Duration: 14:28
PART 1 — Analytical Summary 🚀
Context 💼
This talk features two perspectives: Denis Fitz, Project Manager and Business Analyst at Axon (an Odoo Gold Partner and active OCA contributor), and Franu, ERP Coordinator and E‑commerce Manager at Medipost, a Belgium-based distributor of medical and paramedical equipment that also operates as a pharmacy since 2023. The session explains how Medipost used its migration to Odoo 18 to move away from heavy customizations in Odoo 12 and return to a near‑standard implementation—why they did it, how they approached it, and what it changes for the business.
Core ideas & innovations 🧠
Axon’s methodology began with workshops to deeply understand Medipost’s day-to-day processes and to separate truly critical requirements from habits inherited from the legacy setup. The guiding principle: simplify the ERP by embracing Odoo standard modules and selective OCA functionalities, and only develop narrowly targeted custom code where no standard option exists. Starting from a clean Odoo 18 baseline minimized complexity and safeguarded future upgrades.
Medipost’s journey started in 2018, migrating from Exact Globe to Odoo 12 across inventory, sales, purchase, and POS—a major leap from a world of NAS‑stored documents, spreadsheets, and paper-based operations. It worked, but at the cost of deep customization: complex multi-step logistics with thousands of locations, bespoke banking and POS payment flows, and a fully custom Magento 2 integration for e‑commerce. These customizations drove results (notably a 10x growth in e‑commerce revenue) but created a maintenance and upgrade bottleneck that effectively froze them on Odoo 12.
The turning point was Odoo 18. Medipost chose a “white sheet” approach: set aside old custom code, re‑engineer every process with humility, and align with the ERP standard. Inventory rules were redesigned to be standard; accounting was reconfigured and users retrained; and e‑commerce moved from Magento 2 to Odoo 18’s native website/e‑commerce, seeing Odoo as a strong CMS alternative—eschewing Magento or Shopify for a tightly integrated stack. Where needed, they complemented the core with around 13 OCA modules; only a very small gap remained, covered by a minimal custom in receiving to display the final putaway location on PDAs. Hosting is managed by Axon on OVH in France.
Impact & takeaways ⚙️
The migration strategy reduced technical debt, restored an upgrade path, and shifted focus from bespoke code to robust configuration. Standardization, as they emphasize, is not “taking Odoo 18 as-is,” but building a bridge between business needs and the ERP standard—challenging assumptions, simplifying flows, and using Odoo’s native capabilities first. The result is a cleaner architecture, lower maintenance burden, and faster ability to adopt new features and apps. Medipost’s stance post‑go‑live: pursue growth by exploring new Odoo 18 modules rather than adding custom developments. Their punch line captures it: customization took them far, but standardization will take them further. 💬
PART 2 — Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo's vision.
What I appreciate most in Medipost’s journey is the mindset shift: less code, more configuration. When teams challenge their own processes and embrace the standard, they unlock the real promise of an integrated suite—fewer moving parts, simpler training, and seamless upgrades.
The community angle matters too. Combining Odoo standard with carefully chosen OCA modules shows how the ecosystem complements the product. This is how businesses scale sustainably: align with the platform, extend wisely, and keep the path open for tomorrow’s improvements.
PART 3 — Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
Medipost’s reset toward standard Odoo 18 is a smart way to reduce technical debt and regain agility. For growing firms, an integrated suite and strong UX can be compelling. The shift away from multi‑system e‑commerce syncs toward native capabilities also reduces operational friction.
That said, as scale and regulatory exposure increase—especially in medical and pharmacy contexts—demands around compliance (e.g., GxP, auditability), segregation of duties, advanced warehouse orchestration, and long-term TCO governance intensify. Standardization is powerful, but some businesses may eventually require deeper platform controls, vertical templates, or enterprise-grade compliance frameworks. The strategic test will be how well the standard stack accommodates that next level without reintroducing customization debt.
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.