SME organisations are particularly prone to lock-in from proprietary solutions, they frequently do not possesses internal ICT skills to challenge external proposals, and are heavily dependent on the skills and competencies of their external solution and support partners. EC research indicates SMEs have the most to gain from such open solutions (including those built on Free Software/open source).

Certified Open® programme enables SMEs to:

• Ensure that purchasing decisions take open standards and the potential for lock-in into account when purchasing decisions are made.

• Ensure that managers can manage the skills of their staff and provide a lifelong learning environment as the basis for professionalism.

• Allows effective choice of partners when outsourcing support, integration or services.

• Maximise speed and implementation of new innovation into the business.

• Benefit from lower cost alternatives.

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