The most fundamental point for examining whether or not open source is a viable path to meet business and technology goals is the Corporate Strategy Assessment engagement. This engagement consists of assessing the overall open source opportunity for your business.

Key elements include:

• Market trends – Among the elements examined are market trends and dynamics, competitive evaluations, resource requirements and opportunity costs.
• Competitive assessment – When developing an open source strategy competition needs to be examined from three perspectives; proprietary, commercial open source and non-commercial or community open source competition.
• Organizational and cultural strategy – If open source is the right path to take then considering its impact on the organization and culture is a core issue. Understanding the impact of corporate open source strategies at the operational and business unit level and carefully constructing and implementing an organizational change plan are critical for any firm moving from proprietary to open source.
• Turnaround strategies – Open source can be a path with huge potential for turning around an under performing company. But this choice can be overly enticing if the complexities and decision criteria are not thoroughly understood and examined.
• Open sourcing software – Today many firms are open sourcing their proprietary software without fully understanding the rationale, or requirements to do this successfully. Olliance Group examines each step and decision criteria and provides a map to assist in the successful open sourcing of software.

Olliance Group helps clients develop a business model incorporating open source elements and characteristics. We assist our clients in determining how to leverage proven open source business tactics within an existing business model or shape a new business model to incorporate open source fully.

Key elements include:

• Business model development – Olliance evaluates and recommends what elements of open source are appropriate to incorporate into a firm's business model. Key issues to be addressed are license vs. subscription vs. SaaS distribution models.
• License and IP strategies formulation – A core component of any open source-related business model is license evaluation and selection and development of the IP strategy.
• Product and technology review – Olliance will examine a firms overall product strategy and assist in determining what should be kept proprietary, what should be moved to open source and where core IP really resides.
• Global Channel and Partner strategy development – Key to the success of every open source company is developing a comprehensive channel strategy with the focus on the right industry partners and alignment with community activities.
• Distribution model development – The choices between direct and indirect, the balance between inside and outside sales and the ability to monetize the community are critical elements to examine.

Olliance consulting helps our clients assess, plan for, and implement their open source community strategies. We understand the key decision criteria and resource requirements that it will take to build a healthy and self-sustaining community. Olliance focuses on building communities that help grow your product and technology footprint and clearly link the community to monetization strategies.

Key elements include:

• Open Source community marketing and messaging planning – The ability to define and accurately message to the various community constituents is an important component of every community plan.
• Go-to-market planning – Olliance assists our clients in developing and implementing their community go-to-market plans
• Online community development – Olliance works with our clients to develop the plan and content for their online community properties including .orgs, exchanges, and forges, and link them to the firms' commercial sites.
• Operational Assistance – Olliance provides experienced resources to help our clients launch and grow their communities while they develop their own internal resources.

Open source offers the promise of getting to market at lower cost and faster than traditional proprietary software models. Olliance can help develop the strategies and leverage these dynamics.

Key elements include:

• Market opportunity evaluation, segmentation, messaging and value proposition development–Open source can create unique market opportunities, yet understanding what they are, how to capture them and the message and value proposition needed to reach them can be quite different from approaching traditional markets.
• Sales model development – Olliance Group consultants work with our clients to develop their direct and indirect open source sales models including pricing and sales tools evaluation and selection.
• Go-to-market planning– There are a tremendous number of details involved in developing and launching a new open source initiative, including; understanding staffing requirements, event selection, marketing, public relations and more. Olliance has experience in developing comprehensive go-to-market plans.

One of the most important aspects of a viable open source strategy is a successful channel and partner program.  Olliance Group consultants have developed channel and partner programs for some of the largest OEMs and ISVs and numerous open source companies.

Olliance provides a wide range of services around business development, from high level strategy to operational implementation and management. See our Business Development service for more information.

Key elements include:

• Target Partner Identification– Olliance understands the global open source ecosystem and can develop a target partner profile and in many cases lists of specific target partners.
• Value Proposition and Message Development– Offering the right value, and presenting it in the most appropriate context, is key to partner recruitment and Olliance has years of experience in understanding what open source partners seek.
• Program Development– Olliance helps our clients develop their partners programs, including content, pricing, offering definition and incentives.
• Community and Channel linkage– For most companies leveraging open source there is a close relationship between community and the channel. Olliance helps our clients define and maximize this link.
• Target List Development and Introductions– Olliance maintains and refines a list of potential partners and can build custom lists based upon our clients specific needs and conduct introductions where appropriate.