Duration: 22:51
PART 1 — Analytical Summary 🚀
Context 💬
This talk brings together three perspectives behind a fast‑paced, multi‑country ERP rollout. Clara, a business analyst and consultant at Odoo, moderates. Freddy Varley, CIO of Amexio Group (a European leader in content services with operations across nine countries and 14 entities), explains why Amexio needed a new ERP. Alicia from Résultance (an Odoo partner) details the implementation approach. The topic is a strategic, international deployment where Odoo, a partner, and the client co‑orchestrated a nine‑month go‑live — a rare cadence at this scale.
Core ideas & innovations 🧠
Amexio’s growth — both organic and via acquisitions — had created a patchwork of roughly 15 tools across entities, complicating collaboration, multi‑entity accounting, and cross‑border operations. Starting from a blank slate, the team mapped “as‑is” processes and defined “to‑be” processes to align with Odoo’s standard features, using targeted customizations only where necessary. They structured work in two phases. Phase 1 covered core processes with CRM, Sales, Project, selected HR, and Accounting. Phase 2 is extending into Recruitment, Helpdesk, Knowledge, and adjacent modules. A deliberate “anchor model” approach used the most representative scope (France) as a baseline to challenge and harmonize processes across other entities without disrupting operations.
The methodology balanced rigor with speed. Résultance led project governance and day‑to‑day implementation, while Odoo provided specialized finance and localization expertise across nine countries — from French declarations like DEB/DES to German XRechnung e‑invoicing — and offered roadmap transparency around version 19 so the team could avoid custom work that would soon be available in standard. Odoo’s partner network was also tapped for country‑specific guidance (e.g., Portugal). The teams co‑created a detailed financial checklist for cutover and designed a multi‑entity financial structure for consolidation, intercompany flows, and multi‑currency operations. Technically, the program included country‑specific configurations, data migration from three source systems, role‑based access, development, testing, and extensive training.
Impact & takeaways 💼⚙️
The result is a live, unified Odoo system across 14 entities — delivered in about nine months. Amexio centralized operations, reduced integration sprawl, and gained visibility with dashboards and KPIs. A structured change‑management plan was critical: over 80 training sessions rolled out in a “funnel” (top management to end users), daily office‑hour “permanence” for immediate support, and a ticketing process to triage adoption, process, and implementation issues. Selecting Odoo came down to completeness, integration, and flexibility: a single suite to centralize information and adapt quickly, without the heavy release management overhead of more rigid ERPs. Strategically, the team started on version 18 (instead of 17) to align with a modern baseline and extend the upgrade runway, following the rule of upgrading every two to three versions.
The broader takeaway is that international ERP programs succeed when responsibilities are crystal clear, standard features are maximized, and roadmap alignment prevents throwaway customizations. Collaboration — between Amexio, Résultance, and Odoo — was the decisive factor in making a complex, multi‑entity rollout feel fluid and achievable. ⚙️
PART 2 — Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo's vision.
When customers start from their real processes but aim for the standard, everything gets simpler. What I like here is the discipline: design “to‑be” around the suite, involve partners where they excel, and let Odoo bring localization depth and roadmap clarity. That’s how you ship a global rollout in months, not years.
This project shows the power of integration and community. With one product, one model, and thousands of contributors, we can keep complexity low while staying compliant in many countries. The lesson is timeless: standardize what you can, customize what you must — and always keep the path to the next version open.
PART 3 — Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
The time‑to‑value here is impressive. An integrated suite reduced tool sprawl, and the partner’s governance, combined with vendor support on localizations, accelerated delivery. For services businesses operating across borders, Odoo’s usability and functional breadth create a compelling proposition.
The long game raises familiar questions: scaling governance and controls, deep compliance (e.g., advanced auditability and segregation of duties), and handling complex enterprise scenarios while preserving UX fluidity. Harmonizing processes post‑acquisition is as much about change management and data quality as software. If they sustain upgrade discipline and process standardization, the approach scales; if not, customization creep and fragmentation could challenge total cost of ownership.
Disclaimer: This article contains AI-generated summaries and fictionalized commentaries for illustrative purposes. Viewpoints labeled as "Odoo Perspective" or "Competitors" are simulated and do not represent any real statements or positions. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.