Free’s free, right? Or is it?
Mr Plug the Gap works in IT. He’s the epitome of a grumpy IT man and could happily share the basement with Roy, Moss, and Jen, telling people to “turn it off and turn it on again”, and occasionally throwing in an “is it plugged in?” for good measure. Mr PtG also educates anyone who will listen about the misconception of “free”. Let’s see some examples.
Social Media. Not free.
All the things that we believe we are getting free have a cost. But we are not paying with cash, we are paying by handing over information about ourselves, or relinquishing our erstwhile right to say no. It’s akin to bartering in days of yore, except back then we knew we were making an exchange.
Goods, experiences, and discounts from loyalty cards, not free, nope.
We have given social media platforms the right to show us an unending roll call of ads, advertorial and other content in return for us living vicariously through other people’s misfortunes. Such is our need to absorb other people’s calamities, or see an array of animals being cute, stupid, or weird, we cannot wait to willingly – yes willingly – give away all manner of information.
Pre-loaded software. No sir-ee, that’s not free.
Most of the questions, if they were ever asked outright, would elicit a resolute refusal to answer, because they would be deemed too personal or would raise suspicions about the motive for asking. And don’t get me started on quizzes…
File sharing apps, sites, and utilities. Free-eeeeeee. No, most definitely not.
How many of you sensibly avoid putting too much information on your luggage tags when you go on holiday, but happily post a selfie with that early-morning departure-lounge beer that’s allowed because you’re flying off on holiday. How many of you leave the spare room lamp on a timer, but post daily pictures of the ‘amazing’ place you’re staying in; but I’m straying off track here a little. Oh and by the way – while you are on holiday…
Free WIFI. Don’t make me laugh (unless there’s an alternative meaning of the word free that I don’t know about).
There are significant security risks in the information that people are unwittingly giving up, but my issue (and Mr PtG’s) is that most people don’t realise they are giving something away. Therefore, the product you thought of as free did in fact have a cost. You just didn’t ask the price or make any decision about whether the ‘cost’ was reasonable.
It’s the same within business. If a decent CRM package costs anywhere north of £100 per month (as an example) why do you think you can get the same product with the same functionality and the same level of support free? What are the hidden ‘costs’ of this free product? And if you could get all of this for nothing, wouldn’t we all be using it?
You probably didn’t even look to see if there was a paid for version, and if you did, you probably dismissed it because why pay when you can get it free? Did you even look to see if it was the same product? I doubt it.
More questions need to be asked by businesses about the free options they are choosing. How free is it really? What are the risks? What are the compromises in functionality? Is the free version fit for purpose? Will it be fit for purpose in 3 years’ time? If not, then are we going to find that the naivety of the free system is going to hinder moving to a newer system later? Will that hindrance bear any additional financial burden?
Free is never free and for businesses the costs can weigh heavy.
With money and resources dwindling ever further within the charity sector, it’s imperative that smaller organisations closely question the wisdom of opting for solutions that seem a little too good to be true: because if you’re not careful it’ll be less of a goose that laid the golden egg and more of a Faustian pact (think selling your soul).
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