In the past, it’s been Business Accounting needs that were most drawn to open source business intelligence software because of the cost. Where many small businesses simply can’t afford top of the line proprietary software, open course accounting software has been the way to keep costs down. Interestingly, more and more small businesses, as well as large ones, are turning to open source accounting software and business intelligence software for many more reasons than cutting operational costs.

A study done by Ventana Research based in San Mateo, California set out to discover what current attitudes are toward open source accounting and business intelligence tools. After surveying 320 business and IT professionals, the results showed some very interesting things about the growing popularity of open source business management software.

Of the 320 professionals surveyed, a whopping 83% said that they had deployed, or were about to deploy an open source business intelligence software of some kind. Nearly half the participants represented small companies with less than $100 million in annual revenue, 20% represented mid0sized business with annual revenues less than $1 billion and 22% worked with Global 2000 companies.

Surprisingly, the top reason for going with open source small business accounting software was not the lower license costs. The primary reason companies cited for choosing an open source suite were that a primary developer’s interest deemed a particular open source suite more appropriate for the company’s particular needs. While many companies currently using open source accounting software have only deployed internal open source systems, the number of 1,000-user deployments are expected to grow two to three times over the next year.

As business owners value a balance of cost and flexibility, the open source business management suites are really starting to compete with their commercial counterparts. It’s this same mingling of lower cost and greater flexibility that are turning more managers toward open source tools.

If it’s going to take a little bit of customization to make an open source accounting suite work for a company, and in the same fell swoop the application can be made to custom fit said company’s exact needs, on top of which the company will save hundreds or thousand of dollars as contrasted to the commercial juggernaut accounting suites, it’s easy to see why more companies are taking a look at open source business intelligence software.