Fair Compare Odoo and Salesforce

Brief Introduction to Salesforce and Odoo. History of each platform

Salesforce was founded in 1999 and is one of the oldest cloud-based CRM platforms in the market. As of April 2022, Salesforce has over 150,000 customers and more than 4 million users worldwide. The latest version of Salesforce is Salesforce Winter ’22, released in October 2021. Salesforce focuses on providing a comprehensive suite of cloud-based CRM and sales management tools, as well as a robust platform for building and deploying custom business applications.

Odoo, on the other hand, was founded in 2005 and has rapidly grown to become one of the most popular open-source ERP systems available. As of 2022, Odoo has over 6 million users and more than 6,000 enterprise customers worldwide. The latest version of Odoo is Odoo 15, which was released in October 2021. Odoo offers a wide range of business applications, including CRM, accounting, inventory management, project management, and e-commerce.

Salesforce’s product strategy is to continue to expand its offerings in the areas of customer engagement, commerce, and analytics. Salesforce is also investing heavily in its AI-powered platform, Einstein, which is designed to help businesses make data-driven decisions and automate complex processes.

Odoo’s product strategy is to provide a fully integrated suite of business applications that can be tailored to the specific needs of each customer. Odoo is constantly adding new features and improving existing ones, with a focus on providing a user-friendly interface and seamless integration between modules. Odoo also emphasizes its open-source nature, which allows customers and developers to customize and extend the platform as needed.

What are the criteria we will use for comparison?

We will be comparing Salesforce and Odoo based on the following criteria:

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Salesforce Step-by-Step Review

a) Lead Management:

Salesforce’s lead management functionality allows users to capture and manage leads through various channels such as website forms, social media, and email campaigns. The platform provides customizable lead capture forms, lead scoring, and automated lead assignment to ensure that leads are quickly routed to the appropriate salesperson. Sales reps can track lead activity and engagement with built-in analytics, enabling them to prioritize leads that are most likely to convert.

One unique feature of Salesforce’s lead management is the ability to create and manage lead nurturing campaigns. These campaigns use automated emails and other communication channels to educate and engage leads over time, ultimately increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Example: A B2B company generates leads through multiple channels such as a website, social media, and trade shows. They use Salesforce’s lead management functionality to automatically capture leads from their website forms and social media pages. The leads are automatically scored based on their behavior and demographics, and are assigned to the appropriate salesperson. The sales reps use Salesforce’s analytics to prioritize the leads that are most likely to convert, and use lead nurturing campaigns to educate and engage the leads over time.

b) Pipeline Management:

Salesforce’s pipeline management functionality allows sales reps to track and manage their sales pipeline from initial contact to closing the deal. The platform provides a visual representation of the pipeline, enabling reps to easily identify bottlenecks and areas that require attention. Users can customize their pipeline stages to match their unique sales process, and set up automation rules to move deals through the pipeline automatically.

One unique feature of Salesforce’s pipeline management is its forecasting functionality. The platform uses historical data and predictive analytics to forecast future sales, allowing reps and managers to plan ahead and make data-driven decisions.

Example: A retail company uses Salesforce’s pipeline management functionality to track their sales process from initial contact to closing the deal. They customize their pipeline stages to match their unique sales process, and set up automation rules to move deals through the pipeline automatically. The sales reps use Salesforce’s forecasting functionality to plan ahead and make data-driven decisions.

c) Manage Pricelists:

Salesforce’s pricing management functionality allows users to manage pricing for products and services in a centralized location. Users can create price books with different pricing tiers and assign them to specific accounts, enabling them to provide custom pricing to different customers. The platform also supports complex pricing models such as volume-based discounts, contract pricing, and product bundles.

One unique feature of Salesforce’s pricing management is its integration with its sales and marketing functionalities. Users can create customized pricing offers based on specific customer segments or marketing campaigns, enabling them to offer targeted promotions and discounts.

Example: A software company uses Salesforce’s pricing management functionality to create price books with different pricing tiers and assign them to specific accounts. They offer volume-based discounts and product bundles to incentivize larger purchases. The marketing team uses Salesforce’s integration with pricing to offer targeted promotions and discounts to specific customer segments.

d) Manage Sales Teams:

Salesforce’s team management functionality allows sales managers to manage their sales teams effectively. The platform provides a real-time view of each salesperson’s performance, enabling managers to identify areas for improvement and provide coaching and training as needed. Users can also set up sales quotas and performance metrics, and track progress towards these goals in real-time.

One unique feature of Salesforce’s team management is its collaboration tools. Users can easily share information and collaborate with team members in real-time, enabling them to work together effectively and close deals faster.

Example: A pharmaceutical company uses Salesforce’s team management functionality to manage their sales teams. They set up sales quotas and performance metrics, and track progress towards these goals in real-time. The sales managers use Salesforce’s collaboration tools to share information and collaborate with team members in real-time, enabling them.

e) Reporting for salesperson

In terms of reporting for salespersons, Salesforce provides a variety of customizable reports and dashboards that can be tailored to the specific needs of sales teams. Salespeople can easily track their progress towards meeting their sales goals, monitor their leads and opportunities, and gain insights into their performance. Salesforce’s Einstein Analytics, an AI-powered analytics platform, offers advanced analytics capabilities that can help sales teams identify key trends and patterns in their sales data.

Odoo, on the other hand, offers a range of sales-related reports such as Sales Orders, Sales Analysis, Sales by Product, Sales by Partner, and Sales by Salesperson. These reports provide detailed information on the performance of the sales team, the status of sales orders, and the profitability of products. Odoo also offers customizable dashboards that can be tailored to the specific needs of sales teams.

f) Reporting for Top-managers

When it comes to reporting for top-managers, Salesforce offers advanced analytics tools such as Einstein Analytics, which provide detailed insights into sales performance, customer behavior, and sales forecasting. Salesforce also offers Sales Cloud Dashboards, which provide real-time insights into sales performance, as well as custom dashboards that can be tailored to the specific needs of top managers.

Odoo offers several reporting options for top-managers, including Sales Analysis, Sales by Product, and Sales by Partner. Additionally, Odoo’s Business Intelligence module offers advanced analytics capabilities that allow top-managers to gain deeper insights into the performance of their sales teams, as well as their customers and products.

g) Customization Options

When it comes to customization options, both Salesforce and Odoo offer a range of customization options that can be tailored to the specific needs of a business. Salesforce’s AppExchange offers over 3,000 apps and integrations that can be used to customize and extend the platform’s capabilities. Salesforce also offers a range of customization tools, including drag-and-drop customization, custom fields, and custom objects.

Odoo’s modular architecture makes it highly customizable, with over 10,000 apps available on the Odoo App Store. Odoo also offers a range of customization options, including custom fields, custom reports, and custom modules.

h) Useful features for end-users

Unique features of Salesforce include its Lightning Experience, which offers a modern, intuitive user interface, and its Salesforce Inbox, which allows sales teams to manage their email, calendar, and tasks directly from Salesforce. Salesforce also offers a range of AI-powered features, including Einstein Analytics and Einstein Lead Scoring.

Odoo Step-by-step Review

a) Lead Management

Odoo offers a user-friendly interface for managing leads. You can create and manage leads, add detailed information, track activities, and easily convert them into opportunities. Odoo allows you to customize the lead stage based on your business process. For example, if you have a B2B sales process, you can have stages like prospecting, discovery, proposal, negotiation, and closed won/lost. If you have a B2C sales process, you can have stages like initial contact, follow-up, negotiation, and closed won/lost. Odoo also allows you to automate lead assignment to specific sales teams based on predefined criteria.

b) Pipeline Management

Odoo’s pipeline management feature allows you to track the progress of your deals from initial contact to final closing. You can create and manage opportunities, add detailed information, track activities, and set up custom stages based on your business process. Odoo also allows you to forecast revenue based on the probability of closing deals. This feature helps you to plan your sales activities, manage your team’s performance, and make informed decisions.

c) Manage Pricelists

Odoo allows you to manage multiple price lists based on customer segments, geographies, or any other criteria. You can set up different prices for different products, variants, or attributes. You can also define pricing rules based on minimum quantities, promotions, or discounts. This feature helps you to streamline your sales process, offer competitive prices, and increase your customer satisfaction.

Odoo’s pricing management is a powerful feature that allows businesses to manage their pricing strategies effectively. With Odoo, businesses can create and manage multiple pricelists, each with its own set of prices for different products, customer groups, and currencies.

A pricelist is essentially a set of rules that defines the pricing for products and services. Each pricelist can be based on a variety of factors, including quantity, customer type, and currency. For example, a business might create a pricelist for a specific product that offers a discount based on the quantity purchased or a pricelist for a particular customer group that provides them with a specific discount.

Odoo makes it easy to manage pricelists for different currencies. Each pricelist can be assigned to a specific currency, allowing businesses to offer products and services at different prices based on the currency used for the transaction. This feature is especially useful for businesses that operate in multiple countries or regions, allowing them to offer localized pricing to their customers.

Assigning a pricelist to a customer is a simple process in Odoo. Businesses can assign a default pricelist to a customer or create specific pricelists for individual customers or customer groups. This feature allows businesses to offer targeted pricing to specific customers, helping to build loyalty and increase customer satisfaction.

Overall, Odoo’s pricelist management is a robust feature that enables businesses to create and manage pricing strategies with ease. The ability to create multiple pricelists for different products, customer groups, and currencies, as well as assign pricelists to individual customers, provides businesses with the flexibility to tailor their pricing to meet the needs of their customers.

d) Manage Sales Teams

Odoo’s sales team management feature allows you to create and manage multiple sales teams based on regions, products, or any other criteria. You can assign team members, set targets, and track their performance. You can also define team-specific stages, dashboards, and reports. This feature helps you to organize your sales activities, motivate your team members, and achieve your sales goals.

e) Odoo Reporting for salesperson

Odoo’s reporting for salespersons is a critical feature that allows them to track their progress and identify opportunities for improvement. With Odoo, salespersons can easily access information on their CRM stages, activities connected to each opportunity, expected closing date, expected revenue, and lost reasons.

CRM stages provide a clear view of where each opportunity stands in the sales process. By tracking CRM stages, salespersons can prioritize their efforts and focus on opportunities that are most likely to close. Activities connected to each opportunity allow salespersons to keep track of tasks and follow-up activities related to each deal.

Expected closing date and expected revenue provide valuable insights into the health of the sales pipeline. By tracking these metrics, salespersons can identify areas where they need to focus their efforts to increase their chances of closing deals. Lost reasons can be used to identify patterns or trends in lost opportunities, allowing salespersons to adjust their approach to improve their success rates.

Overall, Odoo’s reporting for salespersons provides a wealth of information that is critical to their success. By using these features, salespersons can stay organized, prioritize their efforts, and make data-driven decisions to improve their sales performance.

f) Odoo Reporting for Top-managers

Reporting for Top-managers is an essential feature of any CRM system. In Odoo, the dashboard is the central point for managers to access all of their reporting information. The dashboard can be customized to show various data points, such as expected closing dates, expected revenue, conversion rates, days to won, and days to close.

Expected closing dates allow managers to see when deals are expected to close, providing insight into the overall health of their sales pipeline. Expected revenue provides a clear picture of how much revenue is expected to be generated from deals that are in progress. Conversion rates can be used to measure the effectiveness of sales efforts and identify areas for improvement.

Days to won and days to close can provide valuable insights into the efficiency of the sales process. By tracking these metrics, managers can identify potential bottlenecks in the sales process and take action to improve efficiency.

Overall, Odoo’s reporting features for top managers provide a comprehensive overview of the sales process and allow managers to make data-driven decisions to improve their sales efforts. The ability to customize the dashboard to show specific data points is a unique feature of Odoo, giving managers the flexibility to view the data that is most important to them.

Odoo is an open-source platform that allows you to customize it according to your business needs. You can add custom fields, workflows, reports, and dashboards. You can also integrate Odoo with other applications using APIs. This feature helps you to tailor Odoo to your specific requirements and increase your productivity.

h) Useful features for end-users

Odoo provides various features for end-users, such as a mobile app, website builder, email marketing, and social media integration. The mobile app allows salespeople to manage their activities on-the-go, while the website builder enables them to create professional-looking websites without any technical knowledge. Email marketing and social media integration help salespeople to reach out to their prospects and customers effectively.

Odoo’s Unique Features

• Odoo has a unique feature called “Smart Buttons,” which allows you to access related records directly from the current record. For example, if you are on a lead record, you can access the related opportunities, quotations, orders, and invoices using smart buttons. This feature helps you to save time and increase your productivity.

• Odoo also has a unique feature called “Studio,” which allows you to customize Odoo using a drag-and-drop interface. Odoo Studio is a powerful app that allows users to create and customize applications without the need for technical knowledge. With Studio, users can create new fields, add custom views, and even build entire new applications from scratch.

Odoo Studio. One of the biggest advantages of Studio is its user-friendliness. Users can drag-and-drop fields onto forms, design custom views with just a few clicks, and even create automated workflows with ease. This makes it a great option for businesses that need to make quick customizations or create new applications without relying on a dedicated development team.

However, there are also some potential drawbacks to using Studio. For one, it can be limited in terms of its functionality. While users can create new fields and views, they may not be able to create complex business logic or integrate with external systems. Additionally, Studio may not be the best option for businesses with very specific or complex requirements, as it may not be able to meet all of their needs.

Overall, Odoo Studio is a great tool for businesses that need to quickly create and customize applications, but may not be the best fit for businesses with very specific or complex requirements.

Comparison Table of Odoo and Salesforce

Criteria	Salesforce	Odoo
Lead Management	Strong lead capture and management capabilities with lead queues, lead scoring, and lead assignment rules.	Automated lead capture with lead scoring, lead segmentation, and lead assignment rules.
Pipeline Management	Pipeline management tools include customizable sales stages, activity tracking, and forecasting capabilities.	Pipeline management features include sales stages, activities and tasks, and forecasting tools.
Manage Pricelists	Supports creation and management of price books with pricing tiers, discounts, and currency support.	Supports management of multiple price lists, multiple currencies, and pricing tiers.
Manage Sales Teams	Sales team management tools include roles and permissions, team hierarchy, and collaboration features.	Sales team management features include roles and permissions, team hierarchy, and collaboration tools.
Reporting for Salesperson	Provides a range of standard and custom reports for tracking sales progress, opportunities, and activities.	Provides standard and custom reports on sales activities, opportunities, lost reasons, and CRM stages.
Reporting for Top-managers	Offers advanced reporting features such as dashboards with real-time metrics, expected closing dates, expected revenue, conversion rates, days to won, and days to close.	Provides access to customizable dashboards, performance charts, and real-time reports on key performance indicators (KPIs).
Customization Options	Offers a wide range of customization options through Salesforce AppExchange and Salesforce Developer platform.	Offers customization options through its Studio app, as well as access to Odoo’s open-source codebase for developers.
Useful features for end-users	Offers a range of productivity and collaboration features, including mobile app, email integration, and Chatter.	Provides end-users with a variety of features, including inventory management, e-commerce, and project management tools.

Conclusions

In conclusion, both Salesforce and Odoo are powerful platforms with their own strengths and weaknesses. Salesforce is an industry leader in CRM software, providing a highly customizable solution with robust reporting features and a large selection of third-party integrations. However, it comes with a high price tag and can be challenging to navigate for new users.

On the other hand, Odoo offers a more affordable option with a suite of integrated business management applications that can handle everything from sales and marketing to inventory and accounting. While its reporting capabilities may not be as advanced as Salesforce, Odoo provides an intuitive interface and a streamlined user experience.

Overall, if you’re looking for a highly customizable solution with advanced reporting features and a large selection of third-party integrations, Salesforce may be the best choice. However, if you’re seeking an affordable all-in-one solution that can handle your entire business operations, Odoo should look good enough.

At ERPixel we specialised on Odoo development and CRM deployment for small and medium businesses services globally.