%0 Journal Article %J Open Source Business Resource %D 2010 %T Open Source Contributions as a Complement to Your Sales Strategy %A Jason Côté %A Julian Egelstaff %X Freeform Solutions, a not-for-profit IT consultancy, discovered a large portion of its work was being carried out without being paid for directly from consulting fees. This led to an investigation of the nature of such pro bono work, and what value it could provide to Freeform and its clients. Supporting open source communities was determined to be the most significant use of the time possible. Accordingly, Freeform has taken steps to focus a significant portion of its work on that task, and to integrate this work with its overall orientation to clients. This commitment to open source provides a strong differentiator in the marketplace. It also enables one kind of prioritization of sales leads. Ultimately, the commitment to the work is considered the most important aspect of the work, rather than the specific kind of activities that are undertaken, or how they are paid for. %B Open Source Business Resource %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %8 10/2010 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/387 %N October 2010 %9 Articles %1 Freeform Solutions Jason Côté is the President and CEO of Freeform Solutions. He has held senior positions at CANARIE, as well as chief executive positions at Actua, and CanadaHelps, all three of them leading national not-for-profits that excel in the use of information technology. Today, Jason oversees all operations at Freeform, and works with clients and staff to build the IT capacity of the not-for-profit sector. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Systems Engineering and an Executive MBA in Leadership. %2 Freeform Solutions Julian Egelstaff has been working in the software and IT industries for over 13 years. In 2003, he co-founded Freeform Solutions, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help other not-for-profits use technology more effectively. The idea for Freeform Solutions came from seeing how not-for-profit and public sector organizations have many IT challenges in common, but they experience them and approach them differently from commercial organizations. Maybe a for-the-sector, by-the-sector, approach could help everyone do better? These days Julian puts all his experience to use planning systems with Freeform's partners. He is also the lead programmer of the open source project Formulize, which is a web form and data management system that is designed to provide non-programmers with the ability to create database systems on the web. Before working with technology, Julian spent a lot of time writing and thinking his way towards a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Philosophy. %0 Journal Article %J Open Source Business Resource %D 2007 %T Supporting Not-for-Profits: an Opportunity for the Commons %A Jason Côté %A Julian Egelstaff %X In 2004, the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative (NOSI) released "Choosing and Using Free and Open Source Software: A Primer for Nonprofits". The primer describes the potential impact that Free/Libre and Open Source Software (F/LOSS) might have on the not-for-profit (NFP) sector. In a recently released update, the primer concludes that, despite many advances in the use of F/LOSS in the sector over the past several years, a real and perceived lack of support remains a significant barrier to the increased adoption of F/LOSS by NFPs. Support is often the last thing people think of when they think of F/LOSS and NFPs. Instead, people tend to focus on the price, which is of particular importance to cash-strapped NFPs. There is a widely held belief that free software represents a cost savings to NFPs. %B Open Source Business Resource %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %8 11/2007 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/56 %N November 2007 %9 Articles %1 Freeform Solutions Jason Cote is the President and CEO of Freeform Solutions. He has held senior positions at CANARIE, as well as chief executive positions at Actua, and CanadaHelps, all three of them leading national not-for-profits that excel in the use of information technology. Today, Jason oversees all operations at Freeform, and works with clients and staff to build the IT capacity of the not-for-profit sector. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Systems Engineering and an Executive MBA in Leadership. %2 Freeform Solutions Julian Egelstaff is the Senior Director of Consulting Services. Prior to co-founding Freeform Solutions, Julian held a variety of positions in project management, documentation, and internal tool development at Corel and later Cognos. Today, Julian oversees all consulting projects, manages client relationships and coordinates Freeform's open source development efforts. Julian has 8 years experience in PHP development, and is a ZCE. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Philosophy, and has completed some graduate studies in Cognitive Science.