Odoo: ERP or CRM-first? (Key takeaways)

Last week I attended an Odoo event in Zurich — lots of networking and face-to-face conversations, but the main focus of the event was more on Odoo’s CRM capabilities rather than a full ERP showcase. Unfortunately, there was no ERP demo, so the depth of financial and operational processes needs to be evaluated through private demo sessions and conversations with partners.

Odoo as a platform looks like an interesting solution for SMEs: a modular approach, a single system for CRM, finance, warehouse, and project management. The approximate cost is ~€30–35 per user per month + one-time implementation costs, which, according to informal discussions, are around CHF 450 per user for ERP and vary significantly depending on the partner ☝🏻

Among the integrators presented, brantec (Gold Partner) stood out as the most structured; SIMP IT (Silver Partner) showed ambition for international projects, but their delivery capacity for large-scale ERP implementations would require careful evaluation. Smaller partners seem more suitable for local or niche use cases.

‼️My key takeaway: Odoo can be a good ERP alternative for mid-sized businesses, but 90% of project success depends on choosing the right implementation partner, having sufficient consultant capacity, and the maturity of internal management.

Curious to hear your thoughts:
👉 What ERP/CRM systems are you currently using?
👉 What works well and what doesn’t?
👉 And how do you generally assess Odoo as an alternative?