Author
Dominique De Cooman
A sustainable digital platform is the best choice for delivering digital experiences. It is scalable and costs less than proprietary software. But what does such a sustainable platform mean for organizations? And how does our sustainable, open source Dropsolid Experience Platform work for organizations like Lotus, Sleeplife or Gezinsbond? The essence:
- Open source is the foundation for sustainable development and sustainable digital platforms.
- Long-term strategy and continuous improvement (CIP) deliver the greatest hidden value.
- Support and training mean additional freedom for companies.
- Sustainability is the way forward in other sectors as well.
Open source as a basis for sustainable development
At Dropsolid, we have long relied on Drupal for everything we develop. Drupal is leading open source technology that provides a flexible, sustainable foundation for just about any digital experience organizations could want.
At Dropsolid we use Drupal and our Dropsolid Platform based on it as the foundation for websites, multisite environments, e-commerce, intranet and mobile apps with a so-called headless backend. The flexibility that open source offers is essential for putting the customer or end-user at the center of the digital services of today and tomorrow.
Long-term vision delivers business value
The choice of Drupal is not accidental. Open source goes a lot further than just software to which anyone can freely contribute. The Drupal community always starts from a fundamental premise: what is the best long-term solution for web builders and organizations? And in what direction should digital services evolve?
In doing so, open source resolutely opts for sustainable development, with sustainable platforms that constantly evolve. This is in stark contrast to typical proprietary software, which is often focused on delivering new features as quickly as possible and products that quickly become obsolete. Those components, in turn, must be replaced far too quickly with new features. So building digital experiences with proprietary software often requires unpredictable additional investments.
At Dropsolid, we consciously choose open source and therefore for the long term, such as building installers and other multi-purpose features that require a hefty investment. We know from experience that this choice provides added value. We can then quickly deploy our accumulated knowledge and already developed components for new companies.
Sustainable digital pathways for the long term
Delivering business value is of course about more than the technical part. We also guide companies with the Dropsolid Discovery Track. This consists of a series of workshops, in which we use proven principles such as Design Thinking, together with all relevant stakeholders, to draw up the best digital experiences. Together with our experts, organizations and companies develop a vision and strategy for their digital experience and for the further digitalization of their services. Themes such as sustainable SEO and sustainable customer and member acquisition are often at the forefront of this.
That strategic journey is incredibly important to develop a long-term vision, which we can then build on with our own open-source platform. Fast delivery and a quick boost in SEO and lead generation can obviously be much needed, but smart companies also look at their return in the long term. With a continuously evolving platform, they make sure of that.
"Sustainable SEO and continuous customer and member acquisition are paramount for many organizations."
Sustainable development in other sectors
Sustainable development is not a privilege of the tech sector. During my recent vacation to Costa Rica, this became clear once again. The clever combination of ecology and tourism in the country is a textbook example of sustainability and added value in the long term. A flight of several thousand kilometers to get there is obviously not a model of sustainability, but once on the spot the vast difference with many (mostly Asian) destinations becomes clear at once.
National parks cover nearly one-third of Costa Rica's entire territory, and as a tourist you will have known it. A battalion of park rangers meticulously watch that visitors have minimal impact on nature. The result? Everything is spotless and the footprint of travelers on site remains minimal. And from that preserved natural beauty, both the tourism industry and the government can charge a premium. In turn, that extra revenue is invested in nature conservation, which in turn provides additional sustainability.
Why sustainable development is the future
Sustainable or sustainable thinking thus works on several levels, one of which is sustainable web development. A mutual investment creates a sustainable platform where everyone wins. This is in stark contrast to the rapid delivery of one-off web solutions. These cannot evolve, depend on the maintenance of the developer and often need to be replaced after a few years (or even sooner).
With Dropsolid, we make it a point to bet on the long term, because the power of sustainable platforms proves its worth every day. We do this both strategically and in terms of technical development. A digital business model that sets the tone is easier to sustain than an online presence that is constantly behind the times.
On the technical front, in turn, the continuous evolution of our Dropsolid Platform means a significant difference for companies. We continuously invest in our Drupal-based platform, which is maintained and improved throughout the year. It evolves with us and the software does not age in the traditional way: individual elements can simply be replaced by new, better features and modules, without impacting the platform for the company in question. Building a completely new website every four years is thus a thing of the past.
Want to see how we can work together to create the digital platform for your organization today? Get in touch for a Discovery Track.