Be innovative

Over a period of time, it has been noticed that people offering standardised open source solutions do not do as well in the market when compared to those who offer customised solutions. Abhishek Datt, chief technology officer, Taashee Linux Services, says, “I think one should not offer open source solutions that are available off-theshelf or those that can be downloaded. Instead, one should try to build expertise on particular platforms, customise them and either sell them as solutions, or perhaps implement them and support them. Ideally, it should be something that one has built upon and it should bring some value to the customer. What I have seen is that merely telling the customers that you can support a particular solution doesn’t work anymore. One has to add value to the solutions. For example, if you are using AlFresco, you can use it as a platform and build an application on top of it. It impresses customers more and it also gives you an opportunity to expand your business, as satisfied clients will call you often for support. I think start-ups should look for solutions and actually build on top of them rather than telling customers that, ‘We are champs in this particular technology and we will support it.’ One has to always come up with a value addition.”

Making premium modules of open source applications also helps in better revenue generation. Charles Sudarshan Jayawardhane, business consultant, Virtusa Corp, Sri Lanka, explains, “Since open source applications are given free of charge, the revenue margins are very low or next to nothing for the companies. Often, it may even get difficult to cover the costs incurred in the business. Hence, building premium modules on open source applications always helps in revenue generation. If you have built an application which is well thought of and is the exclusive offering of your company, it will definitely be worth a buy for the clients.”