Eight questions to ask before you choose an Odoo implementation partner

Odoo is flexible, which is its strength and its risk. The same software can become a clean system your team enjoys using or an expensive mess, and the difference is almost always the partner who sets it up. Before you sign, ask these eight questions.

1. How will you find out how our business actually works?

A good partner starts with a discovery workshop, not a demo. They should ask to see how an order, a purchase or a payment really moves through your company today, including the spreadsheets and WhatsApp messages nobody planned. If the first meeting is a feature tour, expect your process to be bent to fit the software.

2. What will we have in writing before work starts?

Ask for a written scope, a timeline with milestones, and what is explicitly out of scope. "We will figure it out as we go" is how projects double in cost. A scope can still change, but there should be a document to change.

3. Who will do the work, and who is my contact?

Find out whether the people in the sales meeting are the people who configure your system. Ask who your day-to-day contact is, and what happens if that person is unavailable.

4. How do you handle our data?

Migration is where most projects hurt. Ask how they clean, map and load your existing data, how you will check it, and who signs off the opening balances. Ask where your data will be hosted and who has access.

5. What happens to customizations when Odoo upgrades?

Odoo releases a new version every year. Custom code written without care can make upgrades painful. Ask how they build customizations, whether they write automated tests, and what an upgrade would involve for you.

6. What does support look like after go-live?

The first weeks of live use are when you need help most. Ask for response times in writing, how to raise an issue, what is covered each month and what costs extra. A support plan that is vague before you sign will be vaguer afterwards.

7. Can we speak to someone who has been through it?

Ask for references you can call, and ask what went wrong on their last project and how they handled it. Honest partners have a ready answer. If a partner says nothing ever goes wrong, keep asking.

8. Will you tell us when Odoo is not the right answer?

This one is a test of honesty. Some needs are better served by a simpler tool, or by changing a process before automating it. A partner who always says yes is selling, not advising.

Using the list

Score each partner on the eight questions, and weigh the answers about discovery, scope and support most heavily. The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest project.

If you would like to put these questions to us, get in touch. We would rather answer them before you sign than after.