Towards Overcoming the Barriers to Open-Source Software Adoption in Traditional Industries

Abstract

Traditional industries, such as automotive or logistics, face the challenge of digital transformation. Diverse barriers, for example, missing business strategies or the slow adoption of new technologies, complicate the industries’ transition to “Industry 4.0”. The software industry has a rich tradition of using open-source (OS) components to fuel digitalization and standardization. The OS concept leverages the innovation potentials of the OS community and fuels the dissemination of new technologies. However, up until now, ‘traditional’ industries have left these potentials mostly untapped as they focus their business on proprietary assets, neglecting the strategic benefits of OS. This study aims to develop an action guide to fuel the adoption of the OS concept for strategic purposes based on a structured literature review and an interview study resulting in an ISM analysis. The preliminary results analyze the existing OS barriers and their interrelationships to develop an action guide that tackles all identified barriers efficiently.