Yuuguu finds a home in the world of open source

Open source software is at the heart of what one of its luminaries, Tim O'Reilly, labelled as 'web 2.0'. It relies on the concept of people working together to create and improve technology - of 'the power of collective intelligence'. Unfortunately, for businesses like McBoss that operate in this sector, open source also counts being free as one of its outstanding features. That means - while McBoss needs tools to help its developers and customers stay in constant contact - costs must be absolutely minimal. That has made Yuuguu crucial to the way it does business.

McBoss, a New Zealand-based business founded by a group of enterprise software experts, is putting Yuuguu at the heart of its plan to offer its own suite of open source software applications to enterprises.

The McBoss manifesto is to package together sets of its favourite open source applications - from a variety of platforms - to create complete suites of software for companies. The suite can include ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management), document management, and much more - and in all of which its group of partners have years of experience.

But, while it has many customers far from its Auckland home, that necessitate constant communication between developers and client in far-flung locations, McBoss also has to handle the expectation of free that comes with working in open source.

McBoss managing director Peter Milsom explains: "We recognised a need for a better method of supporting clients, managing installations and extending their education. We have people we support in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA and South Africa. Open source brings with it an expectation of low cost and so finding new methods of doing support and training was going to be a crucial element of making progress with our plans and meeting open source customers' cost expectations."

"The biggest advantage with open source - besides cost - is the ability to change the function and even appearance of the application. With everyone being remote the travel budget traditionally absorbs a fair percentage of costs. But, our aim is to keep all expenditure focused on advancing the client's cause and delivering on the value of open source. Yuuguu allows us to be nearly as close as a personal visit with none of the attendant costs. It ups the value of the relationship considerably."

As a result, Yuuguu has found its way into almost every stage of the project process. Milsom says: "We demonstrate capability, unravel functional complications, and demonstrate prototypes, train, hold meetings to plot new releases or discuss alternative approaches to functionality."

But, even being able to do all this, he says is not what makes Yuuguu stand out most. For, since McBoss wants its customers and developers focused on the complexities of open source projects rather than on their means of communication, Milsom rates the simplicity of the Yuuguu package most highly.

"[Its ease of use] is Yuuguu's best feature to our way of thinking," he says. "The process of getting a client operating is usually so simple that almost no preparation has to be made and the installation and connection steps are easily committed to memory. It makes first use a doddle."

All this has made Milsom and his colleagues consider how they can extend the concept of collaborative working using Yuuguu as a platform.

"Increasingly, we are headed to getting a full remote installation. Sale, analysis, pilot, development and training - all are able to be done without having to go to the site," he says.

McBoss is demonstrating how, in the world of open source where free collaboration is the driving force, Yuuguu - a technology built to enable free and easy collaboration - has found a natural home.