Linux and other open source applications are finding increasing acceptance in the global marketplace in small and large companies alike. Statistics on the growth of a few open source programs – like Apache (a webserver), Linux (an operating sytem), FreeBSD (an operating system), and PostgreSQL (a database server) – show this to be true.  In this article, we’ll consider why open source is growing so fast, and what it means to a leader of a small company. 

Apache – on the Warpath                

Apache is a free open source webserver that runs on most operating systems. It has been taking market share from Microsoft’s webserver (and others) since 1995.

It’s not like Microsoft hasn’t tried to take over this market. Users have found Apache to be easier to implement, more secure, and more reliable than its competitors in the marketplace. It is also more reparable when there are problems (after all, you have the source code) and, most of all, it is free.

In many small companies, IT employees and HR employees just don’t get along.  This is unfortunate, considering that both departments are integral to the success of the organization as a whole.  In my opinion, one way to bridge the gap between IT and HR, as well as improve the business overall, is for both departments to rethink their priorities and processes.  They need to stop acting as cost centers and start acting as individual businesses, viewing other departments and employees as customers who need to receive value from them. 

What exactly does this mean?  Firstly, both departments need to understand the business value delivered by each project they spend time and money on.  After all, that is the ‘R’ in ROI, right?  This requires IT and HR departments to create metrics that will help them gauge the value that their work provides to the company.  In doing so, they will learn which projects are most profitable to the company, and subsequently, which projects should be a priority.

Have you ever noticed that IT professionals are grumpy? I think that part of the reason is because they never get calls like this: "Hey IT guy, just calling to say that everything is working okay today and you're a great guy!" 

The calls are typically more like this: "Hey IT guy, why is it that the only messages our spam filter filters out are our sales leads? Luckily, however, it does let all the Viagra ads through, which is good because it gives us something to read while we're not selling anything. Did they have classes in spam filtering at the college you supposedly went to?" 

Working in IT is somewhat like being a fireman. You can never respond to the fire fast enough no matter what you do. If I was starting a company today, I wouldn't even buy a server. I would do my best to avoid acting as or hiring an IT professional.

Ever since the advent of Open Source Software (OSS), people have wondered about its impact.  Is it a good thing that breeds innovation, or is it a dangerous thing that will put traditional software companies out of business?  Even today as its popularity continues to grow, many are unsure of how they feel about it.

The truth is that fears about OSS are often unfounded.  There are reasons for its popularity that have more to do with functionality and flexibility than with cost, and the new dynamic that OSS has brought to the technology world is actually a step in the right direction.  By commoditizing the software market, it prohibits vendors from becoming complacent and propels us all much further than we might have gone without it.  Here are some of the ways in which OSS can actually work for and not against us.

What is OSS?

OSS is software that permits the use and modification of its source code by anyone. It is characterized by some of the following attributes:

Total cost of ownership (TCO) is a financial estimate that helps consumers and enterprise managers determine direct and indirect costs of a product or system. TCO goes beyond the initial purchase price or implementation cost to consider the full cost of an asset over its useful life. A TCO analysis often shows there can be a large difference between the price of something and its long term cost. 

For example, let’s say you buy a car that’s inexpensive but it breaks down constantly. When you take it to get fixed, you find that the repair shop is far away and the parts are costly. It also loses value faster than other cars that cost more when it comes to resale. Your time is also valuable and all of the trips to the repair shop should be taken into consideration, too. 

So, let’s do the math. 

• Car A

When you're making a large investment in software, you want to be sure that you're buying from a reputable company that will be there to support you long term.

Getting a short list of happy customers that your vendor has helped - some references - is a common part of most companies' buying processes, but there is a good way to check references and a bad way to do it.

Are you doing it right?  Are you getting the data you really need to make this critical buying decision? Or are you talking to one of the vendor's own employees who is just pretending to be a happy customer?  Sound far-fetched?

I actually know of software companies (one of our competitors, in fact) that are guilty of this kind of scam.  The Internet often allows companies to appear bigger and more successful than they actually are.  Professional looking websites can be created quickly and easily and are not necessarily evidence that a company has been in business very long.

The current state of the global economy has created new challenges for companies all over the world.  This has led to executive decisions being made out of panic, such as firing quality employees and slashing important programs.  Regardless of their efforts, many companies have seen plummeting revenue streams, sometimes being forced out of business altogether. 

It may surprise you, but I actually believe that the greatest challenge in this economy is avoiding the mistake of blaming everything on the economy.  It is easy for managers and executives to wring their hands and say, “This is the worst economy we have had in 80 years, and that is why my company has all of these problems.”  To a certain extent, they are right.  Yet that type of thinking does not lead to solutions. 

What if the economy never improves very much? Take Japan for example: they have been stuck with an anemic economy for decades now. Yet within that environment, some Japanese companies have excelled while others have withered or accepted the status quo.

When I started my company, Journyx, 13 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn't have the experience needed to effectively manage people, so I had to learn these skills through trial and error, and quickly, in order to keep the company going.  After all, human resources are a company's most valuable asset.

Over the years,  I've lost sleep when we were close to missing payroll, watched as competitors copied our software bit for bit, and then celebrated along with hard-working employees as we achieved success.  Today, Journyx has 50 employees and several million dollars in sales with absolutely no outside investment.  Here are some of the things I learned along the way about managing and motivating employees to reach their highest potential.

Hire Diverse

Businesses today face fierce competition on all sides.  The only way to survive in such an environment is to be relentlessly creative.

Cloud computing is the buzzword of the day, but what does it really mean to you and your business?  For many companies, it means lower investment costs, greater ROI and increased efficiency.  Here are some of the ways that businesses today are maximizing the benefits of cloud computing as well as tips on how you can do the same.

What is the Future of Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing, which is defined by Wikipedia as “Internet-based computing whereby shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on-demand,” is definitely here to stay. In fact, Gartner has predicted that by 2012, one-fifth of all businesses will own no IT assets at all. The ongoing development of cloud computing will take many forms and smart businesses will learn how to leverage it in order to succeed.

The term 'cloud computing' often includes a number of services under its umbrella, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and managed service providers.

All business owners hear these days is how important social media is.  Yet understanding how tools like Twitter and Facebook can be used for your particular business model is often difficult. In March of 2010, my company, Journyx, launched a Twitter campaign. For every day in March, we announced coupon codes on Twitter that could be redeemed for prizes such as free licenses to our software, an iPod, a Kindle, tickets to a local music festival, USB drives, and more. 

Though this was a first-time experiment, we tripled the followers of @JournyxInc. The news was announced on more than 200 websites and the campaign landing page we set up got nearly 2,000 hits. Overall, the campaign was a big success.  These followers who joined during March have stuck around, and now they keep up with news about our company. 

How can you use social media tools to increase awareness about your business? It starts with knowing who your audience is, what tools they use, and what types of content/promotions they will respond to best.

From 1945 to 1965, the financial market in the U.S. moved upward. It then moved sideways until 1982, and up again until 2000. Right now, we are engaged in another great sideways movement. It could continue for another decade or so, and as businesses fail and members of congress pound their fists, it is natural to fear for the future.

These types of fears can be especially dangerous for businesses, as management often makes unwise decisions out of panic. For example, they might cut employees or reduce spending on various programs that are good for the economy. Consequently, many companies that slash costs in response to an economic recession find themselves unable to achieve top-line growth when the recession ends.

Extreme cutting of people and projects can be avoided, or at the very least, they can be performed with more intelligent precision. All that are required to handle such problems the right way are per-customer per-project profitability metrics.

Like many of you reading this, I run a software company. (We make time tracking and resource management software solutions, in case you were wondering.) As you know, keeping all departments in your company humming along at a steady pace with no glitches is no easy task. A software company's IT department is easily one of the most critical areas. Their job includes putting out a lot of fires, often at all hours of the day and night. Following is a list that my IT Manager and I compiled in regards to the most critical things that every IT department needs to do, regardless of a good, bad or indifferent economy:

1) The absolute #1 on a list that cannot be removed is telecommunications. As a software company, a reliable, responsive company that provides a 24x7 dial tone is paramount to us. Calling prospects and providing support to customers happens 99% over the phone.

In the event of a down economy, many companies start looking for ways to cut costs. This can include anything from reducing spending on various programs to cutting employees, yet such drastic measures are often unnecessary and harmful to the company's future. And yet, if you could simply figure out where your company is profitable and where it's not, you could simply choose to do more of the profitable work.

Planning for Profit

Companies need data to help them make future decisions. For example, how many executives really know which projects were successful? Which clients were a drain and which ones were profitable? How many employees worked on each project, and for how long?

If executives have this information in hand while planning future projects and budgets, they can make much more informed, cost-saving decisions. Here is a five-step process that can help you do so, especially in a down economy where every penny counts.

Secure management strategies are nearly always summed up in terms reflecting a creative mindset. Thinking “outside the box” and coming up with “new, innovative techniques” is often the expectation and praise lauded on elite executives. Of course, there is great value to these attributes. The human element of management – that being the skill acquired from personal talent and the knowledge that comes with experience – separates the great managers from the mediocre. However, the development of these methods is only one aspect of a powerful managerial style. The other is a strong command of logistics.

Often shuffled into the background or carelessly delegated away, consistent logistical analysis has the ability to refine a project (or project coordinator), combining the positive results of innovation and forward-thought with the predictive ability of a hard science. Again, the key to effective long-term management strategy is consistency. That can only be achieved by keeping a close eye on all aspects of a project, team or industry.

No CEO can afford to ignore the smartphone technology trend that is changing everything about how we do business.  According to recent Morgan Stanley research, mobile internet is ramping up much faster than desktop internet did and is projected to outpace it in the next five years.[i]  It is coming on faster than any previous technology has, so you can either choose to develop a strategy and use this opportunity to your advantage, or you can fall by the wayside as your competitors take the lead.  

A Changing Landscape 

New Business Models – Smartphones are changing the way companies do business in a number of industries.  Carriers, for example, are looking for ways to keep up with the new bandwidth requirements.  In addition, smartphones have led to a regression back to client-server models.  While the web enables users to choose whatever browser they want, companies that develop software apps have to offer one for each specific phone.

Finding a timesheet solution is a difficult task for a company that’s never used timesheet software.  There is a huge learning curve that takes place in the buying process; a large amount of time taken to train employees; and communication that must happen with your provider’s support team when a problem arises.  It’s a totally new business relationship that must be developed and cultivated. 

But what if your timesheet software provider called it quits? 

This is exactly what happened to many small businesses that put their faith in Intuit Quickbooks Time Tracker.  Near the beginning of October 2011, Intuit announced that they are discontinuing Quickbooks Time Tracker & Time and Billing Manager effective December 1^st.  That only gives customers 60 days to do the impossible: pull all of their company data from the product, and find and implement a brand new time tracking solution.  Small business owners must have felt considerable panic when they heard the news.

When we started out 15 years ago, we had a simple product, no real competitors and product installation was so easy that project management for customer rollouts didn’t seem very useful to us.  Over time, as the flexibility of our products increased, we added a professional services capability to our company that was, in its earliest stages, somewhat haphazard and delivered inconsistent results to our customers.  This led to customer satisfaction issues that were a real impediment to our success as an organization.  Since delivering demonstrable customer value is the only moral way to achieve business success in our industry, we knew we had to fix this problem quickly.

Once we inculcated some repeatable processes based on project management disciplines into our delivery, we were able to go so far as to productize our initial customer rollout service.  This has been so successful that we’ve been able to strategically virtualize that service in certain instances. For example, we use a vendor to assist with every rollout that includes