Businesses of all sizes depend on “office” suites for their day-to-day tasks and for collaboration.
AI, for its part, promises significant productivity gains for knowledge workers and for anyone who works with documents. According to studies, we spend over half our time using “office” software. And the global market for productivity applications is worth $22.5 billion annually, according to research from Dataintelo.
However, business software is often proprietary, costly and inflexible. And, at a time when businesses look to increase efficiencies through AI, too many business applications lock users into their preferred AI models.
As a result, businesses are losing out on efficiency gains.
Editing and collaboration tools are not integrated with enterprise applications and workflows.
Productivity and document editing tools use different user interfaces, increasing training requirements and potentially, introducing errors.
And built-in AI assistants give businesses only limited control over models’ training, or even how they handle sensitive data.
Taking control
Increasingly, businesses want more flexible alternatives. Open source applications offer flexible deployment, as well as tighter integration with enterprise applications and choice around AI.
The open source-based ONLYOFFICE suite, for example, provides both desktop and native iOS and Android mobile applications and can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud.
Knowledge workers, though, also depend on core, enterprise applications. ONLYOFFICE integrates with business platforms from project management to CRM and ERP. The suite comes with 40 ready-to-use integrations built in, alongside real-time collaboration.
This integration also helps organisations to scale. They can start with free or cloud-based applications and keep the same functionality and user experience as they grow. There is no need to learn a new document editing tool or lose powerful functions such as full-featured PDF editing.
“By integrating document editing and collaboration tools with your business application, you get a more powerful solution, and users get access to new features within the same platform,” says Galina Goduhina, commercial director at ONLYOFFICE. “In this case, they don’t need to switch between multiple apps to get their work done. All the required tools are within reach, in one place.”
Open alternatives
Increasingly, compliance and data protection requirements are driving CIOs’ and IT leaders’ decisions around both software, and AI. There is no one single model to fit all organisations, suggests Goduhina.
“Some companies build their IT infrastructure within their local network to provide full control over their data,” he says. “Other companies trust cloud-based solutions, for their flexibility and ease of use and maintenance.” Hybrid models are also gaining popularity, with applications that work across cloud and local infrastructure becoming more important.
An open approach is gaining ground for AI tools too. AI offers significant productivity improvements, especially in document-heavy workflows. But tying knowledge workers to a single AI tool limits that potential. And some businesses might prefer not to use AI at all.
“We allow businesses to use the tools they are used to, without forcing them to rely on a predefined AI solution,” says Goduhina. “With ONLYOFFICE, you can connect popular AI tools, even local one[s]. Another advantage is it’s totally optional.”
By moving to an open productivity suite, businesses gain that flexibility, avoid vendor lock-in, and keep control of their technology.
Click here to learn how ONLYOFFICE can enable AI-driven document workflows in your company.