The VCAST story
Building a business means turning an idea into a real, working solution. For VCAST, that journey took two years. Their goal? To offer a secure and accessible online voting system for companies, associations, and organizations. Building a business means turning an idea into a real, working solution. For VCAST, that journey took two years. Their goal? To offer a secure and accessible online voting system for companies, associations, and organizations.
Stéphane Glondu, co-founder and technical director, shares:
"VCAST is a project we started two years ago and brought to life just two months ago. Our mission is simple: help businesses and organizations run online voting — whether it’s electing staff representatives or voting on resolutions during a general meeting. No matter the type of ballot, our top priority is to ensure vote confidentiality"
Michael Houalef, co-founder and CEO, adds:
“VCAST is an online voting company. We see ourselves as a provider of online voting solutions tailored to our clients’ various needs, whether it’s for professional or public elections. I like to put it this way — whenever you need to hold an election, we bring the ballot box and envelopes, all in a fully digital form.”
What VCAST gained with Captivea
When you're launching a business, structuring your offer and managing your sales pipeline is a real challenge. Having a system that simplifies quote creation and follow-up saves both time and effort..
You can’t close a sale without clear, well-presented quotes. for VCAST, this was a priority from day one. The ability to quickly generate professional documents is a major advantage when it comes to winning over clients and speeding up their decision-making.
Clear and quick-to-generate quotes
From the early stages of their business development, the VCAST team understood the importance of providing clear, quick-to-create quotes that are easy for clients to understand. Thanks to the integration of Odoo with Captivea, they’ve turned this task into a simple, structured, and fast process. Here's what the founders have to say
"It may seem trivial but having an ERP that allows us to create detailed and well-structured quotes is a real advantage. We start from scratch, and in just two clicks, we have a document ready to be sent.”, Stéphane Glondu, co-founder and technical director
Gone are the days of scattered files or complicated tools. Odoo, integrated by Captivea, brings a level of smoothness that transforms daily operations.
Everything is centralized, structured, and accessible with just a few clicks. The result: clearer organization, less stress, and more time to grow the business, take care of clients, and move projects forward
"The ability to generate clean and readable quotes has changed our daily operations.” , Stéphane Glondu, co-founder and technical director
When a business is just starting, every minute counts. You're often juggling multiple tasks, with little room for unnecessary actions or repetitive processes. For VCAST, Odoo’s automation and simplicity have saved them time at every step. A few minutes saved here and there quickly add up to hours regained over the course of a month.
"Odoo is easy to use once you get the hang of it. Creating a quote takes just a few minutes — it's amazing!” - Michael Houalef
Seamless customer follow-up
With emails, calls, and messages, it’s easy to miss a key piece of information or lose track. For VCAST, having a system that keeps a clear record of all contacts and discussions was crucial. The team now has a centralized follow-up system that’s accessible at any time. Keeping track of interactions with prospects and clients is essential to move forward without missing opportunities.
"We interacted a lot with our clients, but we didn’t always know who who was, what we had told whom, or what we had agreed upon. Now, I just click at the bottom of my page: everything is always accessible.” - Michael Houalef
Clear follow-up means fewer forgetfulness, fewer mistakes, and most importantly, greater efficiency in customer relations.
Streamlined business management
When running a business, you need reliable data and a comprehensive overview to make the right decisions at the right time. Without this, you’re moving forward blindly. VCAST chose to integrate Odoo from the start, with Captivea’s support, to build a solid foundation. Today, they have a tailored system that allows them to track, adjust, and evolve their business with precision.
“I’m convinced that a CRM is essential for running a business today. Using Odoo and integrating it with Captivea’s help from the very beginning was a no-brainer. The fact that Odoo is open source also convinced my partner, and we’re very satisfied with the results from this collaboration.” - Michael Houalef
A good tool is great. A good tool that’s well integrated is even better. Thanks to Captivea, VCAST now has a clear view of their operations and increased responsiveness.
"I have an overview of my requests. I can immediately see where I stand and what I need to do. It changes everything.” - Michael Houalef
Why choose Captivea among all integrators?
Choosing the right integrator is just as important as selecting the software itself. A great tool, if poorly configured, can become a real obstacle rather than an asset. For VCAST, it was crucial to choose an integrator who wouldn’t just implement Odoo, but who would also understand the specifics of their project and support their long-term vision. The founders of VCAST explain why Captivea was the ideal partner.
It was clear that starting a new business required the right support
From the early stages of their business development, the VCAST team understood the importance of providing clear, quick-to-create quotes that are easy for clients to understand. Thanks to the integration of Odoo with Captivea, they’ve turned this task into a simple, structured, and fast process. Here's what the founders have to say
"Drawing from my experience in sales, I was already familiar with Odoo. I had the chance to use it and see its potential. Maxime Grieshaber from Captivea explained in detail the possibilities of Odoo and how to adapt it to our needs. I was convinced that a CRM was essential to track the evolution of our business. The open-source nature of Odoo ultimately convinced my partner.” -Michael Houalef
We wanted an integrator who could be transparent from the start
For VCAST, one of the key criteria in choosing their integrator was transparency and support from the very first stages of their project. They were looking for a partner who wouldn’t just meet their immediate needs, but who would take the time to explain the ins and outs of the solution so they could fully leverage it in the long term. Michael Houalef shares his experience of this collaboration and the gradual evolution of the company’s needs.
"Honestly, we’re very satisfied. We received great support right from the start, especially from Mr. Grieshaber, who took the time to explain the software in detail, even well before the project began — I’d say about a year before we kicked off. He really showed us the capabilities of the tool and what we could do with it practically.
On our side, our needs were mostly business-oriented: CRM, portfolio tracking, quotes, invoicing... Then, gradually, we also started looking into management, expense reports, and accounting. And in the medium to long term, we also plan to use Odoo for HR to track our teams and new hires.”
Before starting the project, the goal was clear: to equip themselves with a tool to structure a business in its early stages. VCAST was looking for a solution that could address the company’s immediate needs while being flexible enough to support its future growth. Stéphane Glondu, co-founder of VCAST, reflects on this collaboration and the impact of Captivea's support during the initial stages of the project.
"The support from Captivea went very well. I don’t have a lot to say, but what’s certain is that their approach even inspired us. We have similar businesses, so we quickly found common ground.” - Stéphane Glondu
On its side, Captivea approached the project with a simple but fundamental vision: to lay a solid foundation for a company in its early stages. The goal was to provide an efficient solution tailored to VCAST's immediate needs, while also offering flexibility for future stages. Oussama Bougria, Odoo expert consultant at Captivea, explains here how the Captivea team structured the project from the very beginning.
"It was a simple project; we were starting from scratch. The company had just launched and needed a tool to manage its sales and invoicing. We implemented a standard solution, perfectly suited for this initial phase.” - Oussama Bougria
We needed an ERP to manage our customer relationships?
From the incubation stage, VCAST recognized the importance of structuring their customer relationships. The team had been engaging with prospects frequently but lacked a tool to track and organize these interactions. The company’s creation marked a turning point: it became crucial to centralize contacts, send quotes, manage emails, and lay the foundation for proper sales tracking. It was in this context that they chose Odoo and Captivea to support them.
“In fact, we turned to Odoo and Captivea because we were launching a new business, and we needed an ERP to structure our customer relationships. During the incubation phase, we had quite a few interactions with prospects, but without formal tracking. The idea was really to formalize all of that, to have a more structured framework.
We also needed a tool to manage quotes and CRM, which we hadn’t been doing before but quickly realized was essential.
As for the other features of Odoo, I see them more as a bonus. Our main need was really customer relationships: contact management, email sending, quotes, and invoicing.” - Michael Houalef
An Open Source software: that was the argument that convinced us
One of the first challenges for VCAST was structuring their processes without slowing down their momentum.
There were numerous exchanges with prospects, but they were hard to track. It became necessary to implement a system capable of supporting the company’s growth without burdening its operations.
"Before Odoo, we interacted with our prospects, but without rigorous tracking. We barely knew who we had spoken to and what had been agreed upon.” - Michael Houalef, co-founder of VCAST
"Odoo is an open-source software, and that’s an argument that convinced me from the start. I tried to install it myself, get the hang of it… but I quickly found it a bit complex. That’s when I realized I needed support from someone who really knows the tool. And that’s when Captivea’s role became truly important, even indispensable.
It’s a bit like our own business. We use an open-source software, Belenios, which I developed. Its deployment can be complex, and that’s exactly where we step in at VCAST: we bring our expertise to help our clients use Belenios. I see Captivea in the same role with Odoo." - Stéphane Glondu, technical director
Thanks to this collaboration with Captivea in ERP integration, VCAST has structured its business interactions: every communication is tracked, every opportunity is leveraged, and every quote is sent quickly. A tangible transformation, with a real impact on overall performance.
A recommendation without hesitation
Given these results, VCAST’s recommendation is clear. For any company looking to structure its operations without losing flexibility, Odoo with Captivea's support is a winning solution.
"Would we recommend it? Of course. In fact, I’m already talking about it to others. Running your business without a CRM is mission impossible today." - Michael Houalef, co-founder of VCAST
For VCAST, Odoo and Captivea were not just a technical choice, but a real strategic decision to ensure their growth with peace of mind.
A big thank you to Stéphane Glondu and Michael Houalef for their trust and collaboration. Their vision and commitment were essential to the success of this project. Thanks to them, VCAST is a great example of what digitalization can bring to an ambitious company.
You can also check out the solutions they offer on their website.
Want to learn more? We’ve detailed their project on VCAST’s client reference page.
See how other companies have embraced digitalization by browsing our client references.
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