IT & Open Source Questions Answered · Johannesburg & Remote
Questions South African Businesses Ask Before Making the Switch
Everything you need to know about open source migration, POPIA compliance, cybersecurity, and what working with Imbertech actually looks like.
Open Source Software
How much can South African businesses save by switching to open source?
Most SA businesses running 10–50 users save R200,000–R1,200,000 per year by replacing Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Adobe, and similar tools with self-hosted open source alternatives. Use our Software Savings Calculator to get a ZAR estimate for your specific stack.
Is open source software reliable enough for business use?
Absolutely. Linux powers over 90% of the world's servers. PostgreSQL runs at NASA and Apple. LibreOffice is used by millions of government agencies worldwide. Open source software is battle-tested, peer-reviewed, and actively maintained — often more so than proprietary alternatives whose roadmaps are driven by shareholder returns rather than user needs.
How long does migration take?
Simple migrations (e.g., swapping Zoom for Jitsi, or Dropbox for Nextcloud) typically complete in 1–2 weeks including staff onboarding. Complex migrations involving ERP, database, or infrastructure changes run 4–12 weeks depending on data volume and custom integrations. Imbertech provides a scoped timeline upfront — contact our team for a free assessment.
What happens to our data during migration?
Data never leaves your control. We perform full backups before any migration begins, migrate in a staged environment, verify data integrity before cutover, and keep rollback snapshots for 30 days post-migration. POPIA-compliant handling is included as standard on all Open Source migrations.
Can we get professional support for open source software?
Yes. Imbertech provides ongoing support contracts covering system updates, security patches, configuration changes, and helpdesk escalation. You get enterprise-grade support without enterprise-grade licensing fees. The savings go back into your business, not into a vendor's licence revenue.
What's the difference between downloading open source yourself vs Imbertech implementing it?
The software is free either way. The difference is the implementation quality and ongoing security posture. A misconfigured Nextcloud or Jitsi server is a liability, not an asset. Imbertech handles hardening, POPIA-compliant configuration, backups, monitoring, and staff training — so your investment actually works.
Does open source software receive security updates?
Yes, and often faster than proprietary vendors. Because the code is public, security researchers worldwide find and report vulnerabilities promptly. Projects like Linux, PostgreSQL, and Nextcloud have dedicated security teams and patch release processes. Imbertech's managed service includes automated patch management so you're always current.
POPIA & Compliance
Is open source software POPIA compliant?
The software itself doesn't determine POPIA compliance — the configuration and data handling practices do. Self-hosted open source solutions are often the best path to POPIA compliance because data stays on servers you control, in South Africa. Imbertech configures all migrations with POPIA requirements as standard. Learn more about our Compliance service.
Why is self-hosted software better for POPIA compliance?
POPIA requires you to know where personal information is stored and who has access to it. With SaaS tools like Salesforce or Google Workspace, your data sits on foreign servers under foreign jurisdictions. Self-hosted software puts data on South African infrastructure you own, with access controls you define — making it far easier to demonstrate POPIA accountability to the Information Regulator.
What is a POPIA Information Officer?
Every South African organisation that processes personal information must appoint an Information Officer (IO) — typically the CEO or a designated senior employee. The IO is responsible for POPIA compliance, must register with the Information Regulator, and is personally accountable for breaches. Imbertech helps you establish the role, document responsibilities, and build the policies and procedures the IO needs.
What are the penalties for POPIA non-compliance?
The Information Regulator can issue fines up to R10 million and/or impose prison sentences of up to 10 years for responsible parties. Beyond regulatory penalties, data breaches require mandatory notification to affected parties — the reputational damage often exceeds the direct fine. Proactive compliance implementation is far cheaper than breach remediation.
Do I need ISO 27001 certification?
ISO 27001 is not legally required in South Africa, but it's increasingly required by enterprise clients, government tenders, and international partners as a condition of doing business. It also provides a structured framework that satisfies most POPIA technical safeguard requirements. Imbertech can assess your current posture and advise whether certification is worth pursuing for your specific market.
What does Imbertech's compliance service include?
Our Compliance service covers POPIA gap analysis, Information Officer setup and registration, policy and procedure documentation, privacy notice drafting, data mapping and processing records, staff awareness training, and ongoing compliance monitoring. We scope each engagement to your organisation's size and risk profile.
Specific Software Replacements
What open source software replaces Microsoft 365?
LibreOffice (documents, spreadsheets, presentations), Nextcloud (file sharing, cloud storage, calendar, contacts), OnlyOffice (collaborative editing), and Roundcube or Sogo for email. Used together, these cover 95% of Microsoft 365 use cases at a fraction of the cost. See pricing comparisons in our Savings Calculator.
What replaces Salesforce?
SuiteCRM is the leading open source Salesforce alternative — a full CRM with leads, opportunities, accounts, contacts, campaigns, and reporting. It's used by thousands of businesses globally and runs on infrastructure you own. Imbertech handles migration of existing Salesforce data and configures custom workflows to match your sales process.
What replaces VMware vSphere after the Broadcom price increases?
Proxmox VE is the leading open source hypervisor replacement. It provides full KVM virtualisation, LXC containers, clustering, live migration, high availability, and a comprehensive web UI — all at zero licensing cost. Many South African businesses are migrating to Proxmox after Broadcom's acquisition of VMware resulted in 3–10x price increases. Our Open Source migration team specialises in VMware-to-Proxmox transitions.
What replaces Microsoft SQL Server?
PostgreSQL handles the vast majority of SQL Server workloads, including stored procedures, triggers, full-text search, JSON, partitioning, and replication. For simpler workloads, MariaDB is another strong option. Both are production-ready, ACID-compliant, and actively maintained. Imbertech manages schema migration, query optimisation, and application compatibility testing.
What replaces Zoom for SA businesses?
Jitsi Meet (self-hosted) provides HD video conferencing with screen sharing, recording, and breakout rooms — with no per-host or per-participant licensing. For organisations needing POPIA-compliant video communications, self-hosted Jitsi on South African infrastructure is significantly better than any US-based SaaS alternative.
What replaces FortiGate firewall?
pfSense CE and OPNsense are enterprise-grade open source firewalls with stateful packet inspection, VPN (IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard), IDS/IPS, traffic shaping, and VLAN support. Both are actively maintained and widely deployed in business environments. Hardware appliances range from small offices to data centre deployments.
What replaces SolarWinds / Datadog for monitoring?
Zabbix combined with Grafana provides comprehensive network and infrastructure monitoring — autodiscovery, SNMP polling, alerting, dashboards, and long-term metrics storage — at no licensing cost. For log management and SIEM, Wazuh (open source) covers what Datadog's security products do. See our Cybersecurity service for managed monitoring options.
Cybersecurity
What should I do if my business has been hacked?
Isolate affected systems immediately — disconnect from the network but do not power off (this preserves forensic evidence). Contact Imbertech's incident response team via our contact page. Do not attempt to clean systems yourself; this can destroy evidence needed for insurance claims or legal action. POPIA requires notification to the Information Regulator within a reasonable timeframe if personal information was compromised.
What is EDR and does my business need it?
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is advanced security software that monitors endpoints (laptops, servers, workstations) for malicious behaviour in real time — going far beyond traditional antivirus. If your business handles financial data, personal information, or has remote workers, EDR is now considered baseline security. Imbertech deploys Wazuh, an open source EDR platform that matches commercial tools like CrowdStrike at a fraction of the cost. Learn more on our Cybersecurity page.
What is a vulnerability assessment?
A vulnerability assessment systematically scans your IT environment — servers, workstations, network devices, web applications — to identify known security weaknesses before attackers do. Imbertech uses OpenVAS / Greenbone for authenticated internal scanning and delivers a prioritised remediation report with business-risk context, not just a raw CVE list.
How does Wazuh compare to paid EDR like CrowdStrike or SentinelOne?
Wazuh provides comparable threat detection capabilities to commercial EDR platforms — log analysis, file integrity monitoring, vulnerability detection, active response, and SIEM integration. The difference is cost: CrowdStrike runs R500–R1,500 per endpoint per month. Wazuh is open source with no per-agent licensing. For most South African SMEs and mid-market businesses, Wazuh properly configured and monitored delivers equivalent protection at 80–90% lower cost.
What does a penetration test involve?
A penetration test (pentest) simulates a real attacker trying to compromise your systems. Imbertech's process: scoping call to define targets and rules of engagement, reconnaissance, vulnerability identification, controlled exploitation, evidence collection, and a detailed report with findings ranked by business impact plus remediation guidance. We offer network, web application, and social engineering assessments. Contact us for a scoping conversation.
What is digital forensics?
Digital forensics is the process of preserving, acquiring, and analysing electronic evidence — typically after an incident, data breach, employee misconduct investigation, or legal dispute. Imbertech's Forensics service follows chain-of-custody procedures admissible in South African courts. We handle disk imaging, memory analysis, email forensics, log analysis, and expert witness reporting.
Working with Imbertech
Where is Imbertech based?
Imbertech is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, and serves clients nationally and internationally.
Do you work remotely or only in Johannesburg?
Both. Most of our work — migrations, security assessments, compliance engagements, monitoring setup — is performed remotely. We travel to client sites in Johannesburg and Gauteng for hands-on infrastructure work, physical security assessments, and on-site training. For clients outside Gauteng, remote delivery is the default with site visits scheduled when required.
What industries do you work with?
Professional services (legal, accounting, consulting), financial services, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, retail, government, and technology companies. Any South African business that pays for software licences and wants to reduce costs without sacrificing capability is a fit. We've worked with teams from 5 to 500 users.
How quickly do you respond to emergencies?
For clients on a managed service or retainer, initial response to P1 (critical) incidents is within 2 hours, 24/7. For new clients contacting us after an incident, we aim to respond within 4 business hours and begin remote triage the same day where possible. Contact us directly for urgent situations.
How are services priced?
Pricing depends on scope, not arbitrary day rates. Migrations are quoted per project after a free assessment. Managed services and monitoring are monthly retainers scaled to your environment. Compliance engagements are scoped against your organisation's size and current maturity level. We don't publish rate cards because a 10-user business and a 200-user business have very different needs. Request a free cost savings audit and we'll give you concrete numbers.
Still Have Questions?
Get a free cost savings audit — we'll analyse your current software stack, calculate your potential savings in ZAR, and tell you exactly what migration would look like for your business.