What is Odoo ERP?
Odoo is an open-source ERP designed to provide a complete, professional, and easy-to-use solution for businesses of all sizes and across all sectors. It allows all key business functions to be managed through its various modules. Nevertheless, there are many common misconceptions people have about it. Here is a brief look at five of them.
Odoo is strictly for SMEs
From the outset, Odoo's approach has been to give all businesses the option of having an ERP system, from SMEs to major corporations. ERP was reserved for large businesses for a long time: smaller organizations couldn't risk launching that kind of project, put off by the changes it required. Odoo therefore appeared to be an ideal compromise, thanks to its ease of implementation.
However, this label of being an "ERP for SMEs" has stuck. That's unfair, because Odoo ERP now counts major corporations among its clients, such as Toyota (which uses it to manage inventory and invoicing for its "Material Handling" branch in France) and Sodexo (which uses it to implement a centralized management system in its vending machine division), to name just a few.
Odoo is free of charge
Odoo is an open-source ERP, therefore it must be free of charge. Not at all! Just like more traditional software publishers, Odoo is a professional solution that charges for its products.
Odoo Enterprise uses proprietary developments: from accounting through to sales, and including project management and human resources, this version offers more comprehensive functional modules than the community version to suit the needs of all businesses.
This should finally put an end to the cheap, low‑quality image that this ERP system has had for the past few years. Instead, the focus should be on a complete, modular system that adapts to any organization, with rapid growth driven by a highly active community.
Odoo doesn’t offer high‑quality support
Many businesses think that open‑source software means users are left without support. That’s not true! There is a publisher that provides first‑line support (through a ticket system). After that, your integrator becomes a true partner. If you run into difficulties, you can turn to this integrator to find an appropriate solution. Moreover, the
Odoo community often provides solutions and updates that continuously improve the ERP software. Finally, if you need specific modules developed, you’ll also have the support of the company that delivered these features.
Odoo isn’t up to the job
Compared with ERPs such as SAP and Dynamics 365, people often (wrongly) assume there’s no place for Odoo in the ecosystem. That’s clearly not the case. Odoo now has nearly 3 million users worldwide, with an average annual growth rate of 69% over the last ten years.
Odoo Odoo also has 750 partners in 130 countries and 1,919 reference customers, from SMEs to major corporations including WWF, Auchan, Bouygues and Danone.
Odoo is a rigid, “off‑the‑shelf” system
Many people believe the offer is highly packaged and not very flexible. In reality, Odoo now supports more than 10,000 applications that can be used independently. A few years ago, there was no core offering and an ERP Odoo instance could not be installed without an integrator.
Today, ERP software comes with more and more packaged offerings, which has led to the perception that it only works exactly as it comes “out of the box.” In reality, though, these offerings let businesses take advantage of a turnkey solution while still keeping all of Odoo’s unique flexibility and options for custom development.
In short, you can install the modules and features you want, whenever you want!