Succeeding with Open Source

Open Source Professional Services Overview

Although we have discussed services several times thus far in the book, it has always been in the context of an open source company that provides consulting as part of its business. In this chapter, the focus is on companies whose raison d'être is providing professional services. You might know them as consulting firms or system integrators. They are part of the huge business of helping companies solve their IT problems. Well-known professional services firms include Accenture, IBM Global Services, and EDS. However, these are the giants in the field. Professional service firms range from tiny to enormous, from actual mom-and-pop operations all the way to globe-straddling behemoths.

This chapter focuses ...