Odoo Experience 2024 was held in Brussels, Belgium from 2 to 4 October 2024. In the Keynote - Vision & Strategy talk on day two, Odoo's CEO Fabien Pinckaers presented the company's vision and strategy, and the case of AEROSPACE LAB's implementation.
On day three, the Keynote: The Future of ERP talk was a panel discussion on the future of the ERP market between Fabien Pinckaers and Odoo partners, so this post covers that as well.
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Vision & Strategy
Odoo now gets 800,000 installations a month.
That shows the direction Odoo has taken so far was the right one.
Open source
- open software
- an open mindset
- the strength of the community
Fair pricing
- transparency
- affordable prices
- a strong free offer
No vendor lock-in
- no proprietary data format
- no software lock-in
- no platform lock-in
- fair terms of business
A strong community
- focus on the product
- a “compete” mindset
- rewards for contributing
Odoo's partners have grown to 8,000.
Counting the people who work on Odoo outside the partners as well, Odoo has created 250,000 jobs.
For industries
Odoo has offered general-purpose solutions until now, and from here on it will put its effort into solutions for particular industries. 43 industry apps are already available, and the plan is to reach 100 during 2024.
Odoo's industry solutions can be seen here, on odoo.com.
Upgrading to Odoo V18
Odoo V18 is already available on the website and to download. For customers already using Odoo, the upgrade to V18 will be available for on-premise and Odoo.sh within the year. Online customers are to be upgraded at 10,000 clients a month, within two months.
Why AEROSPACE LAB chose Odoo
AEROSPACE LAB is a fast-growing satellite company founded in 2018, which brought Odoo in two years ago.
AEROSPACE LAB chose Odoo because they identified with its approach of combining the latest open technology to move development along. It is of a piece with why they founded AEROSPACE LAB: they had had enough of traditional, inflexible waterfall development.
Panel discussion: the future of the ERP market
The day-three Odoo keynote was a panel discussion on the future of the ERP market with three people from Odoo partners: André Bake of Idealis, Johan Vlaminckx of Deloitte, and Nathanael Leutenegger of Braintec.
On AI
There are many possibilities in AI and enormous investment is going into a wide range of fields, but starting from how to use AI is unlikely to work. When you are working out how to solve a specific problem, consider all the ways — adding a feature, improving the user experience and so on — and use AI where AI contributes to solving it. A vague notion that using AI will solve the problem is unlikely to work.
Standardisation and flexibility
Enterprise ERPs have pushed complex operations into standard products with little flexibility, and the adoption rate has fallen as a result. Odoo has both a standardised service and a flexible platform.
Summing up, and what I made of it
I have been the one writing the Odoo Experience posts since 2020, so — time flies — this is the fifth.
In other years the Odoo Experience keynote has left me with the impression of a hard sell laid on as thick as it will go: "look at this new app that has been added to Odoo! SAP and Oracle do this, but Odoo does that, and isn't it wonderful!" This time it was matter-of-fact.
There was no headline new app or feature, which felt unexpected, but what came across was that the apps and features that already exist are being improved patiently and steadily. The Japanese translation is one instance of that: carried by community activity for a long time, and since 2023 finally taken forward by a translator at Odoo itself.
This year's Odoo Experience keynote brought home that Odoo, which until now has been in the position of chasing the SAPs and Oracles that represent the ERP market, is building a firm position of its own in it — and is moving towards the position of leading where that market goes next.
Do put your hands on Odoo first.
You can get started easily from here.
Odoo Experience 2024 Keynote - Vision & Strategy