Traditional software vendors are underestimating the presence and value of open source software to their customer base, while customers are adopting and adapting open source software in record numbers. All vendor and service provider consulting engagements, whether they be focused on a market assessment, identification of new "white space" opportunities", development of adoption scenarios and timelines, or helping clients to refine their core messaging and positioning, are highly tailored to their unique requirements.

    These are two key conclusions that Saugatuck Technology Inc. examines in its new research study on user open source software adoption, titled "Open Source: The Next Disruptive IT Influence." The 32-page study details the disruptive status and future of open source software within user enterprises, including user enterprise open source presence, drivers behind open source adoption, inhibitors to open source adoption - and the disruptive effects of these changes on software vendor offerings and business models.

    "Our research and analysis tell us that the fundamentals of business software are changing due to the presence and growth of open source code and licensing," stated Saugatuck Managing Director of Research Services Bruce Guptill. "Frankly, vendors have been underestimating the presence, use, and significance of open source within their customer bases -- and they have already lost as much as 10 per cent of customer software business as a result."

    Based on 2007 survey research with 200 user enterprise IT and business executives, dozens of user executive interviews, and more than 20 software vendor interviews and briefings, the study includes Saugatuck's analysis and insight regarding not just the data, but the effects of open source on user and vendor business.

    A lack of software standardization, increasingly varied and complex code licensing agreements, community development environments, and vendors’ need to protect intellectually property mean that user IT and Finance executives will have their hands full with spiraling requirements for managing technology, IT licensing, and vendor relationships. Vendors will have their own pressing issues, from new competitors to their own licensing issues – with vast changes in technology and product/service development methods and costs.

Study highlights include the following:
    - Open source is changing the way user enterprises perceive, buy and use software. And as a result, open source changes how IT vendors and service providers develop, license and support software.
    - Saugatuck sees three basic stages of open source presence, evolution and maturity through 2012. User enterprises are already entering the second stage, while most vendors are stuck in the first, early stage.
    - Traditional vendors need to identify and understand opportunities to leverage open source development into their portfolios - not just as components within solutions, but also as tools, and as opportunities to develop or extend their services offerings, from SaaS to SI and beyond.
    - While the combination of reduced costs and reduced vendor dependence will continue to drive open source adoption through 2012, the ability to adapt and refine source code will remain a top-tier motivator for users - including SMBs.