one of the leading erp systems in the
marketplace is also one you may have
never heard of
i'm going to provide an independent
review of that software here today
my name is eric kimberling i'm the ceo
of third stage consulting we're an
independent consulting firm that helps
clients through their digital
transformation journeys
and when we're evaluating potential erp
systems for clients especially in the
small and mid market
odoo erp is one of the most popular
and one of the most effective erp
systems for companies in that space
however a lot of organizations haven't
heard of the product it used to be
called open erp
which is an open source erp system so
it's one of the few open source erp
systems that are viable and scalable
for high growth companies and today i
want to provide an objective view of the
pros and cons of that software
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one of the biggest advantages of odoo is
its flexibility it's built to be very
modular
and flexible you can implement parts of
the solution you can implement the
entire solution
and it gives organizations a good way to
grow into the
erp system so they don't necessarily
need to bite off the entire
system and unlike its bigger erp system
counterparts it is something that can be
implemented piecemeal and it allows you
to grow into the erp
system and not only does that modularity
provide maximum flexibility
but so does the fact that it's open erp
which means you can access the source
code you can change the software
more easily than you can some of the
other erp systems in the marketplace
and it also allows for easier
integration some of the other systems
out there so if you need any third-party
systems to bolt onto your core erp
system
it makes it a bit easier to do that so
if flexibility is something that you
value as an organization
then odoo erp can be a great option
one other thing that my team and i
really like about odoo is it's ease of
use
it's something that's not too hard to
figure out it's not rocket science it
doesn't require
a huge amount of training to get used to
it's pretty simple it's got a clean
slick gui or user interface so
in terms of adoption and changing your
organization and changing your
technology it can be a bit easier for
organizations to learn and a bit more
intuitive in addition it allows for
non-technical types to support and
maintain the system longer term so if
you need to integrate with other
systems or if you need to change the
general workflows of the general
fields of the system it allows
non-technical types to be able to do
that so ease of use is something that's
also a value to
odoo erp
in terms of cost and total cost of
ownership in particular odoo
leads the pack in terms of its total
cost of ownership
and part of that is because the software
itself is priced
generally lower than a lot of systems
out there it's not free it's not
completely
open source in that regard but it is
something that
typically is priced a bit lower than
other systems out there
it's also one of the only erp systems if
not the only erp system i know of where
you can actually try it for free
you can try a limited version of the
software for free just to get a handle
for the look and feel
which is a pretty nice way to test it
out and see if it might fit your
capabilities or just to get a general
feel
for the product and then when we look at
the total cost of ownership including
the cost to implement the product
that costs can tend to be lower than
other erp systems as well because of its
ease of use and its ease of
implementation
so all those things considered are
something that give odoo a leg up
against much of its competition as it
relates to total cost of ownership
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now we've talked about a few positive
things and strengths of odoo but one of
the
downsides or potential downsides of the
product is scalability
so if you're an organization that's in
high growth mode or you're a larger
organization or you're a complex
organization
you have a very high level volume of
transactions across the organization
it can be a bit limited so some of the
more
complex bigger organizations find that
they've outgrown the system or the
system just can't scale to meet their
needs
having said that we see a lot of
organizations in the small and mid
market that are high growth that can
reach millions if not tens of millions
of dollars in revenue
and still be able to leverage the
capabilities
and use the software to get maximum
value out of it so if your goal is to
scale as an organization your extremely
high growth or your larger organization
you may find some of the functionality
and the general scalability
to be somewhat limited
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now another consideration when you're
evaluating any sort of erp system is
what kind of ecosystem is supporting
that product and odoo is a relatively
new company
it's not a brand new company but it's
not as established as some of the larger
erp vendors and so as such they don't
have quite as
robust of a partner network network of
implementers and people supporting the
product and third parties
supporting the product so that can be a
consideration as well is that you still
need outside help even though it is easy
to use
you'll still likely need some sort of
outside consulting and help to implement
the product
so making sure you identify potential
partners and you're comfortable with
potential partners in your part of the
world
is something you'll really want to dig
into if you're considering odoo
and this comment really varies by
geography we found that certain parts of
the world have more
robust partners and consultants and
third parties in general that will
support the product
whereas in some parts of the world
united states or north america where i'm
based for example
you don't find quite as much support yet
for the
product but having said all that is
something you want to consider
as part of your evaluation
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so despite the fact that there aren't a
lot of third party consultants and
resellers and implementers that support
the product
there are a lot of organizations out
there using odoo there's a fairly large
install base which is a good indicator
of the
overall vendor viability as an
organization or do as an organization as
well as the r d
dollars that they're spending on the
product you always want to look at how
many companies out there using the
product
you don't want to invest in a software
where there's not a lot of companies
using it because that means less r
d and less advancements and innovation
in the future
with odoo they do have a fairly large
install base which gives them
r d dollars and it gives buyers comfort
that there's going to be innovation
in the future and one other side note is
that of all the erp systems out there
i would say that odoo probably has the
most cult-like following of any
erp system out there a lot of people are
adamant about the strengths of odoo
i get messages all the time about people
wanting me to do reviews of odoo like
this one
people commenting how great odu is so i
think there's a lot of companies out
there
a lot of consultants and individuals out
there that feel very strongly about the
value of odoo
now one other thing to consider one
caveat if you're looking at odoo is to
think about
do we have the internal resources to
support an open source system a system
that we may need to
maintain and support more than some
other types of erp
systems out there so while on one hand
it's an easy product to use
there's a nice user interface that's
easy to figure out it allows even
non-technical type of people to
maintain the system and support the
system it does make it a little bit more
challenging if you're a smaller
high growth organization to ensure you
have the right level of capabilities to
be able to support the product because
there's likely going to be more pressure
on your internal i.t resources
and even some non-it resources to be
able to support the product
in your organization longer term
so if you're a smaller midsize
organization or do erp is one that i
typically would recommend
for a short list if you're looking for
some of the strengths that i mentioned
here today
such as flexibility and you're looking
for ease of use
and that sort of thing odoo can be a
great option but regardless of which
direction you go it's always good to get
an independent view
and a comparison of odoo against other
erp systems out there
so i encourage you to check out some of
the resources we've included below i've
included a link to odoo comparisons to
other products
some videos that we've created that
comparo due to other products in the
marketplace you may find that helpful
and i've also included a link to our
2020 erp report which includes a ranking
of the top erp systems in the
marketplace as well as some of the best
practices you should be thinking about
as you embark on your erp implementation
so i hope you found this information
useful and i hope you have a great day