Odoo vs. Acumatica Cloud ERP: Which is Right for You? (Part Two)

In part 1 on this topic, we discussed the importance of choosing the right ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution for your business. We mentioned how Odoo and Acumatica Cloud ERPs differ in platform, pricing, and industry suitability. In part 2, we’ll discuss how the two solutions meet key ERP needs of scalability, customization, and support.

Odoo vs. Acumatica for Key ERP Requirements

The decision to purchase or replace an ERP solution generally comes from recognizing that your business processes are not being performed as efficiently and accurately as you would wish. ERP is no longer a ‘nice to have’ business purchase but has become essential as organizations expand and technology advances. When your company is finally fed up with wasting time on frustrating workarounds,  it’s time for a new ERP.

Two essential ERP functional requirements are scalability and customization. Equally crucial to the smooth running of your business is the support you can expect from your solution and your ERP partner

Scalability and Reporting

As your business grows, you need an ERP solution that can handle growth and deliver the critical insight necessary for better and faster decision-making.

• Odoo clients are mostly smaller businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Perhaps more transactions (invoices, POs, SOs) tax the Odoo system – resulting in slow performance, corrupted transactions, and conflicts between concurrent users. In addition, Odoo’s per-user pricing may discourage growth by punishing businesses when they hire additional personnel. Odoo also limits emails to 100 per day. These critical limitations negatively impact Odoo’s scalability.

Reporting in Odoo is limited. Odoo provides fewer than 50 reports and dashboards, and these are not customizable. Building customized reports requires the Customizer tool (Studio), which incurs a monthly add-on fee and often necessitates skilled and costly developer assistance.

• Acumatica actually encourages business growth. Its resource-based pricing supports unlimited users and allows them anytime/anywhere access.  In addition, it is built on the cutting-edge Acumatica Cloud xRP platform, which supports rapid growth and dynamic operations and can handle high-volume transactions seamlessly and efficiently.

Acumatica’s reporting is robust and is one reason Acumatica has been named a Leader in Financials by IDC. With over 250 built-in reports and dashboards, Acumatica’s no-code/low-code customization capabilities let you quickly and easily generate custom reports, General Inquiries, and dashboards with in-depth analytics.

Customizations

Your ERP solution should eliminate workarounds by providing flexible, robust customization capabilities.

• Odoo provides off-the-shelf customizations and connects to many third-party add-on solutions. However,  lacking adequate governance and oversight, Odoo’s integrations do not always work. In addition, most of  Odoo’s third-party add-ons are built for their on-premises solution and do not work with their cloud ERP.

The Enterprise edition of Odoo does have a customization tool for an additional monthly fee. But the tool is difficult to use, and user’s have called Odoo’s documentation ‘limited and unhelpful.’ Often they have had to hire developers to perform their customizations, and frequently the customizations are not supported when Odoo updates.

Customization costs for Odoo are steep and incur a core development charge plus a recurring monthly fee based on development hours.  Clients could pay a development fee plus the monthly fee forever for a 20-hour customization project that might prove obsolete with subsequent updates.

• Acumatica’s broad range of off-the-shelf customization add-ons is available in the Acumatica Marketplace.  Strong governance and oversight ensure that add-ons will survive solution updates. In addition, the no-code/low-code customization capabilities of Acumatica’s Cloud xRP platform mean it is fast and easy for non-technical users to customize their Acumatica setup.

Acumatica developers are affordable and can ensure that customizations fully integrate providing a seamless flow between modules.

If Acumatica users want help with customizations, they have free access to the comprehensive, readable, and in-depth help documentation in the Acumatica Open University or the Help Portal. Users are also encouraged to join the active and supportive Acumatica Community.

Support

Today, businesses need access to support at all times.

• Odoo technicians primarily focus on implementation and development rather than ongoing system optimization and support. And Odoo Gold Tier partners (the highest tier) are only required to have three employees certified on at least one of the last three versions of Odoo.

Corporate customer support is available from Odoo, but it is not without added cost. With no weekend support and few guaranteed SLAs, it can be challenging to resolve critical ERP issues quickly.

• Acumatica consultants are business as well as technical experts. With Acumatica, support begins during the selection and implementation process and continues throughout the life of the partnership. Additionally, Acumatica partners must meet strict certification requirements.

Acumatica support is accessible from Acumatica or your Acumatica partner 24/7. Acumatica users have a defined SLA and Acumatica has a deep commitment to customer service (as explained in their Customer Bill of Rights.) You can take advantage of  comprehensive, on-demand, e-learning resources, including Acumatica Open University, Help Portal, and the active Acumatica Community. Acumatica has a 97% rating for support satisfaction.

What’s your conclusion?

These posts introduce you to some differences between Odoo vs. Acumatica. But to really determine if Acumatica is best for your business, learn more about it and take it for a test drive.

Contact our experts at Dynamic Tech Services, and let’s talk about how the right ERP solution can take your business to new heights.

Since 1996, Dynamic Tech Services, an Atlanta-based national Acumatica partner, has offered consulting and solutions that help clients get the most out of their critical business technologies. As one of the only firms in the world with multiple multi-year Acumatica MVPs (one of whom is a 6-time recipient), we’re the experts to trust for honest Acumatica information.