Australia has always competed strongly on the global stage. From homegrown success stories like Afterpay and Canva to our vibrant business scene, Australia ranks highly when it comes to entrepreneurship (sixth globally, in fact). Our digital prowess is also growing, as evidenced by the burgeoning developer community, which grew 38.9% YoY locally according to GitHub’s 2021 Octoverse report.
However, the digital landscape is evolving. More and more organisations across the globe are embracing open source to drive faster innovation, enhanced agility and better code quality – and Australia needs to follow suit. This is especially important when considering Australian firms invest less in R&D compared to global peers. There is also evidence to suggest that large firms aren’t as rich in intangible assets like patents and trademarks. And while open source use is growing, enterprises have been slow to fully embrace it.
For businesses trying to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change around the world, open source is a necessity – it is the future of software, plain and simple. Today 99% of all software projects globally contain a component of open source. How quickly Australia can innovate is really dependent on how fast we can increase adoption and meaningfully use open source.
Innovation drives business growth
Australia has, in the past, adopted a timid approach to technology development, where we let other markets blaze the trail for us to follow. Even today, the software development process remains traditional for many local businesses – developer teams go through the painfully linear cycle of planning, provisioning, testing, deployment and maintenance before they can finally react to the business need.
One major difference with developing software using open source is that it’s primarily a community effort. As opposed to starting from scratch, developers can collaborate with the community to source code that is already there, build on it and accelerate the time to develop and deploy. Forward looking companies have realised that the same culture that drives faster innovation in the open source community also drives faster innovation inside the organisation.
By bringing the same working practices within the organisation as well – a practice called ‘innersourcing’ – businesses can focus on new challenges, build on existing code, and reduce duplication, breaking down barriers and achieving faster collaboration. In a nutshell – it means teams can share skills and ideas across the entire organisation and ship faster.
This culture of collaborative software development is also creating a new paradigm of innovative companies that give more back to open source than they take from it. Small businesses and startups are now able to ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’ by building on world-leading projects.
Innovation that’s secure
By driving collaboration and implementing the latest technology tools, developers are enabled to
code securely and fix vulnerabilities as they happen. This approach – known as DevSecOps – weaves code security into every stage of the software development lifecycle, enabling developers to ship secure innovation, faster.
Recruiting the best developers
Open source allows enterprises to access a pool of global talent, making it easier to tap into a broader set of skills and attract the world’s best candidates. Developers at the top of their game also want to work in open source, and in these environments are inspired to do their greatest work. “Contributing to open source gives developers a sense of pride. You get to contribute something, even if it’s small, to something that helps a lot of people. You’re working together to solve problems together, which is what I like,” explains Clint Chester, the Developer lead for Synergy, Western Australia’s largest energy retailer and generator. Ultimately, organisations that attract and keep strong developer talent will be the ones best placed to achieve success in their innovation journeys.
While the idea of collaboration is as old as time, today open source makes it possible to do it meaningfully, in a secure and reliable network, and in a way that drives fast innovation. Open source isn’t just ‘here to stay’. It’s become the de facto way to build and ship code, as used by the world’s most successful companies – and it’s time for Australia to follow suit.