6 Reasons Why Migrating to Odoo 11 is a Good Idea!

“All-inclusiveness” is a word that business owners of today adore! It is always a pleasure to find a business software that can help build ecommerce websites, manage customer relationships, warehouses, and inventory. And when one needs a software that fulfills all these demands; a name that often comes up is – Odoo. Since its release as an ERP in February 2005 until the launch of 11th Version in October 2017, it has offered nothing but convenience to entrepreneurs.

If you are one of the business owners willing to hire Odoo developer for building your website, make sure you get it developed in the 11th version. Even if you are working on the older version of Odoo, it is time you should consider Odoo 11 migration.

Given below are 6 reasons why you should consider Odoo 11 Migration:

1. A New Avatar

Odoo gives an enticing new avatar with every version. And with responsiveness being so important, it gives a huge reason for business owners to go for Odoo development.

2. Faster than Version 10

The Odoo team conducted a survey on around thousand users and the results proved that Odoo 11 3 times faster and simpler when it comes to usability.

3. Better Accounting Features

With Odoo Version 11, you can drive the accountancy blues away! The new version has an adaptation of local accounting packages from different countries including US, Germany, Switzerland, India, Mexico, etc.

4. Customizable CRM Modules

Odoo V11 is a great blessing for your sales staff. If you want to work on customer relationship management and sales modules seamlessly, V 11 is what you need!

5. Creative Website Builder

Website development in Odoo 11 gets more creative with its newly enhanced theme switcher, page manager and page builder. You can get in touch with professional ERP service providers and get your website developed from scratch.

6. Improved UI

Odoo 11’s user interface is better in more than one aspects. And when it comes to better UI, easy functionality is the first thing that comes to our mind.

If you are considering Odoo 11 migration, you should know that it has things in store for both; the enterprises and their end users.


View original Source: https://www.biztechcs.com/blog/why-migrating-odoo-11/

Simplify Business Functioning with Odoo Implementation

Are you seeking a solution that simplifies the challenging business functions? Odoo ERP can help you make your business, a power-packed solution. The numerous features and functionalities infused in Odoo ERP will make your business highly reliable and popular among your customer base. Modern businesses require a comprehensive ERP solution and Odoo ERP boosts the productivity and generates desired revenue.

Business Centric Odoo Services

Odoo Implementation

Odoo Enterprise Resource Planning that was earlier known as OpenERP is one of the leading ERP solutions used by top organizations as it is the perfect match for their challenging business requirements. Odoo ERP software fulfills all the crucial needs of simplifying the business functioning for better outcomes.

Odoo Customization

With this service businesses can avail tailor-made modules, apps and plugins. Creating customized modules and configuring it to the business system makes it accurate and reliable. Business owners can get expected outcomes with less investment.

Odoo Support and Maintenance

Sit back and rest assure about the ERP software, once you integrate Odoo ERP with business system. The support and maintenance service ensures of seamless business functioning.

Why Implement Odoo Solutions

• Odoo ERP is highly scalable
• It is open source
• Can be efficiently deployed
• Can be easily configured 
• It is highly modular
• It is available for free
• Seamlessly integrated and customizable

If you are in search of a solution that makes your business consistent and accurate, integrate Odoo ERP software, which is the perfect solution for organizations seeking simplified processes for great ROI.

What Foils ERP Project Implementation

ERP is comprehensive software that runs your company efficiently. The biggest challenge is getting it properly implemented. But a great correlation has been found between the problems that result in frustration in the selection process and the issues that can foil the implementation. Some of the widely witnessed implementation factors that have often derailed the overall ERP project, leaving the business in lurch, have been discussed in this post.

Let’s have an insight what those aspects are that can derail ERP implementation.

•     Unclear Objective
•     Lack of Accountability
•     Improper Resourcing
•     Scope Creep
•     Inadequate Change Management

Unclear Objective

Clarity in the ERP goal is of the essence. It may lead to even more conflicts on the goals. Failure to streamline the objective prior to starting the project will ensure that you will fall victim to scope creep.

In case your vendor is professional they may lock down the scope early, ensuring that they know how to success, thus protecting you. You also need to terminate all the assumption that you may have made in the sales process about what could be included. Better get the objectives documented and well evaluated before you finally sign contracts otherwise there is always a possibility of scope creep as your expected scope will be wider than the vendor’s.

Lack of Accountability

Ownership of any project has to occur at every level of the organizational framework, but it must be taken forward in word and action both by the leaders who are at the top of the pyramid.

Understanding the executive ownership is very vital to every company for effective implementation of the project.

Improper Resourcing

After having your goals clear before you and once you have nailed down your project scope – what comes next?

Involving the right people in the project after relieving them from their regular work to devote time to the implementation is difficult but essential. The ground reality is that the resources you need to work on the project are the people who are running your business now and they are already damn packed with a full week’s work.

A methodology design workshop conducted in the absence of right people involved is an absolute disaster and just a waste of effort, time, and money.

Better do not start the project in the lack of right people to work on this project. Finally if your business is seasonal in nature or depends on repetitive boom/bust cycles you must draw a down cycle to keep your executive busy on a business morph projects. Earning enough revenue when times are good is very important, so that in the next down cycle you can keep your executive busy in ERP project.

Scope Creep

The scope creep can be your biggest enemy. You might have an undocumented variation to your project plan that can add a week and $15,000 to the cost impacting other stakeholders or the expanse. It is very much possible. It may happen anytime, if it is not aggressively managed initially.

Inadequate Change Management

People are usually averse to change, which is threatening at multiple levels. An accurate and effective change management should be in place to streamline the work processes before attempting to implement and automate them in the new system. Implementation of a brand new ERP solution is an excellent opportunity to terminate current business processes. Are your people and executives ready to digest this wider change in the day-to-day functioning?

To make your ERP implementation successful, you must ensure:

•     Be focused on results to understand what your goals are and what success looks like
•     Ensure each one of your team has clear vision of project goal
•     Make sure scope is efficiently and aggressively handled
•     Ensure that impact of change on the people and processes is planned and organized

Nonetheless, all these are not that hard actually when you think about it clearly. Aligning all the aspects and factors with the project goal is the core behind a successful ERP implementation. Having a great plan and right implementation process can create almost anything on it as your business evolves.

Features Your Cloud-based ERP System Must Have!

The list of features and functions implemented into a cloud based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software depends on the organizational needs. In the current scenario, ERP software is not just a necessity of an enterprise, but it is a soul of every business. Not every ERP system contains the same set of features. Thus, by checking the features packed into an ERP software, helps you decide, whether it will suite your business or you should still search for a better alternative.

If you need an ERP system for a financial company, the set of features, you would be looking for would differ from that of the features required by a manufacturing firm. But there are some basic features, which every organization should look for. All such features are listed and explained in this article.

Must-Have Features of Cloud-based ERP

Simplicity – Easy to Use

No matter how big the cloud based ERP system you implement, it should be easy in use. If the cloud based ERP solution is challenging, using it can be a tedious task. If it would be so challenging, employees and top management would avoid, using it. Even accomplishing business activities would be difficult. To avoid such situation, your cloud based ERP solution needs to be simple and easy.

Scalability – Essential Feature

For the ever changing needs of organizations, scalable cloud based ERP becomes a feasible solution. This ERP feature will help businesses to grow, as it can be increased or contracted given the company demands. An organization appreciates a robust ERP system, as scaling a cloud-based application is quite simple and easy. Odoo ERP solution is one of the best open source software used widely by modern businesses. There are other such applications too, but Odoo’s feature list is much comprehensive and beneficial as compared to other ERPs on the list.

Customization – Must have

Customization is a must-have feature for every ERP solutions. Large firms having distinct type of processes and activities, which can be fulfilled by customizing the ERP software without spending huge amount of money. Building a new ERP system for new set of requirements is not a feasible solution, thus customization offers a solution with which you can make changes in your existing ERP system, rather than building a new one. This feature also helps small and medium sized companies to balance their revenue model.

Support – Round the Clock

This feature holds much significance. Customer support is quite essential for businesses to keep performing flawlessly. There are some Cloud based ERP vendors, who does not offer 24*7 customer support. Many organizations might overlook this feature, thinking it unimportant, but in reality, every cloud based ERP service provider should provide customer support round the clock. So that, whenever any issue arises, it can be solved quickly without affecting the working of business processes.

Do you own an enterprise? Have you implemented a cloud based ERP system for seamless business performance? Does your ERP application contain all the above features? If yes, you are on the path of success, but if no, change your ERP solution soon, as it can be a hindrance for getting success.

Social CRM: Answer to Brand Marketing

Today social media and content marketing are the major driving forces promoting business branding and lead generation initiatives. Social media is becoming an extremely controllable and cost effective platform for B2B and B2C companies – especially small businesses, due to affordable content marketing promoting brand engagement, client and even customer service.

Stretching Paradigm of Content Marketing

All the major customer engaging component like blogging, webinars, buyer engagement, white papers, videos, strategic landing pages, email newsletters and other related and supportive web content are driven by content marketing that shares the philosophy, methodology, mission and services of an enterprise. Effective content marketing is not limited to blogging or social media presence. Creating high end webinars is not enough. Today, business – of all sizes and nature – needs to explore diverse content platforms hitting on all cylinders to boost marketing campaigns, lead generation and the showcasing market-leading expertise.

Today’s Social Media

Simply updating published pieces and news capsules to social media platforms is not enough for getting the desired results. You need to have a well defined marketing structure to your social sharing – or else it will end up in social freakiness. It requires a consistent and concentrated content effort to design, strategize, and promote effective, timely, consistent and worthwhile social sharing. This has led to Social CRM for several start-ups to mid-sized enterprises particularly when it comes to social media efforts.

Social CRM enables you engage with your customers and other associates simultaneously across several core social channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. In fact social media is using traditional CRM software, which is meant to offer single central location to garner, store, process and evaluate present and historical customer data, and giving it a new look.

By deploying social media into your sales, marketing and customer service campaigns you can understand more about your customers’ interests and preferences. By leveraging the huge information available on social media platforms in a meaningful and organized manner, you can unearth several lead and enjoy an improved interaction with your customers and prospects, propelling the overall customer experience, adding to the bottom line business.

Businesses everywhere are leveraging the advantages of social media channels to stay connected more effectively with their prospects and associates. Combining social media activity with Social CRM can help connect and develop long-lasting, mutually-beneficial customer and brand follower associations.

You can also manage your social media initiatives to trigger brand engagement – and content marketing.

In addition, you can also streamline your social media campaigns to stimulate brand engagement – and content marketing.

How Social CRM Triggers Content & Brand Marketing

Social Media Optimization: Social Customer Relationship Management will give your social media campaigns a firm structure – real social media management. Social platforms should be organized like other vital marketing campaign of a business. This platform should be considered as an added bonus to marketing efforts. With Social CRM, your social efforts can collaborate flawlessly with other key enterprise initiatives, like marketing, sales, and customer service, what industry experts consider as a holistic approach to social branding – offering an extensive view of social media campaign successes and failures.

Delivering Customer Care: Social CRM unleash value in every social media interaction with clients, associates and brand fans. It helps a business readily engage with customers in a synergistic manner in order to drive sales, leads, nurture loyalty and catapult revenue. It catapults the overall customer engagement experience, adding value to your business – and trigger related marketing and sales drive.

Tracking Brand Coherence: Social CRM helps you ensure to keep track of your brand’s image across multiple social media channels. By mapping, scheduling and analyzing your social media content, you can make sure your brand’s message has been dispersed appropriately. Retaining brand consistency through social platform supports the branding efforts of marketing tricks and sales strategies – offering a closed loop approach to a centralized, synergetic branding initiative.

Social CRM is not going to fade away anytime soon. Leveraging its productivity and redefining your marketing and other related business efforts can propel your businesses to next stage of global ecosystem.

Innovative Change & Learning Initiative Supports ERP Implementation

Is your focus on the technical side of your enterprise systems implementation is so much that you’re neglecting to help your enterprise to adapt to the changes that the system brings into the way people work? IT sector is undergoing dynamic and dramatic change today, mostly by the evolution of cloud-based platforms and SaaS solution. Despite such ongoing developments, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems retain its relevance of being one of the crucial enablers of most of the world’s commerce and public-sector task. The most neglected aspect in this is dealing with the human and organizational implications of system and process change.

An ERP adoption almost always entails sweeping changes to the way work is done across any organization. It simplifies business processes, reporting relationships, roles, how customers are served, how data is stored and used, and much more. The organization also deploys some number of resources to train employees as part of the implementation, but such initiatives are often insufficient for several reasons. Training needs evaluation is often superficial. Training may be provided too late to pace with the workforce performance and is not reinforced at the right time.

Nonetheless, if deployed and implemented properly, an enterprise learning and organizational change program can entail a crucial impact on the success of the overall ERP implementation. Here are eight most prominent insights into how organization can make it work best by deploying a learning and change management program.

1. Deploy a Right Fusion of Skills to the Training Team: Enterprise learning requires a specialized skill set; not anyone can do it. Just ensure to deploy experienced learning professionals on board. In addition, have a combination of business function abilities and technology. Maintain a right balance of qualified and knowledgeable colleagues amongst the design, build, test and training team. Keep rotating systems and business function members in and out of the training and rotate initiative for stretch of time, while retaining a good team of skilled instructional designers.
2. Deploy the Training Team Early: Systems training is not a generic, off-the-shelf program. Each implementation process is unique given the unique needs of each organization. Deploy a training team since inception as an integral part of the development team. Start with small team whose members can become the experts for each functional area later on and stay with the project till the end. You should also have a mix of roles, like subject matter experts, testers, system developers to actively participate.
3. Initiate Training within a Wider Change Management Program: Apart from developing specific training program or web-based learning initiatives, organizations should think of enabling new behaviors, working associations and organizational structures. It should have a threefold initiated - training, change management and organizational alignment. This approach will ensure that specific learning programs are in harmony with the wider organizational change and that everyone gains right information and support.
4. Make an Iterative Approach to Training-needs Evaluation: Having the training-needs evaluation correct is necessary to the success of the project. The focus should be on the end-user’s performance needs and not just on the technical details of the program. It can be created during workshops with the design-and-build teams; their insights into technical details should be in alignment with the insights of others who understand the wider influence on the overall behaviors of users. Training is about learning the new program that the system supports. Iterative approach is required to define training needs rather defining it all at once. Keep changing the strategy to refresh the needs analysis with every release update of the program to keep it aligned with the system and business functioning.
5. Entail Innovative and Engaging Learning Initiative: Engage in more innovative approaches like online learning, collaboration systems, simulations, and social media. Dedicated intranet sites can be developed to publish news and support literatures, share information and to receive feedback from users. You can also use social media platforms to help everyone to contribute timely information along with user-generated content in text, audio or video form. You can use knowledge databases in wiki formats to standardize ways to accumulate very current perspectives from across the enterprise.
6. Assess Progress and Outcomes Rigorously: Do not limit your training evaluation programs to point-in-time temperature checks and understanding whether a few employees are satisfied with a particular program. Evaluate if the training actually has impacted the business. Engage in producing a more agile and extensive training analysis that assesses user analysis of relevance and impact on individual performance. It should also be assessed for user adoption, process performance and the effectiveness of the change initiative.
7. Align Cost-saving Practices with Value-adding Localization: Customized standardized training approach can be affordable and can enhance the positive impact on users within particular regional geographies. You need to maintain the right balance. Start collecting the crucial part of the training that can be reused. Once you are done, add the local specifics needed or business-driven sub processes. Training in local languages is also necessary. You may also rely on a trainer that can speak the local language and can translate instruction from the master documents, instead of translating complete project.
8. Make Sustainable Training Investment: Often the organizational changes and new ways of working are not sustainable after the initial training period. Data are not updated, accountability gets muddled and budgets dry up. Responsibilities are not well defined for workforce enablement and support, as time goes on. It is ideal to deploy an entity having the incentive and allocated budget to maintain the training programs and change initiative over time.

Gaining More from your ERP Program

ERP is a huge investment, with gigantic impacts on the performance of individuals and the overall organization. Deploying the right training and change programs, people can adapt to the new processes effectively. Organizations can expect to experience improved productivity on the system being turned on, and they can be quicker in exploring and grabbing marketplace opportunities.