Saving Money Upgrading Office with Open Source

Recently OPENRSM did a software upgrade for a business as they moved to Windows7.  And we saved this company significantly by upgrading their Office with Open Source Alternatives.  Using our emphasis on Business Engineering, OPENRSM evaluated the documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and even normal email coming in and out of the business.  And with this information it was determined that upgrading the Office applications did not make economic or operational sense when quality Open Source alternatives exist.

The Open Source Alternative is a direct replacement for Office, can both read and write Office documents, can write directly to .pdf format, and integrates well with the existing network, printers, etc.  Also key in the decision is that very little training is required.  Users were instantly productive with the Open Source Alternative.

Also note that this is a small incremental step.  The OPENRSM Customer saves significant money on a software upgrade now, and repeats this savings far into the future.  No upheaval in the operation of the business at all (in fact, it takes less time to install the Open Source Alternative than performaing an Office upgrade).

Here’s the financial breakdown:

Office Upgrade $239.00 per install + labor ($32.00) = $271.00 per computer

LibreOffice        $    0.00 per install + labor & Training =  $  65.00 per computer

Savings per computer = $174.00 per computer

Now, it is important to note that the upgrade cost on Office depends on which version(s) of Office your already using (which also affects how much time an individual upgrade takes).  This cost was for this particular business.  But not to worry, OPENRSM will meet with you and help you evaluate the technical feasability, and  what your direct and indirect costs and savings would be.

Send us a note and we’ll work with you to determine just how much you can save by upgrading your Office with Open Source Alternatives that will be suitable for your business.