Evaluating the Risks of Free Software Providers

April 5 2011, 10:55am

Considerations when evaluating free vs. subscription-based services As campuses are deciding how to best allocate their finances for the upcoming year in the midst of nation-wide budget cuts, more and more campuses are beginning to look at free, open source solutions to fulfill their technology needs. A common frustration for campuses is justifying the difference between a subscription-based service, such as OrgSync, and free solutions. This post is intended to help our current and future campus partners understand the risks and pitfalls that are inherent with choosing a free solution. Something free today doesn’t necessarily mean it will be free tomorrow. When free solutions begin earning traction and user growth, the results will inevitably increase expenditures such as data storage, bandwidth, servers, etc. Because companies simply can’t print money, they need to find ways to keep their businesses up and running. Raising capital is always an option, but even those companies eventually have to generate revenue to stay alive. What happens to the majority of free websites is that once they have burned through all their cash and exhausted their final efforts to continue operations, they have to lay off their staff and eventually shut down their servers. One of the main advantages of choosing a subscription-based service over a free one is that a free service is not obligated to continually develop their product and expand the capabilities to serve the customers’ growing and changing needs. Even when companies build the most amazing products, they still need to have the business intelligence and ability to capitalize on it.  Privacy is another major concern for higher education institutions, especially as it relates to FERPA, a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Going with a subscription-based solution minimizes the risk of exploiting student data to the hands of outsiders and ensures the security of student and university data. Free solutions that need to sustain their company and generate revenue for their investors are likely to turn to advertisers in order to generate income. Some solutions may even sell their database of information to advertisers targeting university students or campus administrators. Free is not always “free.” In order to generate revenues, many free, open-sourced vendors have chosen to charge for a variety of services. It is important to understand the total cost of ownership for such solutions to properly evaluate on-going expenses. The total cost of ownership is the sum of all costs associated with implementing a free solution. Hidden fees that should be considered include: cost of installation (staff time or consulting), hardware purchases (servers and storage), training costs (students and staff), and maintenance fees (annual maintenance fees, support, and product upgrades). This entire spectrum of expenses should be considered when evaluating software solutions.

Evaluating the advantages and risks of a free system must be a key element in deciding which software vendor to choose.

The OrgSync Difference OrgSync’s business model has proven itself over the past four years and our revenue generation allows us to guarantee we will be in business to reliably deliver the products and services our customers demand. Our 175 campus partners do not worry about OrgSync going out of business, nor do they worry about the security of their student data. We put a strong focus on the continued development of the OrgSync platform and collaborate regularly with our campus partners to ensure we are continuing to meet their needs as well as the needs of higher education.