The document discusses the UK government's mandate for all government bodies to comply with Open Standards Principles to make government IT more open, flexible and cost-effective. It defines open standards and open architectures, and discusses the benefits of open standards such as reduced vendor lock-in and costs, smaller and shorter IT projects, and increased innovation and opportunities for small businesses. The private sector does not have a mandate but also stands to benefit from these advantages by adopting open architectures.

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Open Architectures
Lessons From the Public Sector

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Open Standards:
Open Opportunities - flexibility and efficiency
in government IT
From 1st November 2012 Francis Maude,
Minister for Cabinet Office, announced
that all government bodies must
comply with Open Standards Principles,
an agreed set of standards to make
government IT more open, more
cost-effective and better connected.

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Open Standards:
Open Opportunities - flexibility and efficiency
in government IT
Government must be better connected to
the people it serves and partners who can work
with it - especially small businesses, voluntary
and community organisations. Having open
information and software that can be used across
government departments will result in lower
licensing costs in government IT, and reduce the
cost of lock-in to suppliers and products.
- Francis Maude

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Definitions
An Open Standard
is a publicly available
standard - often for
interfaces - such
that systems that
comply with it should
be able to interoperate
appropriately.

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Definitions
An Open Standard
is a publicly available
standard - often for
interfaces - such
that systems that
comply with it should
be able to interoperate
appropriately.
An Open Architecture
applies to a system in
which the architecture
is published in sufficient
detail to enable change
and subsequent evolution
through the introduction
or replacement of modules
and/or components from
any supplier.

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A world without standards

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A world without standards
What would the world be like
without standards?
Imagine if when you bought
a car you could only use fuel
from a certain garage. You
have a Shell garage within a
couple of miles of your house
so you buy a car that can run
on Shell fuel.

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A world without standards
What would the world be like
without standards?
Imagine if when you bought
a car you could only use fuel
from a certain garage. You
have a Shell garage within a
couple of miles of your house
so you buy a car that can run
on Shell fuel.
Now what happens if Shell
decide to push their prices up
out of line with the other fuel
vendors?
Well you could change your
car in protest but the cost of
change would likely outweigh
the benefit you might yield
from an alternative vendor.

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A world without standards
What would the world be like
without standards?
Imagine if when you bought
a car you could only use fuel
from a certain garage. You
have a Shell garage within a
couple of miles of your house
so you buy a car that can run
on Shell fuel.
Now what happens if Shell
decide to push their prices up
out of line with the other fuel
vendors?
Well you could change your
car in protest but the cost of
change would likely outweigh
the benefit you might yield
from an alternative vendor.
And what if you wanted to move
house and the nearest Shell
station was 50 miles away?
The hassle and expense of
incorporating a 100 mile round
trip to fill the car up, or the cost
of changing the car might be
enough to persuade you not to
move. You’re locked in.

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Locked in
Vendor lock-in is when customers are dependent on a single
manufacturer or supplier for products and cannot move to
another vendor without substantial costs and/or inconvenience.
This dependency is typically a result of standards that are
controlled by the vendor.

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Locked in
Vendor lock-in is when customers are dependent on a single
manufacturer or supplier for products and cannot move to
another vendor without substantial costs and/or inconvenience.
This dependency is typically a result of standards that are
controlled by the vendor.
The term is commonly used in the computer industry to refer to the
situation that can occur due to a lack of compatibility between different
hardware, operating systems or file formats. Such incompatibility can be
intentional or unintentional.

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The costs of lock-in can be severe.
They can include:

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The costs of lock-in can be severe.
They can include:
Substantial inconvenience and expense of converting data to other
formats and converting to more efficient, secure and inexpensive
application programs and operating systems.

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A lack of bargaining ability to reduce prices and improve service.
The costs of lock-in can be severe.
They can include:
Substantial inconvenience and expense of converting data to other
formats and converting to more efficient, secure and inexpensive
application programs and operating systems.

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Vulnerability to forced upgrades.
A lack of bargaining ability to reduce prices and improve service.
The costs of lock-in can be severe.
They can include:
Substantial inconvenience and expense of converting data to other
formats and converting to more efficient, secure and inexpensive
application programs and operating systems.

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The corruption, or even loss, of critical data while attempting to convert it.
Vulnerability to forced upgrades.
A lack of bargaining ability to reduce prices and improve service.
The costs of lock-in can be severe.
They can include:
Substantial inconvenience and expense of converting data to other
formats and converting to more efficient, secure and inexpensive
application programs and operating systems.

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The corruption, or even loss, of critical data while attempting to convert it.
Vulnerability to forced upgrades.
A lack of bargaining ability to reduce prices and improve service.
The costs of lock-in can be severe.
They can include:
The best way for an organisation to avoid becoming a victim of vendor
lock-in is to use products that conform to free, industry-wide standards.
Substantial inconvenience and expense of converting data to other
formats and converting to more efficient, secure and inexpensive
application programs and operating systems.

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle
Evaluate closed standards
software from Vendor X
without consideration of
switching costs

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle
Evaluate closed standards
software from Vendor X
without consideration of
switching costs
Buy closed
standards software
from Vendor X

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle
Evaluate closed standards
software from Vendor X
without consideration of
switching costs
Buy closed
standards software
from Vendor X
Organisational
requirements
change/develop

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle
Evaluate closed standards
software from Vendor X
without consideration of
switching costs
Additional functionality
required from Vendor X
is very expensive and/or
not best fit £££££
Buy closed
standards software
from Vendor X
Organisational
requirements
change/develop

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle
Evaluate closed standards
software from Vendor X
without consideration of
switching costs
Preferable solution
from Vendor Y is not
interoperable with
Vendor X software
Additional functionality
required from Vendor X
is very expensive and/or
not best fit £££££
Buy closed
standards software
from Vendor X
Organisational
requirements
change/develop

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle
Evaluate closed standards
software from Vendor X
without consideration of
switching costs
Preferable solution
from Vendor Y is not
interoperable with
Vendor X software
Switching costs to
Vendor Y + Vendor
Y software costs
> than Vendor X
software costs
Additional functionality
required from Vendor X
is very expensive and/or
not best fit £££££
Buy closed
standards software
from Vendor X
Organisational
requirements
change/develop

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Vendor Lock-in
Vicious Cycle
Evaluate closed standards
software from Vendor X
without consideration of
switching costs
Preferable solution
from Vendor Y is not
interoperable with
Vendor X software
Switching costs to
Vendor Y + Vendor
Y software costs
> than Vendor X
software costs
Additional functionality
required from Vendor X
is very expensive and/or
not best fit £££££
Add to that a
reluctance to change
due to incumbent skills
and relationships
Buy closed
standards software
from Vendor X
Organisational
requirements
change/develop

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It’s not about the mandate
The mandate has doubtless
caught the attention of many
government organisations but
most are motivated by the
carrot not the stick.
Simon Mitchell, Executive Director
Strategy & Transformation at Linux consulting firm LinuxIT

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Benefits
Independent research* into the specific benefits of
the policy identified the following:
* Centre for Intellectual Property & Policy Management at
Bournemouth University

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Benefits
Independent research* into the specific benefits of
the policy identified the following:
01. Reduction
in lock-in and
associated
switching costs
* Centre for Intellectual Property & Policy Management at
Bournemouth University

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Benefits
Independent research* into the specific benefits of
the policy identified the following:
01. Reduction
in lock-in and
associated
switching costs
02. Reduction in the
size and duration of
IT projects and the
sharing and reuse of
IT across departments
* Centre for Intellectual Property & Policy Management at
Bournemouth University

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Benefits
Independent research* into the specific benefits of
the policy identified the following:
01. Reduction
in lock-in and
associated
switching costs
02. Reduction in the
size and duration of
IT projects and the
sharing and reuse of
IT across departments
03. Encouraging
innovation and
opportunities for
smaller companies to
participate in contracts
* Centre for Intellectual Property & Policy Management at
Bournemouth University

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Benefits
Independent research* into the specific benefits of
the policy identified the following:
* Centre for Intellectual Property & Policy Management at
Bournemouth University
01. Reduction
in lock-in and
associated
switching costs
02. Reduction in the
size and duration of
IT projects and the
sharing and reuse of
IT across departments
03. Encouraging
innovation and
opportunities for
smaller companies to
participate in contracts
04. Improving
business and
consumer interface
with government.

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Private Sector Benefits
The private sector has no mandate, but
never have organisations been more motivated
to reduce costs, drive innovation and improve
their customers’ experience. These benefits
are all available with transformation towards
Open Architectures. Councils, Police forces,
NHS Trusts and academic institutions are
already on the journey.

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open architectures,
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Open architectures -
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