It is a fact that though open source software gained immense popularity with developer communities working on Linux, Apache and MySQL. However, is it possible that open source application has failed to gain mainstream acceptance?

According to industry experts, despite the backing of passionate developer communities and commercial value propositions, businesses seem to be unwilling to invest in open-source enterprise applications. The question now being studied by industry experts is why enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and application have taken some time for mass acceptance.

With open source applications, businesses make a profit by generally doing away with vendor control, which becomes too costly. It is this desire to break free from vendor lock-in, which led many enterprises to switch to open source. The question is, if a vendor is aware of this can it do something differently, to make ERP?

Aplicor, a company specializing in Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, believes its possible. It must be doing something right, since it recently closed on a $1.25 million equity round. Aplicor product evolution plans to fulfill the original vision of complete front-to-back-office hosted business systems based on a subscription pricing model and implemented in a fraction of the time and cost of comparable applications. Achieving lasting success requires users to think beyond building a system which retains volumes of data and instead focus on how to actually use that information to advance customer relationships and create competitive advantage.

It is this thinking beyond the software and system that will shape the future of open source ERP software and help it gain main stream acceptance.

TMC’s (News - Alert) Susan Campbell recently reminded the main stream that an ERP system can deliver significant value to the organization as they help with the overhaul and automation of business processes. While this strategic investment is a good move for any company, it is important to invest in the right system and select the right vendor partner if success is to be assured. A recent FOCUS white paper presented the ERP System Buyer’s Guide to help in the process. It was designed to enable business decision makers to quickly identify individual ERP needs, as well as to effectively communicate those needs to vendors. Once information is gathered to this point, the decision maker must then compare the various products that meet their needs and make a decision that best fits with their environment.