From Excel to AI Ready: Our Odoo ERP Implementation Success for a €50M+ Romanian Services Giant

How a 2000-Employee Romanian Service Leader Transformed its Operations with Odoo ERP Implementation, Unlocking a Projected €1M in Efficiency Gains.
 

At a Glance

• Client: A leading Romanian provider of specialized services for the manufacturing, logistics, automotive, and construction sectors.

• Industry: B2B Services (Outsourcing, Manufacturing, Construction, Staffing & Personnel Leasing)

• Size: 2000+ employees, €50M+ annual revenue

• The Challenge: Rapid growth led to operations entirely dependent on a fragile network of manual Excel spreadsheets, causing data silos, massive inefficiencies, and zero real-time visibility.

• Our Solution: A strategic implementation of Odoo ERP, featuring core operational modules (Sales, Purchase, HR suite), integration with 5 external platforms, and a couple of fully custom-built applications using Odoo modules designed to handle their unique business processes.

• The Result: A 50-60% reduction in time for key processes, a single source of truth for all company data, one-click KPI reporting, and a scalable, AI-ready foundation for future growth.
   

The Challenge: When Hyper-Growth Meets Operational Gridlock

Our client is a Romanian success story. In just six years, they grew into a market leader with over 2000 employees by delivering exceptional service under strict standardization and compliance requirements.

However, behind the scenes, their operational infrastructure was straining at the seams. Their entire business—from project management and human resources to financial reporting—ran on a complex web of Excel spreadsheets hosted on a shared server. Every month, files were copied, manually updated, and reconciled, creating a digital house of cards that was both incredibly labor-intensive and prone to error.

They faced critical business pains common to many rapidly growing Romanian companies:

• Massive Manual Workload: Teams spent hundreds of hours per month on manual data entry, cross-referencing spreadsheets, and generating basic reports, diverting focus from value-added activities.

• No Single Source of Truth: With data fragmented across countless files and a separate accounting system, management lacked a unified, real-time view of the business, making strategic decision-making slow and reactive.

• Operational Risk: A single formula error or corrupted file could have cascading consequences, jeopardizing customer reporting and compliance.

• Scalability Ceiling: Their aggressive two-year efficiency goals were impossible to achieve with the current system. They couldn't scale further without collapsing under the weight of their own manual processes.

Having seen the painful, multi-million-euro implementations of traditional ERPs like SAP at other companies, the client was determined to find a more flexible, cost-effective, and intelligent solution.

The Solution: A Partnership Built on Value, Not a Sales Pitch

The client chose us because we met them at their point of need. Instead of pushing a pre-defined product, we started with a value-first approach. We engaged in a series of business analysis sprints to deeply understand their long-term goals, existing data infrastructure, and budget.

Our diverse background in custom software architecture allowed us to objectively evaluate the best path forward: build a new system from scratch or implement and tailor an existing one. This transparent, consultative process built immense trust.

After rigorous analysis and simulation, we concluded that Odoo was the ideal platform—powerful enough to manage their complexity, yet flexible enough for deep customization.

Our implementation was a comprehensive digital transformation, not just a software installation. We engineered a robust ecosystem that included:

1. Core Odoo Implementation: We deployed and configured the most critical applications for their business, including Sales, Purchase, and the full suite of HR apps (Recruitment, Employees, Time Off, Payroll, Employee Self-Service chatbot).

2. Complex System Integrations: We seamlessly connected their new Odoo environment with five different external platforms, automating data flow and eliminating manual re-entry.

3. Custom app development using Odoo modules: This was our key differentiator. We leveraged our custom development expertise to build two custom Odoo applications from the ground up, designed to handle their most unique and complex operational processes.

The Results: A New Era of Efficiency and Insight

The impact was immediate and profound. By replacing manual chaos with an intelligent, unified system, we unlocked incredible value across their organization.

• 50-60% Time Reduction: Automated workflows and integrated systems cut the time spent on core administrative and operational processes by more than half.

• Instant Business Visibility: For the first time, management has access to real-time KPIs at the click of a button. Custom dashboards provide a clear view of company health, from project profitability to employee utilization.

• €1M Projected Savings: Our conservative analysis projects that the efficiency gains, error reduction, and improved decision-making will save the company over €1M in the next 36 months.

• 100% Traceability: Every action, from a sales quote to a payroll run, is now logged and traceable within a single system, ensuring complete auditability and compliance.

• A Foundation for the Future: The robust architecture we built is not just for today. It has been designed as a solid base for integrating AI capabilities, which we are beginning to explore in our next phase of work together.

During the project, we navigated challenges like user adoption and resistance to change by fostering a culture of "digital championship"—involving key users, celebrating their contributions, and demonstrating undeniable value to gain their trust and enthusiasm.

Why We Succeeded Where Others Fail

Many companies have struggled with Odoo implementations, often due to a lack of deep technical skills. We are proud to say our very first Odoo project was a resounding success for one simple reason: we are expert software architects first, and Odoo implementers second.

Our deep experience in custom solution development gave us the foresight to design a scalable, robust architecture that others might miss. We don't just know how to configure Odoo; we know how to bend and extend it to solve the most complex business problems.

Do you have an ambitious growth goal? Or are you stuck with a stalled or underperforming Odoo implementation? Our adaptable, expert team can help you implement Odoo from scratch or jump in to rescue an existing project.

Ready to transform your operations? Let's talk.

Schedule a free, no-obligation strategy session with our team to explore how a tailored Odoo solution can unlock the true potential of your business.