Odoo

Think Open Source, Think Big Business

Comments: I recommended the use of Odoo to our company, especially for the excellent CRM module. We are now in the testing phase. Looking ahead, I am thinking about the Maintenance, Documents, Projects and Fleet module. All on-premise.

Pros:

It's Open Source, very sophisticated. Third-party ready-made Odoo virtual installations are also excellent. A number of third-party add-ons.

Cons:

The options for setting the user rights policy are not completely satisfactory or confusing and complex for an inexperienced user. However, this does not prevent immediate use as is.

Alternatives Considered: Dynamics 365, Dolibarr ERP-CRM, SuiteCRM and EspoCRM

Reasons for Switching to Odoo: It represents complexity and variability, it is clear.

Thank you [sensitive content hidden]

Comments: My overall experience with Odoo has been positive. I’m very happy with the results and progress we’ve made using the platform—it’s everything we wanted and even exceeds our expectations in some areas. However, there are times when the system can be a bit confusing and repetitive, which can slow down our workflow. Despite these occasional challenges, Odoo has been a valuable tool for our business, and we’re pleased with the direction we’re headed.

Pros:

What I liked most about Odoo is the system's adaptability—it’s incredibly versatile and can be tailored to fit our specific needs. I also want to highlight the outstanding service we received from our consultant, [sensitive content hidden] He’s been extremely attentive and helpful throughout the entire process, making sure we get the most out of the platform.

Cons:

What I liked least about Odoo is the way consulting hours are charged and accounted for. We’re concerned about being billed for time spent resolving issues that aren’t our fault, such as bugs or errors within Odoo itself. It would be more reassuring if there was a clearer distinction between time spent on genuine consulting and time spent addressing system-related problems.

Alternatives Considered: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

Reasons for Choosing Odoo: we needed something more complete, that included more capabilities

Switched From: Bind ERP

Reasons for Switching to Odoo: because we think is a better fit for our needs and company size

Horrific experience for a small business

Comments: Horrific. I feel like they literally stole my money. Nobody could help me quickly without me paying insane amounts of money for them to just literally fix bugs in their system. I sent in an insane amount of help tickets given that I didn't really need the most advanced system in the world. If you are a small business and have only a small amount of tech experience, avoid Odoo like the plague. I cannot speak to how they might be with more advanced needs, but for me, it was genuinely the worst customer experience I have ever had.

Pros:

They have a huge variety of apps to choose from and customize. You are able to adapt the software to your needs, however...do not expect to get adequate help or for their instructions to be up to date.

Cons:

Almost everything. After purchasing and getting close to the opening of my business, I realized it was probably too complicated a software for me given that my needs as a one-man business are super low. However, I was fine with that - as long as things worked. And they did not. Their point of sale app repeated stopped working completely while my shop was open, and nobody could help me over the phone (even though it was urgent). I would send error codes to their tech team, and every single time, the tech team said they couldn't do anything with the error code. Their sales team was incredibly uninformed when I initially signed up, and told me that I would be able to use my own IoT box without subscribing to the odoo IoT subscription. It became very apparent that this was not the case, fine, I paid for the IoT subscription - then as soon as I did, we realized that the reason we needed could be circumvented very easily. Not to mention, we couldn't connect it to our receipt printer to begin with, and their online instructions were about 10 years out of date. We have since switched to shopify and everything has worked SO smoothly. All I needed was a simple point of sale and inventory system, and Odoo oversold and dramatically underdelivered. My sales rep was on vacation and unable to help me when I opened my business. The large majority of my stress was caused by their system literally not working. My experience with them was a disaster and despite them completely misleading me about the IoT box integration, they refuse to reimburse me. This is apparently their policy, which to me, seems incredibly unethical. Don't sell me something I don't need when the salesperson is on vacation or refuses to talk to me. I cannot scream loud enough for you to avoid this if you are a small business.

SQL error while installing app

Comments: Satisficed with the outcome and how the software is adapted to our needs. Support if not bad and they give you a solution.

Pros:

Open source and easy to troubleshoot. I give you the freedom to customize the apps according to your needs. Very important for businesses with complex processes that do not follow standards.

Cons:

Sometimes there is a fine line on support if you are not hosted in Odoo.sh. Not fare at all for self hosted companies

Alternatives Considered: NetSuite

Reasons for Choosing Odoo: The old software had many issues and was not the ideal one for our work model

Switched From: Fishbowl

Reasons for Switching to Odoo: NetSuite is very pricy.....

Love Odoo software. Odoo Service Pack for setup is HORRIBLE!

Comments: I strongly discourage anyone from using the Odoo Training Service Pack of hours. We had a horrible experience. The Business Service Analysts who work with you are a joke. I imagine there are some good ones. The program is set up poorly from square one. Regardless of your type of business, you receive the BSA who becomes available next. Even if they have no experience, or relatively little, with your industry. You only have ONE person. Not a team of people. To top it off, we had 3 BSA and all were within their first few months with Odoo. I wish I had a dollar for every time our first BSA said "I don't know." I will be escalating my fight with Odoo to receive a refund for some hours. For instance, we were charged for cancelling a weekly meeting that wasn't confirmed since I was literally in a foreign jungle with very spotty internet. Yet, when our BSA didn't show up one week and we had to email (there is no way to call your BSA) to find out via auto-reply that he was out of the office, well...there was no offsetting penalty against Odoo. We were charged many hours for slow work that I can now do myself in half the time! Use a third party company that specializes in your industry or is close to your location and can visit. The Odoo BSA Service Pack program is so poor that the company actually told me that "We don't guarantee the quality of our service." That should tell you all that you need to know about paying Odoo for implementation of your program.

Pros:

There are so many apps/modules that can all be integrated. You can pick and choose which apps to start with and add more as you need or fee comfortable. Small or large businesses can successfully use Odoo.

Cons:

Some things are a bit comlex for a small company with limited people to implement what we want. We are a CUSTOM PRODUCTS manufacturing company and there aren't as many resources to learn how to handle manufacturing custom products. Odoo would be great for building a house or an airplane. But I'm struggling to figure out how to have a good flow with 100 orders a day for custom rubber stamps, nameplates, signs and embroidery.

Alternatives Considered: QuickBooks Desktop and NetSuite

Reasons for Choosing Odoo: The software we switched from is a proprietary program from our small industry and is not listed above. While the software is great for manufacturing in our industry, everything else is not nearly as efficient or effective as what Odoo has. The accounting is especially poor. Reporting is even worse than poor!

Switched From: Postage $aver

Reasons for Switching to Odoo: QuickBooks couldn't handle some basic invoicing and shipping functions much to my surprise. NetSuite was incredibly much more expensive for much less capability.