Why Open Source?

Our customers often ask what open source software is and why do we prefer the use of open source over proprietary software for our projects. The short answer is: it gives us access to innovations and latest technologies at no license cost, and an opportunity to maintain a modern technology stack without vendor lock-in.

“Traditional” enterprise retail software solutions commonly base development on legacy systems, with closed-source implementations of toolchains, and an extensive application of traditional or industry-specific data formats (for example, xml or POSLog).

Our customers often ask what open source software is and why do we prefer the use of open source over proprietary software for our projects. The short answer is: it gives us access to innovations and latest technologies at no license cost, and an opportunity to maintain a modern technology stack without vendor lock-in.

“Traditional” enterprise retail software solutions commonly base development on legacy systems, with closed-source implementations of toolchains, and an extensive application of traditional or industry-specific data formats (for example, xml or POSLog).

The evolving demands in our industry hinder easy adaptation of proprietary implementations. Some examples of these demands are:

• the legal requirements in EU/Europe regarding fiscalization or eInvoicing
• big data
• adoption of web-based technologies
• cloud-base operations in retail

We consider the community-driven nature of open-source software a driver for it’s security and reliability, as a global network of developers continuously updates and improves the code , fostering innovation through a collaborative approach. The flexibility of this approach allows us to inspect, customize and modify the software to align precisely with our unique business requirements, ensuring optimal performance and adaptability, and enabling our company to stay at the forefront of technological advancements.

Our reliance on open-source solutions extends to critical areas such as server management, data analytics, and customer-facing applications, demonstrating the versatility and reliability of these tools. This significantly reduces expenses by eliminating licensing fees associated with proprietary software, providing a cost-effective solution for the technology needs of our customers.

While the adoption of open-source software offers numerous benefits, it also presents challenges that our company must manage to maximize its potential. Examples of these are:

• the need for specialized expertise
• the potential for fragmented support due to the diverse developer base
• the occasional lack of thorough documentation

To address these issues, our company invests in continuous training for our IT team, designed to develop the skills necessary to effectively manage open-source solutions using standardized processes and a comprehensive internal documentation, ensuring the dependable use of open-source software across our operations. We also take an active part in open-source communities, contributing to projects and building relationships that strengthen community support and cooperation.

Open-source software is integral to our business strategy, enhancing our software development processes and overall tech solutions. By leveraging open-source tools we are able to optimize our development workflow, and ensure that our software projects are both cost-effective and highly customizable to meet specific business needs.