SMEs and FOS-ERP Systems
Free/Open Source Enterprise Resource Planning (FOS-ERP) software is an emerging phenomenon having the potential to revolutionize the ERP market worldwide. This chapter focuses on the FOS-ERP market for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and aims at informing managers, scholars, students and researchers of the opportunities and the related risks for SMEs wishing to adopt and implement a FOS-ERP solution. It is widely accepted that SMEs, which have limited capital and other resources, are among the organizations to be benefited by the existence of FOS-ERP by acquiring a system similar to that used by large enterprises. At the same time there are certain risks in adopting a FOS-ERP solution such as security issues and hidden costs. Guidelines for SMEs to eliminate these risks are provided. In order to define the backdrop of FOS-ERP systems, Web 2.0, cloud computing and Open Source Software (OSS) are also discussed.