5. Where We Were
• Proprietary CMS
developed in 2007
• Same CMS used
2007-2010 – we were
stuck
• Expensive updates
and upgrades
• Fewer developers able
to work on the CMS
• Declining usability,
accessibility
7. All that we wanted to be:
• Leaders in ICT – setting
the trends in Qatar
• Constituent focused –
user friendly and
accessible
• Agile and flexible
• Less reliant on
consultants – build in-
house capacity
• BUT also secure and Source: Flickr, â–“â–’â–‘ TORLEY â–‘â–’â–“
resilient
8. The Solution: Open Source and Drupal
• No vendor lock-in
• A larger pool of designers and
developers – and ones we could
hire!
• Built-in features that were constantly
being upgraded by the community
• Ability to quickly upgrade,
modernize as web trends evolve
9. And of course it’s for the greater good!
• Open source keeps knowledge and
innovation moving forward
• A major contributor to the Arabic
developer community
• ictQATAR is committed to growing
an open source developer
community in Qatar
• AND supports digital openness in
general
13. Reflections on our experience – we are
reformed (mostly)
• Overall, the migration to Drupal went fairly
smoothly
• Very limited errors, “bugs” upon launch
• User feedback has been very positive
• Regular upgrades, tweaks, and modifications
since – without breaking the bank
• In-house team leading many projects now
• No security breaches or issues
• Advances have been shared with the
community
• AND we aren’t locked in (mostly)!
14. But of course there were some
challenges…
• The Arabic developer
community is not as developed
for as other communities in both
Drupal and WordPress
• Open Source can take more
time – off-the-shelf is
sometimes easier
• With a highly customized site,
incumbent developer still has a
leg up
Source: Flickr Bludgeoner86
