The ERP system Odoo has entered the Scandinavian market
29 Dec 20
The ERP system Odoo is expanding rapidly around the world. Since its founding in Belgium in 2005 with only a few employees, the business has today grown to +850 employees. The international coverage is surprising with licensed customers in 176 countries and just over 4 million registered users. Growing so fast in such a short time and reaching this international coverage is impressive. The success can be attributed to the fact that Odoo is an opensource system, which has attracted a large number of partners and developers (+2,100 partners) to adopt the system and create their own extensions. Thus, Odoo can offer functionality (including apps) that covers most processes for both small and large organizations.
The story started under the name TinyERP but was later changed to OpenERP to now go under the name Odoo. The company and the application have been renowned internationally and won many awards as a fast-growing company.
The application, which is based on a Unix architecture, can be downloaded as a local installation Onpremise or a cloud-based subscription. The system is based on about 50 basic apps (modules) where the user can start with the just a few to gradually add more and more apps over time. In addition, there is an App Store that offers +20,000 additional apps with features developed by the large network of partners around the world. The application is translated into 25 languages. With the help of Odoo Studio, the user or his partner can create their own extensions to the application and also make it available to other users in their community.
The application is currently offered in two versions: Community Edition, which is Open-Source, and Enterprise Edition, which is a licensed version. Previously, it was possible for the small customer to use the system for free, but now the licensed version is required to access the parts of accounting that are usually required to manage the daily accounting. Prices are structured per app starting from a very low level. For the user who picks on most modules, the price increases up to approximately €150 per user and month, which is in the same level as other ERP systems on the market.
In terms of functional breadth and depth, Odoo offers about the same as Microsoft Business Central, SAP Business ByDesign, Sage X3 and SAP Business One. Odoo offers more of general functionality within each module than industry-specific functions, but at the same time good enough for the smaller customer.
Odoo is now not completely new in Scandinavia. The system has been on the Scandinavian market for a few years but has not been visible in the market. There are a few local partners in both Sweden and Denmark.
Odoo is an interesting addition to the Scandinavian market. For the customer who grows out of its first small business application, Odoo can be a suitable next step. You get a long way in functionality at a low cost and with a limited work effort. However, the greatest attention will probably come from those customers who appreciate having access to the system’s development environment and thus receive the freedom to build their own extensions. But the system has enough support to work for both small and large organizations and in relatively many industries.