If you’re the operator or procurement decision-maker of a small or medium-sized business (SMB), you know how difficult it is to source right-size, cost-effective tech solutions.
Too often, vendors are focused on large enterprise clients with deep pockets. This big fish fixation even extends to product offerings, which can easily outstrip the needs of SMBs in features and price.
And negotiating with vendors and convincing them to separate complex product bundles so you get only what you need when you need it, and at a reasonable price, is an act of pulling teeth.
But there is hope in this otherwise maddening situation.
Open source software provides SMBs with dependable, flexible, and price-friendly options for a wide range of functions.
This is true with GPS tracking systems, commonly used by organizations to monitor and collect historic and real-time data about the geographic locations of fleet vehicles and other company assets.
Here are seven benefits of using open source GPS tracking software for your organization.
1. Scalable Solutions that Fit Your Need
As your business and fleet or tracked assets grow, so does the open source GPS tracking system.
Open source GPS is highly configurable and scalable. Implementing a solution for a small population of tracked objects, then enlarging the solution on a needs-based schedule is fast and simple.
On-demand scalability also protects your organization from the revenue-hemorrhaging downtime associated with many large system upgrades.
2. Brand Customizable User Interfaces
Open source GPS tracking software is available in white-label packages, making it easy to brand interfaces with your organization’s logo or UI design.
Employees and system-accessing clients are greeted with the same look and feel they have come to know in your application ecosystem.
3. GPS Tracking Device Independent
A good open source GPS solution is compatible with a number of GPS tracking devices.
In fact, your organization may have previously deployed tracking devices eligible for onboarding with a new open source GPS system. Companies achieve significant cost savings when there is no need to purchase GPS tracking devices to coincide with a new system or upgrade.
For example, GPSWOX, a provider of GPS software solutions and services, supports devices from industry leading manufacturers such as Aplicom, Bofan, Gator, and Sanav.
4. Robust System Support
Support and maintenance for open source software are backed by active development communities and, in many cases, software vendors. There are many support models available, guaranteeing a right fit for the needs and budgets of SMBs.
Some firms were reluctant to use open source software in the past because of its lack of affiliation with any specific “name brand” vendor.
This was never entirely true, and fortunately, the lingering doubts have long been debunked thanks to open source’s proven stability and performance matching or exceeding proprietary software.
These days, it’s quite common for the world’s biggest software firms like IBM to incorporate open source code in their commercial applications.
5. Compatible with a Range of OS Platforms
With open source GPS tracking systems, there is likely no need for your organization to purchase dedicated servers. This is an advantage over many commercial solutions that require expensive compute resources, specific OS versions, and propriety software licenses.
The open source software runs on a spectrum of supported OS platforms including common Windows editions, Apple’s Mac OS X, Unix derivatives like Solaris and FreeBSD, and various Linux flavors.
The platform flexibility allows your organization to leverage hardware assets that are already on hand or low-cost purchase options. You can also consider an open source GPS solutions provider like GPSWOX that offers cloud management services.
Either way, open source GPS tracking solutions make it possible to minimize spend during the system design and implementation stages.
6. No Compromise in Valuable Features
Going open source with your GPS tracking system doesn’t mean you sacrifice features.
Open source solutions deliver the same, if not improved, geolocation data collection, analytics, and insights your organization is accustomed to if you’re currently working with a commercial GPS tracking solution.
Meanwhile, organizations new to the GPS tracking solutions space are assured their systems match the best in the industry.
7. Highly Secure, Authenticated Security
Users access the open source GPS tracking system by logging into a web interface. Login and application sessions are hardened with multiple security layers including encryption.
Each user is provisioned a unique account and assigned their own login name and password.
Conclusion
The seven benefits here are just a few of the many advantages open source GPS systems present SMBs. These solutions save your organization money while scaling to fit your needs at every stage of growth. Maybe now is the time to go open source with your GPS tracking system.
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