Not everything that glitters is gold: what is wrong with Odoo's partnership system

In this article, we will examine some negative aspects of Odoo's partnership system and the KPIs associated with it. Since the level of Odoo partnership is often one of the elements that influences a potential partner's perception and choice by a client, we feel obliged to shed light on aspects that are creating distortions in the market at the expense of implementation quality, and therefore customer satisfaction (and therefore the Odoo brand itself).

Odoo licenses... always new Odoo licenses

Odoo's partnership system is fundamentally composed of three main pillars: the number of new licenses sold in a year; the number of certified employees; the retention level, defined as the ratio between active licenses in the last 36 months and new licenses acquired in the same period.

The element that stands out the most is certainly the number of licenses that a partner must commit to selling in order to move up a level or maintain the one reached. A system, therefore, that incentivizes the Odoo implementer to try to sell more licenses, neglecting the fact that the relationship with the acquired customer goes far beyond the initial implementation, needing to provide continuous long-term assistance (system improvements, new development requests, installation and training of new Apps, database migration to a higher system. Just to name a few).

This also raises ethical issues for the partner, who sometimes finds himself indicating the Enterprise version of Odoo despite the requirements emerging from client discussions suggesting that the community version would be more than sufficient, all with the sole aim of cashing in on new licenses.

A system that damages quality and experienced implementers

A KPI system of this kind, based on the simple requirements listed above, works against the most experienced Odoo partners and implementers, who have to deal with a battalion of very young and inexperienced Golden partners, who with a high partnership level and a few well-done landing pages can compete on equal terms in the market.

And this wouldn't even be bad, since increased competition should push all of us to offer better services to try to distinguish ourselves from the rest. However, the feeling is that short-term gains are being favored over the long term, quantity over quality, visibility over real ability. 

We were deeply struck by a post on LinkedIn a few weeks ago by Joël Grand-Guillaume, president of OCA and and head of department in Camptocamp, one of the most experienced companies in the Odoo segment. The post announces the company's loss of Golden partnership status, after almost two decades, due to a divergence in values which, in Camptocamp's case, are rooted in sustainable growth and customer satisfaction.

What else does odoo partnership level not say?

The KPIs related to Odoo partnership levels do not take into account a series of elements that strongly affect the final implementation. First of all, they do not consider the quality of the code related to custom modules commissioned by the client, nor the level of experience of the partner company's developers (Odoo certifications for partnership, moreover, are only for Odoo's functional aspect).

Another element overlooked by the KPIs is the level of involvement that a partner has in the Odoo ecosystem: guides, interventions on the official Odoo forum, corrections to the source code, OCA modules or other developments made for the community, etc.

Furthermore, no account is taken of any complaints that the same customer may raise with Odoo following an implementation by a partner, which is not insignificant considering that customer satisfaction should be imperative for both parties.

In conclusion

Globalist Technology loves Odoo and has Odoo as its main business. This article is not meant to criticize the product, but rather to highlight elements that can help the client company make better choices and help Odoo SA realize that something will need to be revised.

It is right that sales should in a sense weigh on the final judgment, and Odoo SA, after all, has every interest in continuing to sell licenses and grow, but we believe that such a system needs to be balanced to take more into account the qualitative aspect, the experience, and the real involvement of the partner company. We are sure that a revision of the KPI system in this direction would have further positive effects on the image of the Odoo brand, and therefore on sales.