Over the last few years we have seen enterprise interest in open source technology grow exponentially. Some of the world’s biggest and most well-known companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have adopted open source philosophies. In fact, Sony, The Grammy Foundation, CBS, and NBC have all developed their websites using open code (Forbes). Even the public sector seems to have a growing fondness for open source.



According to a recent survey 78% of respondents said their companies run part or all of its operations on OSS and 66% said their company creates software for customers built on open source. This is almost double the number of respondents – 42%--said in 2010 that they used open source in the running of their business or their IT environment.”



Based on these trends, it’s clear that businesses are turning to open source, but why? One can only assume it has something to do with scalability, ease of deployment, security, and a significantly higher ROI potential. CIOs and decision-makers can tweak open software to suit their unique business requirements, and own their IP, which means differentiating themselves from the competition.



Open source isn’t the only thing picking up speed, cloud adoption is skyrocketing too.



It’s estimated that by 2016, 65% of enterprise organizations will commit to hybrid cloud, and by 2017 20% of enterprises will see enough value in community-driven open source standards to deploy them strategically. Source



Still not sure if open source is the right move? How about this: International Data Corporation, or IDC, expects significant standardization across critical elements of IaaS and PaaS (across OpenStack, Cloud Foundry and Docker) between 2015-2017. This will make it easier for CIOs to take on open source cloud projects. This is a huge indication that enterprises are interested in cloud and open source.



As a result of these findings, it’s safe to assume that more and more businesses will seek the help of cloud IT services providers in the near future. IT teams will strengthen their relationships with cloud vendors while the open source market keeps maturing.



“Currently, 42% of IT decision makers are planning to increase spending on cloud computing in 2015, with the greatest growth in enterprises with over 1,000 employees (52%). Moreover, it is predicted that by 2018, more than 60% of enterprises will have at least half of their infrastructure on cloud-based platforms. “Forbes.



“Cloud is now integral to business with 45% of executives saying they currently or plan to run their business in the cloud," --Michael Skok, General Partner, North Bridge Venture partners. Source



While the push for cloud infrastructure grows, large enterprises will deploy cloud solutions like Amazon Web Services (AWS) in their business environments to improve agility, reduce costs, and exceed customer expectations.



Ultimately, as open source evolves and merges with cloud, more and more enterprises will turn to the scalability, innovation, security, and cost effectiveness of open source. Will you?

Statistics taken from Forbes and Digitalisation World, Businesswire, Pressebox, Black Duck Software and Computer Weekly.