Enterprise open source software is the key to innovation

Those who follow the latest developments in enterprise technology will agree that open source software is the beating heart of every major computing platform on the planet. In a world that is moving faster than ever before, innovation and the ability to rapidly adapt are key to business success and survival. By leveraging the skills and power of the open source community – a community that has grown and thrived for over three decades – it’s possible to bring amazing products to market faster than ever before.

It’s impossible to not see the world today other than through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual The State of Enterprise Open Source 2022 Report found that 92% of the almost 1300 IT leaders surveyed feel enterprise open source solutions are important to addressing their COVID-related challenges.

One of the findings from the report is the growing use of and interest in enterprise open source, that demonstrats it doesn’t matter whether businesses embrace private, public or hybrid cloud solutions, open source tools like Operate First, Fedora, and Kubernetes are at the heart of almost every business infrastructure. This is because of open source community’s level of flexibly and proven track record for solving problems and sharing those solutions. Open source is instrumental in an organisation’s ability to take advantage of hybrid cloud architectures and ensure access to the latest innovations. As a result, more than four in every five IT leaders are likely to choose vendors that actively contribute to the open source community.

Infrastructure modernisation and digital transformation are no longer projects. These are ongoing initiatives organisations commit to so they can compete and thrive in dynamic markets where customers demand highly personalised services delivered through multiple channels at any time from almost any device. Every industry vertical knows that the path to long-term viability and success lies in being able to quickly adapt to changing market and customer needs.

Businesses want to know that tools they choose are reliable, well-maintained and at the leading edge of development and innovation so they can leverage a broad spectrum of expertise to stay ahead of their competition. The report finds industries such as financial services, telecommunications, health and retail expect their usage of proprietary software will decrease with enterprise and community-based open source solutions becoming an increasingly important part of their software portfolio moving forward. 80% of leaders across the board expect to increase their use of enterprise open source software for emerging technologies with almost the same amount saying they have a more positive perception of enterprise open source than they did a year ago.

Security is another major factor for this increased trust as open source solutions have a proven track record for delivering higher quality software with access to the latest innovations and better security than many proprietary solutions. There is growing understanding of the open source development model as almost nine in every ten IT leaders believe that open source software is at least as secure as proprietary solutions. Further, more than half the leaders surveyed recognise that when it comes to open source, security patches are well-documented with many reporting their confidence is boosted as they can audit source code themselves and that the code they deploy has been reviewed by many people.

With AI and machine learning moving from the realms of science fiction into the mainstream, it’s not surprising to see 71% of leaders embracing open source solutions in these new projects. In fact, four in five IT leaders expect to increase their use of enterprise open source software for emerging technologies including edge computing and IoT, serverless computing and the use of containers.

There is no doubt that enterprise open source software is at the forefront of innovation. It is the foundation that enables organisations across every vertical to embrace emerging technologies to become more agile and adapt to rapidly changing business conditions and customer expectations. It is at the heart of private, public and hybrid cloud infrastructure.

If you’re on your digital transformation journey and would like to know more on how you can leverage enterprise open source, Red Hat® Summit 2022 is a great place to start. The annual flagship event will see Red Hat customers, partners and associates from across the globe sharing the latest and greatest innovations in enterprise open source. It’s an opportunity to hear about their successes and learn from them. You’ll also be on the spot as announcements of new services and innovations are made, enabling you get on the front foot as to prepare to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Sign up now to explore all the ways you can participate in the Red Hat® Summit 2022 experience taking place May 10-11, 2022.