Linux Business Presentations

[jabr at blu.org (John Abreau)]

To paraphrase Eric Raymond, talking about selling the idea of Open Source
to corporate CEOs:

    Language is important; image is important. In fact, in the domain 
    we're talking about now, it's more important that reality....
    ....
    ....You need to think about learning some business school jargon.
    So instead of walking into a CIO's office and saying,
        "Free software is really cool! We ought to use it!"
    you can say things like,
        "You know, if you were to go with something with the proven
        high mean-time-between-failures of the Linux kernel, you'd
        be reducing your business risks pretty substantially."

I think Eric has some good points. You want to emphasize how Linux
will reduce business risks, how it will help profits go up and risks
go down. Emphasize the risks of being at the wrong end of a monopoly
relationship, and how Linux reduces those risks by giving you back control
of your own business; you can choose from multiple suppliers, you're not
stuck with support only being available from the supplier you used, 
and if the other companies disappear, you have all the source code, so
you still have the option of hiring some techies to support the software
in-house, rather than having to either rip out and replace the now-defunct
infrastructure or run it completely unsupported. You also don't have a 
supplier demanding that you upgrade on their schedule or lose support.

It's all about reducing risks, reducing costs, and regaining control of
your own destiny. That's the kind of language that business types can
relate to.


Bobnhlinux at aol.com writes:

> People,
> 
> In my continuing attempts to push Linux past the currents limits,
> "To infinity, & beyond...", I am trying to push the benefits, not the
> name. I am trying to place Linux boxes for PHBs & other
> nontechnical people. I am trying to gather lists of these benefits in 
> PHB language.
> 
> For instance, when I talk about using Linux for email, I talk about:
> email addresses for every member of the staff
> info at foo.org (autoresponders)
> updating data bases by email
> etc.
> 
> This is the level of detail we have to mention to get non-techies
> interested. Actually, it's not the level of detail, but paying attention
> to what it can do for them, not how it does it.
> I am as guilty of the latter as anybody.
> 
> THE CHALLENGE!
> We need lists of benefits like this, not the technical detail I have
> been pushing to the techies. What unique PHB benefits can we
> pitch for Linux, backing them up?
> You can do your usual thing & flame each other on the list,
> or email me. I will post summary(s).
> I will not don the usual asbestos underwear. It's been a long
> winter. I enjoy the warm(?) discussions, that stuff is itchy,
> & I have gotten this strange cough.
> (Can you claim workmen's comp for wearing virtual asbestos
> to protect from email flames)?
> 
> To the swords/pens, attack!
> Bob Sparks
> Never attribute to malice, that which can be explained by stupidity.
> Never attribute to stupidity, that which can be explained by lack of 
> information.
> 
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--
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix 
ICQ 28611923 / AIM abreauj / JABBER jabr at jabber.org / YAHOO abreauj
Email jabr at blu.org / WWW http://www.blu.org


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