Not long ago, it seemed there were two big reasons non-profit organizations picked open-source software like CiviCRM over proprietary systems:
Zero licensing fees: "It's hard to beat free!"
True customization: "We can make it do whatever we want!"
Those are still true, but these days I'm hearing much more about two others:
Data sovereignty: "We control what happens with our data"
System sovereignty: "Nobody can shut off our system, take away features, or hike up the price on a whim."
Nobody used to talk much about those, but they sure are now.
I think it's because it seems
big corporations keep getting bigger (and bolder),
everything's a subscription and nothing is owned,
and vendor lock-in keeps getting stronger.
All of that means it's both easier and riskier to invest in systems you neither own nor control.
Open-source tools help you sidestep that risk, because they allow you to decide:
who accesses your data
which features you'll keep using
when to switch technology providers
even where to host your systems
I keep hearing more about the tendency of large corporations to try and make those decisions for you.
So maybe it's nice to remember you have ways to keep control of your own systems and data.
All the best,
A.
P.S. If you’re reading this online, you wouldn’t know that my daily list readers received this email as a single line of unformatted text, like so:
Not long ago, it seemed there were two big reasons non-profit organizations picked open-source software like CiviCRM over proprietary systems: • Zero licensing fees: "It's hard to beat free!" • True customization: "We can make it do whatever we want!" Those are still true, but these days I'm hearing much more about two more: • Data sovereignty: "We control what happens with our data" • System sovereignty: "Nobody can shut off our system, take away features, or hike up the price on a whim." Nobody used to talk much about those, but they sure are now. I think it's because it seems big corporations keep getting bigger (and bolder), everything's a subscription and nothing is owned, and vendor lock-in keeps getting stronger. All of that means it's both easier and riskier to invest in systems you neither own nor control. Open-source tools help you sidestep that risk, because they allow you to decide • who accesses your data • which features you'll keep using • when to switch technology providers • even where to host your systems I keep hearing more about the tendency of large corporations to try and make those decisions for you. So maybe it's nice to remember you have ways to keep control of your own systems and data.
All the best,
A.
Oh well, stuff happens. As always, there are lessons worth noting.