Free and Open Source ERP - distinction, direction, co-existence and potentials

Book chapter, 2012

With the proliferation of commercial Packaged ERP (P-ERP) systems in today’s enterprises, many reasons exist to look for alternatives in the quest for innovation, business development, cost, agility and dependency. P-ERP provides a solid and proven business support, an ecosystem of consultancies and integrators, senior management having gained confidence over the last 20 years, and commercially based support and development. This leaves companies with still more expensive P-ERP costs, still less flexibility, a still harder push to lose possibilities for differentiation, still more homogenised business processes, and absence of flexibility to change suppliers and systems. FOS-ERP offers an answer to most of these questions, but is facing issues in market penetration. In this chapter, barriers of FOS-ERP are reviewed; proposals are made on how to manage barriers. An approach managing co-existence of P-ERP and FOS-ERP is suggested. Concluding, FOS-ERP is seen as a strong option for enterprises in the future, but a clear understanding and distinction must be the offset, barriers needs to be managed, and optimal co-existence will in most cases be the realistic scenario.