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Though the adoption of open source BI is certainly not on a large scale, pockets of adoption—primarily in the SME segment—are sprouting up in India
By Srikanth RP
Globally, open source BI solutions are in huge demand, with interest picking up in a huge way during the recession. Open source BI products from vendors such as Pentaho and Jaspersoft have evolved from being community-driven tools to being backed up by support from professional service vendors. In India, awareness levels are low and the market is at a nascent stage. However, the potential for adoption is huge—especially among SMEs—a market that is made of over 6 million Indian enterprises, contributing to 42 percent of India’s total exports.
“Many Indian SMEs need BI tools but cannot afford them primarily due to their high costs. With open sourcing, these BI tools are now within their reach,” says Prakash Advani, Partner Manager for Central Asia, Canonical. The primary motivation is undoubtedly cost, since there are no license fees associated with open source BI solutions.
However, it must also be noted that most open source BI implementations are taking place in green field implementations, and not at the cost of proprietary BI solutions. “As companies from the SME sector are extremely price sensitive, they see no risk in going for open source BI tools. However, most of my customers do not look for a BI tool per se—they are looking for a solution. If the solution is based on open source BI tools, they are fine with it as long as they like the solution,” says Himanshu Sharma, Founder, BusinessInsights Consulting, a firm offering solutions on the open source Pentaho BI stack.
Typically, Sharma says that most companies who adopt open source BI tools are those that have no history of BI tools in the company. In India, the company has 10 customers using open source BI solutions. The firm’s clients include HRS Process Systems (Asia Division), Weikfield Foods, Manav Promoters, Polychem & Cleanhome and NB Entrepreneurs.
Price – the prime reason
With close to a 50 percent price differential between proprietary and open source BI solutions, SMEs tend to prefer open source BI. Additionally, some of the open source BI solutions also offer most of the basic functionality that proprietary BI solutions offer. This is a tempting proposition for companies in the SMB segment. For example, Manav Promoters, a firm engaged in the construction space, uses open source solutions from the Pentaho BI product suite for its reporting needs, as this solution fits the company’s requirements far more than proprietary vendors would.
“For a medium-size firm like us, cost is a prime reason for choosing an open source BI solution. The added advantage is customization, as our requirements in the construction industry are extremely different from that which is offered by standard BI vendors,” says Rupesh Banthia, Director, Manav Promoters.
Says Prem Kakani, Business Manager (APAC), Saama Technologies (India), “While interest in the SME segment is huge, large companies are still not sure of adopting open source BI solutions. Some enterprises are afraid of what will happen to future releases of the product, if there is not enough community support.”
Saama Technologies is one of the world’s largest pure-play BI services companies, and has executed hundreds of BI projects in the US, Europe and Asian markets. Many of these projects have been executed using the Pentaho BI product stack. However, although the domestic market has immense potential in India, the actual adoption rate is significantly less when compared to its global reach. The company has close to five customers in India who use open source BI solutions.
Just like the Linux OS which took years before actual adoption started percolating down in Indian enterprises, the open source BI movement too requires a few poster boys. Once that happens, expect the trickle seen now to convert into a flood.
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