Open or Closed Relationship: Which One is Right for You?

Open source software has come a long way in the last few decades. What was once just a mash of code lying around that lacked features and actual usefulness and usability, can now be full-fledged solutions for individuals and companies alike. Is an open source based software solution right for you or your contact center though? Let’s compare a few points of interest.

1. Cost: This is really the big topic here. Commercial software suites are going to be significantly more expensive that an open source based solution, like Q-Suite. Leveraging well-established, industry favoured open source products like Asterisk and Apache will dramatically decrease your initial costs of getting a contact center solution off the ground.
2. Customization: As far as open source software is concerned, everyone is essentially an owner of the software and can make and design custom features and changes to the code base if they wish. This of course will require some form of subject matter expertise from the person doing these things. Code base changes and additions can be submitted to the company that controls the software product and can even be implemented into the end product so that any and all parties who wish to use the software can use these new modules. Closed source solutions would require requests made to the entity that owns the software and would allow for almost no level of freedom to make custom edits.
3. Knowledge Base: While they may be a huge user base for a commercial product, it’s almost certain that there will be more information more widely available on the internet in regards to the open source products. Users of open source software tend to be more vocal, creative, and supportive of other users when it comes to helping out with questions and even troubleshooting.