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Slow growth in Latin American countries in recent years has stood open source software giant RedHat in good stead as companies seek to reduce costs and innovate to create new business models.

"Often what is a limitation to certain companies during an economic downturn, like budget cuts, is favorable for us. We're not so exposed to economic fluctuations. We're counter cyclical," Adrián Cambareri (pictured) Latin America region manager for Red hat's infrastructure business group, told BNamericas, speaking on the sidelines of the RedHat Forum in Santiago, Chile.

According to the executive, RedHat has been growing 20% yearly globally and at a similar rate in Latin America.

The executive said that open source is no longer seen as something taboo "that you hide under the desk" or which does not provide the same guarantees for corporate users as proprietary software.

"Now it is seen to be just as robust, secure and capable of meeting compliance standards as proprietary software," Cambareri said.

In today's world of digital transformation, open source software has come to be seen as the best bet for rapidly adapting to new technology trends as it allows a large community of developers to create new applications that can then be converted into enterprise grade products. This contrasts with the "lock-in" mentality of proprietary software where the only innovation can come from the company that created it.

"Typically companies reinvest a maximum of 10% of the their income in R&D. With open source there is no limit, the whole community is constantly innovating," Cambareri said.

"It's no surprise that 12 of the top 20 companies worldwide in terms of revenue are digital native companies whose technology is based on open source," he added.

"If traditional companies want to compete with these digital natives they have speed up their rate of innovation through open source software."

"Open source used to be just seen as the more economical option to do things, especially for governments. Over time that perception has changed and open source has taken the lead in terms of innovation."

Adoption is being seen across the board but in particular in the financial services (fintechs), retail healthcare, telecommunications and government.

Brazil, Mexico and Peru have been among the fastest adopters.