baxter cannot use it due to regulation-induced management and control issues.
Matt called open source a good and viable alternative that improves time to market. Home Depot does use open source products, but their use is limited due to shortage of resources with appropriate skill-sets. Lars felt that open source will spread outside Silicon Valley and become more accepted over time.
Takeaways:
- Management and governance of open source continue to be unfilled needs
- Open source for mundane non-mission critical apps like HR may be an easier way in to accounts than via apps that are front-and-center. These back-office apps also tend to get greater scrutiny as candidates for cost reduction – another good reason why open source may be a good option.
Q: Buy or build?
“If its strategic to us, we’ll build it,” said Matt, and all the CIOs agreed that custom-development is the way to go for IT capabilities that are strategic to their businesses. Even for custom-built systems, the preference now is for standards-based development and common platforms.
Takeaway: If you claim to offer customers differentiation, you better be very customizable and have implementation resources or partners with significant domain expertise.
Q: SaaS
SaaS is definitely a big hit beyond the SMB space. All three CIOs agreed that SaaS provides unmatched flexibility and speed, especially in green-field geographies and business lines. An interesting comment was that SaaS is the area of significant innovation right now, and is driving companies to re-think how they do things.
Takeaways:
- SaaS is hot! But we knew that already.
- If I were a SaaS vendor, I’d be looking for new beachheads among companies that are spinning off divisions, making acquisitions, or moving into new territories.
