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The Open For Business Project - Is OFBiz for Me?

Written By: David E. Jones, jonesde@ofbiz.org

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Asking Build vs. Buy
• Budget Conscious Organization
• Have Custom Needs
• Consulting/Services Company
• Software Development
• Business Analysis & Design
• Web Design
• Hosting
• Product Development Company
• eCommerce Hosting
• User of an eCommerce Package
• Application Server Vendor
• Some Questions and Answers collected on user ML

Introduction

This document is all about the question: Is Open For Business for Me? We have talked to many who are using or considering using Open For Business. We have also talked to many who are trying to leverage OFBiz in their business as a tool or a starting point for more focused endeavors. This document is based on all of that feedback and includes ideas from dozens of discussions with those who are benefiting from OFBiz right now.

There are many ways that OFBiz can be used, many different circumstances where OFBiz can be of value, and many organizations that could benefit from the use of OFBiz.

Asking Build vs. Buy

Build versus buy is a common question for many companies, especially those with special needs or who want to automate unique processes. The difficulty exists because even though an ERP/CRM package can deliver 80% of what you need because of the difficulty of modifying and integrating with the software the remaining 20% can require a great deal of cost and effort, often as much as 80% of the total solution cost.

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With OFBiz you get the best of both worlds. You get the initial functionality that provides most of what you need just like you would with the buy option. You can make the software do anything you want, just like you could with the build option. You save on the initial and maintenance license costs just as you would with the build option. You get a tested and proven architecture and a best-practices based design without having to hire a group of experts, just like you would get with the buy option.

Budget Conscious Organization

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Even if you have plenty of money for your project, wouldn't you rather spend that money on exactly what you need instead of hundreds of features that are part of a bloated package with a bloated price?

Have Custom Needs

The needs and practices of different organizations vary a great deal in different industries. Even in the same industry the ability to compete well in a crowded marketplace often requires that a business be able to change and improve its practices and it is nice when these new practices can be automated and the software can elegantly handle changes in the organization.

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This will not only save you money, but it will make it possible for you to implement changes that would otherwise be "impossible."

Consulting/Services Company

The most common question asked about open source software is "how do you make money with it?" The most common answer to that question, among professional and amateur alike, is "by providing services based on the software!"

SoftwareDevelopment

Software Development

Offering software development services based on open source software is a very natural and valuable service. Because the original software is open source it is possible to hire someone to modify or add to it. One of the main attractions of open source software is that because the source code is available it can be customized or issues can be resolved quickly without having to go through the maker of the software.

This is especially true of enterprise software like OFBiz. We do all we can to make the applications generic and flexible, but it is impossible to satisfy the needs of everyone who uses it with what is offered as part of the core project. Most companies will have sufficient resources to hire someone to add customizations for them. Such arrangements can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands or even millions of dollars. Generally as more money is involved quite a bit more custom functionality and integration with other systems is required.

BusinessAnalysis&Design

Business Analysis & Design

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With Open For Business you can get on your client's good side by recommending a solution that not only has no licensing fees, but can be easily customized. This means that you can actually use all of the good ideas you come up with in the analysis and design phase.

WebDesign

Web Design

Even organizations that don't require fancy software often desire to have a well done web site. If you are doing web site design right now, chances are you have clients that have grown or have become more ambitious and would like to have eCommerce or other functionality on their customer facing or internal web site. Introducing your clients to Open For Business may help them find what they need and give you good work along the way. And if you don't have technical skills for hosting or deployment in house, don't worry, there are many other groups you can work or partner with who can help with just that.

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These services are especially valuable coming from a web design group that has special talent such a artists and marketers. Because OFBiz is flexible and easy to change and maintain you can offer your clients the best of your creativity.

Hosting

Hosting

Even if a customer does have sufficient money for a great solution they don't always have the expertise or desire in house to keep that solution running. Larger companies do often have staff and systems in place to host their applications, but there are thousands upon thousands of small and medium sized companies that do not. When you consider the cost of the facilities needed for reliable hosting it makes sense to let someone else take care of that, someone who already has those facilities in place an working well for many other organizations.

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One of the most significant needs for hosting is for customer facing sites such as eCommerce sites. Many companies prefer to have such sites hosted remotely at specialised hosting facilities because they are more reliable than on-site facilities given redundant internet connections, redundant power sources and so on. This is true even when the company has most of their systems hosted on-site. So, there are even bigger opportunities for eCommerce hosting.

Product Development Company

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There are so many opportunities for creating commercial variations of OFBiz that this is one of the big things that we want to get into once the project is to a point where the majority of the functionality needed for basic business operation is in place.

eCommerce Hosting

If you are currently hosting eCommerce clients, chances are you have a small group of clients who are excellent customers but who are growing out of the solution you provide. They may already be asking you about upgrade options and you may be worried about losing a customer or at least potential business from that customer because you can no longer meet their needs.

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What is even better is that you can keep your client. You can continue hosting their eCommerce solution and you can either do your own customization, deployment and maintenance or you can outsource any or all of those tasks to other OFBiz service providers. We can train you for any of these services you want to provide, or we can help you find an OFBiz affiliate to provide the service for you.

User of an eCommerce Package

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One of the most mature and feature-rich aspects of OFBiz is the eCommerce solution. It has been used for many different live sites, and more are popping up all the time. We are constantly receiving feedback and contributions of improvements to the eCommerce application and related components.

Application Server Vendor

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We have sample configurations for many different app servers, and configuring new ones is not difficult. There are no licensing fees for OFBiz, so you don't have to worry about increasing your price or costs.

Some

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Questions and

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Answers collected on user ML

Reports & analytics capabilities

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