Odoo offers many editions targeting every business size out there. There’s an free open source “Community” edition greatly paired down (vs Enterprise) best suited for those willing to take on the risk of software development and maintenance. Other versions (all referred to as Enterprise) support SaaS, on-premise, and a managed virtual cloud platform (similar to AWS, Azure, etc..). The later two make it your responsibility to upgrade builds via partner dependencies, not unlike the old client/server pre-SaaS days, except worse because the upgrades and maintenance isn’t backed by the software company (Odoo) but by the solution partner. This risks breaking customizations, and is one of the original reasons SaaS has become the preferred way SMBs use software.

BizAutomation offers single all-inclusive edition, for a single target (horizontal) market (smaller SMBs) at a single price with single rate add-on pricing. Sticking to our pledge of transparency, we publish everything on our web-site eliminating the possibility of “edition traps”(see below). This approach is analogous to a bumper to bumper warranty that covers everything without exception (including what you don’t realize you might need at a later point).

Implementation: Odoo allows attempted self implementation (something BizAutomation does not) which per reviews often ends in tears. This means Odoo self implementation can in theory be cheaper to implement. The company advises against this, rightfully so. Unlike Odoo, BizAutomation guides ALL implementation projects to maximize success.

How big software leverages an upsell: Up-sell strategies can affect any customer using sofware that’s intentionally held back by product planners, in order to upsell more profitable add-ons, modules, versions/editions, platforms, and the lucrative billable partner hours that such upgrades produce. This happens in a couple of scenarios. When an ERP system is sold on a single platform but offered both horizontally (e.g. small, medium, large editions) and vertically (industry specific editions) or when it’s sold in multiple platforms, usually separated horizontally which in theory makes sense because systems should be designed for a target horizontal markets, but when design decisions are influenced by upsell pressures, it’s the end customer that picks up the tab.

Example: In this example we’ll assume the use of a single platform multi-edition offering but the same example can be made with multi-platform offerings. Say you commit to what we’ll call a “Small Business” (Horizontal) “Standard Distributor” (Vertical) edition. Six months into a three year agreement your business grows and adds another warehouse, and only then realize your small business version only supports a single warehouse. Your software vendor will happily sell you an “Advanced Inventory” add-on, but to get it you have to upgrade to the “Mid-Market” edition + the add-on price. Because this is most likely to happen in the middle of a contract, all your negotiation leverage is gone, and you’re forced to pay whatever they ask or face leaving the system - not an enviable position to be in.

This happens when the customer doesn’t know what they don’t know before committing, but even an ERP expert would be hard pressed to negotiate a fool proof contract because in order to make a truly informed decision, one needs all the facts, and often vendors will cherry pick information on proposals, burying details in opaque licensing agreements so difficult to understand, that even regulators and “fair trade” laws have no impact on the outcome.

BizAutomation’s single all-inclusive version, is completely immune to vendor upsell leveraging, as there’s no version, edition, or platform to up-sell.

Odoo: Did you know that Odoo, the self proclaimed paragon of open source ERP is in fact LESS open-source than BizAutomation for the majority of SMBs ? It’s true, because most SMBs consume SaaS, and Odoo SaaS is not open-source. While BizAutomation is not open-source either, we do offer the possibility of enhancing the source code on a case by case basis, but this is not available to any Odoo SaaS customer, because source code customization is only reserved for on-premise and single tenant private cloud versions which are much more expensive to maintain, and better suited to larger business than SMBs, who ultimately are going to be Odoo’s target market. Also, only partners and not customers, are allowed to modify source code. This also means that when build updates break a customization performed by a partner, Odoo will not be held responsible which has been the source of many problems (See reviews). While open source customization is not available, Odoo does have a very powerful customization tool (Studio), which rivals what other mid-market focused ERP systems such as NetSuite provide, and like NetSuite it’s designed for Odoo partners, not regular business people.

BizAutomation: Almost all customization tools are designed around click not code wizards intended for business users, not engineers (including our workflow automation module which is part of the suite). The only area of the BizAutomation suite designed for non-business users includes the HTML and CSS editing tools provided for customizing partner forms (invoices, purchase orders, multi-entity branding, etc..), and entire websites designed on the BizCommerce platform (which also supports scripting such as Java script and J Query), but not the core suite itself. But even these tools comply with standards based technologies (there will never be a “BizScript”) so you’ll never need a specialized partner with sky high billing rates to do anything.

With no dependency on partner networks to feed or upsell incentives from multiple versions and editions, we do offer source code enhancement under certain conditions, which are written in-house to prevent breaking the suite with build updates (any bugs are supported by us, the original authors of source code). Source code customization is invaluable when you don’t know what you don’t know 3 months into a 6 month implementation (happens more often than you’d think), finding yourself dependent on the good graces of your software vendor, and tens of thousands into a project. This is precisely why we advise you prioritize the technology vendor first (take customer references seriously), and the features and software system last. Most customers seem to do the opposite.

How Odoo’s partner centric integration strategy compares to BizAutomation’s customer centric strategy

Both companies are similar when it comes to internal integrations, built directly into the suite itself. For example, connecting to credit card processors, shipping carriers, address look ups, tax rates, currency exchange rates, and more..

3rd Party Solution Partner Integrations & App Extensions: These are integrations to 3rd party systems, networks, and marketplaces by 3rd party software companies, which also become value added reseller (VAR) partners. These integrations are usually specific to a vertical market or seek to improve on a feature. To integrate the partner has to have access to the source code which is only available to partners (but not the SaaS version, which).

Odoo’s app strategy: Attract as many 3rd party software developers so they become solution partners. Unlike all the other ERP competitors on our list, becoming an Odoo partner is very simple. To them, it’s all about quantity, and not so much about quality. The benefits to Odoo are significant in terms of growing awareness, so to this end it’s a great idea. The downside is that with no QC barrier, the chances that an add-on app might break goes up quite dramatically with version upgrades. In fact, this is something we highly recommend you research throughout reviews, as it’s one of areas of most concern (not for the SaaS - recall, Odoo does not allow partners to edit the SaaS version, and unlike BizAutomation they will not consider customer direct requests).

The Pros of Odoo’s strategy: Customers get an app marketplace where they can shop for integrations and extensions. All those partners attract customers to Odoo, and Google search results are filled with pro-Odoo messaging. Odoo and their partners benefit from increased dependency (a con from the customer’s perspective).

The Cons of Odoo’s strategy:

1. While seen as a pro for Odoo and their partners - with deep dependencies come increased vendor lock in, where customer’s find it impossible to port to a competing 3rd party app without significant expense and down time. Solution partners know this, and take full advantage. This is why BizAutomation vertically integrates all business logic internally and only connects to 3rd party apps via data APIs. Unlike Odoo, BizAutomation will enhance source code via customer input, assuming we agree the idea is worth considering. We’re the only company among our peers that does this, but it’s how we evolve the suite.

2. The partner (not Odoo) is responsible if integration breaks as a result of a Odoo build update (we found many reviews mentioning this). BizAutomation ALWAYS takes responsibility for connectivity issues to 3rd party apps. Our responsibility ends only where the 3rd party app begins. We also only connect to a single best of breed, but only where the 3rd party app performs something we determine wouldn’t make sense putting into our own suite thereby preventing the con mentioned in point #3.

3. The sales and marketing benefits as well as the increased dependencies generated by solution partners create a powerful special interest lobby group, that creates a natural incentive to allow solution partner systems to take over functions that in all likelihood should be built into Odoo’s source code. This is why we justify our allegations that “BigTech” ERP software serves the needs of their partners first, then customers.

4. 3rd party solutions aren’t free. Also, partner fees which will likely be embedded in app prices.

Refers to how efficient and thus competitive a software system is at helping its intended customer automate. So for example, a system designed to be efficient for a 10 person company would be completely inefficient at running Ford, and visa versa.

Odoo: As a self proclaimed jack of all trades it’s no surprise that Odoo isn’t best of breed for either large or small business. Based on reviews, both from customers and independent Youtubers, it appears they’re building for more complex environments more in line with the mid-market, which makes sense when considering their deployment and customization design concepts, as well as the investors they’ve taken on.

BizAutomation: We’re hyper focused on efficiency for smaller SMBs only. We often ask our customers (all under 100 employees) for feedback on where we can save them clicks, how to do more with less, etc... we’re obsessed with it, but we can afford to be, because we only need to serve the needs of a single horizontal market - smaller SMBs.

Odoo: A 4.1 average out of 5 stars on Capterra to us appears artificially high. Why ? Because if you look at most of the stellar reviews, they all seem to come from technology companies, many if not most of which are implementation and solution partners (eyebrow raised). There is virtually no barrier to calling yourself an Odoo partner, which would not be a problem if it weren’t for the fact that Odoo does not guarantee their work during implementation or customization like BizAutomation does (reflected in the 3.6 of 5 average support rating, which is also in our opinion artificially high for reasons mentioned).

BizAutomation: 4.9 average on Capterra, with over 95% of our reviews coming from customers in the U.S. and Canada, so all those 5 star reviews are legit.