Tips to Choose the Right Odoo Implementation Partner for Your Business

by Alex Forsyth Developer

Out of so many ERP service providers, it can be difficult to find the right Odoo implementation partner for your industry. To help you out, a few tips are shared here in this article.

Selecting the right Odoo implementation partner can be a daunting and crucial task for your business. An experienced and reliable partner will always be able to analyse your business requirements well, prepare and customise the software accordingly, and train you how to use the software efficiently within your budget.

It has been seen that most of the Odoo implementations fail to work as expected due to poor implementation. This is again because of the wrong choice of the ERP implementation partners. Keeping this in mind, a checklist is shared here for you to help you make the right decision while choosing your ERP partner.

Choose the one who understands your industry:

Apart from having a good track record, the ERP implementation partner must have expertise and knowledge about your industry specifically. Different industry verticals have different criteria. This makes it essential to know whether your partner understands your business requirements or not. The more the professional will know about your industry, the more he or she will be able to adapt the ERP as per your specific business needs. This is an important point to consider while choosing your ERP service provider while implementation and integration, the software needs to go through several changes and customisations. The more the ERP fits your business processes, the more will be the efficiency of the entire system.

Your partner must have the required resources for implementation:

You must check the past record of the ERP implementation professionals to see if they have worked with companies of your scope and size or not. With this, you will also get to know whether they have enough resources to handle your project and implement the software before the deadline.

They must maintain exceptional communication with their clients:

Good communication is important between you and your ERP implementation partner. This is because implementing software is a time-taking process and may take several months and even a year or more. During this long period, having proper and regular communication is absolutely essential.

The ERP implementation team must have a good relationship with the ERP software developers:

Assuming that the implementation professionals are not the ERP developers themselves, it is important to know whether they have a good and cooperative relationship with the developers or not. This is because if at any later stage of ERP implementation, some modifications are required in the ERP source codes or modules, only good communication and relation with the developers can save at that point of time.

Make sure your ERP team uses an agile software development methodology:

Your business may just start with the basic requirements and gradually grow with more business activities. Your ERP implementation partner must be able to customise the software according to your the changing requirements and processes and your ERP software should be flexible enough to adapt and fit these gradual business changes.

Your ERP partner must have a consultative approach:

Implementing ERP software is a complex process and needs in-depth expertise. Keeping this in mind, always choose a professional who has a consultative approach. The professional must know the internal business activities and the scope of the business from beforehand.

If your ERP implementation expert asks you questions about the activities, business functions, etc., it means the professional wants to implement a tailored ERP software into your system, helping your company achieve its goals with a streamlined workflow and efficient management of all tedious operations.

Also, check which version of the software your partner uses for implementation:

Odoo is open source in nature and it is available in two editions. The free Odoo community has limited functions whereas the Odoo enterprise edition, which is a paid version, comes with full scope and functionalities. Your implementation partner must have knowledge about both these editions to use the one that best suits your business needs. The professional must also be aware of the latest version of the ERP and should use the same to let your business enjoy the most improved features of it.

Keeping these points in mind will help you to choose the right professional for implementing the ERP software in your business system matching all your requirements and processes.

Alex Forsyth is an expert ERP consultant and is associated with the most reliable Odoo implementation partner in Australia, Envertis Software Solutions. The author has written this article to help business owners find the right ERP service provider or partner as per the business requirements and industry type.