It’s quite difficult to imagine any sphere of modern life that has not been integrated with advanced technologies. And the business environment is even more so: all entrepreneurs must keep their finger on the pulse of technological progress to ensure and improve their competitiveness in the market, especially in the current extremely difficult conditions.

At the end of last year, the IT company “ToDo” joined the ranks of UAFM, which, although not directly related to the furniture industry, can equip representatives of furniture retail, suppliers of raw materials and components for furniture production, and furniture manufacturers themselves with the innovative and digital management solutions they need.

–An IT company can also be a manufacturer, and ours is no exception,– assures Oleksii Bardakov. –

Although we don’t have factory workshops or machine equipment. For us, the office is the same ‘production center’ where IT activities take place.

And we are engaged in the production of digital products, which, although intangible, do not cease to be products. We provide business process automation services based on the Belgian ERP system Odoo, on the basis of which we can individually develop a special solution for each company, offer WEB developments, which is our product, the quality of which we are proud of and strive to become better with each project.

For more than 20 years, our team has implemented more than a dozen accounting and management systems for many productions, including those that are somehow related to furniture manufacturing. So we are already quite familiar with the furniture manufacturing processes, so we will definitely be able to handle your request.

-Specify how an IT company can help furniture manufacturers in particular?

-We save business representatives time in searching for and studying the management systems they need. By contacting us, telling us about their business processes and wishes regarding increasing their efficiency, the client can be confident that they will receive a personalized solution that our IT team will develop based on their needs. We will conduct a detailed analysis of the request, after which it will become known: what can be implemented on the basis of standard functionality, and what needs to be finalized; how long it will take and how much each stage of system implementation will cost.

-Why do you think the Odoo you offer is the best option from a range of similar products?

-Here’s why:

• Odoo is a European system used almost all over the world. This is non-sanctioned software, so fears about this are unfounded;
• In Ukraine, there are enough official partners of the developer company to find a reliable integrator or switch to another one;
• The system consists of over 39,000 apps and modules, the configuration of which can vary depending on the specific needs of the business. This allows you to choose only the necessary functions and save money on implementation;
• You can create your own website on your own using the Odoo website builder. This is extremely convenient and profitable, as it saves a lot of money on design and development. Anyone can figure out the builder, as it was specially designed with a user-friendly and intuitive interface;
• More than 50 ready-made integrations for Ukraine are offered, including: banks, postal operators, marketplaces and much more;
• Odoo is not inferior in functionality to such well-known systems as SAP, Microsoft Dynamix, Terrasoft, but the price is lower;
• And this is just a part of Odoo’s advantages, because if we list them all, one presentation will not be enough. It’s easier to see once than hear a hundred times – which is why I invite everyone interested to sign up with us for a demo, where we will show in practice how the system works and how Odoo can help your specific business.

-Anyone who started their business not yesterday knows what ‘1C:Enterprise’ is. How does Odoo outperform this fairly common platform?

-Good question. We are often asked this. In short:

perhaps the main advantage of the Odoo system is its modularity – it allows the system to be implemented gradually, which reduces the burden on the company’s budget and allows you to gradually learn to interact with the system;

The comprehensiveness of Odoo lies in the fact that it is a single system for many management tasks, which allows you to get rid of the “zoo of programs”;

Odoo is the ability to quickly and easily implement any digital idea while saving time and money. With Odoo and its open source code, you can automate any process in a manufacturing and trading company (and furniture businesses are exactly that) – from CRM and an online store to management accounting, recruiting and document management.

-Tell us in more detail about the benefits of Odoo specifically for furniture companies.

-I will start with the fact that for furniture productions, the most useful modules will be: ‘CRM’, ‘Sales’, ‘Warehouse’ and ‘Production’. They will help automate the entire process: from the first call to receiving the finished product in one system.

As for the CRM module, with its help, furniture companies can effectively interact with customers, provide them with personalized services, quickly respond to their requests and needs, receive incoming leads that are automatically created from emails, VoIP calls, social media reactions, feedback from website visitors, event participants, and more.
The domestic furniture market is currently very competitive (not to mention the foreign one), which is why companies in this industry need a high level of innovation like never before in order to ensure the successful realization of their products. And Odoo is the very tool that will help achieve these goals.

-Does this mean that a company needs to get rid of the existing software if it is already using any similar business process automation system, but has decided to implement Odoo as well?

-No, Odoo can easily integrate into the customer’s existing system and qualitatively complement its functionality without the need to get rid of the already working software.

-What is the average term for implementing the system? And won’t this process disrupt the rhythm of the company’s work? Won’t it hinder its production, trading and marketing processes?

-On average, the entire process of implementing the system can take from 3 to 12 months. When we talk about the timing of implementation, it is important to understand that this is a rather individual indicator, and it will vary depending on many factors. First of all – on the number of modules being implemented.

Anything new and unusual is always stressful for the team, but Odoo with its modular structure simply eliminates this transition threshold. Modules can be implemented gradually, one by one. The implementation scheme can have the following sequence: implemented a module, the customer’s company employees mastered it, we move on to the implementation of the next one. Thanks to this step-by-step approach, the process of implementing the system practically does not disrupt the usual rhythm of the team’s work.

-Didn’t the war reduce the demand for your services?

-On the contrary – it has grown! And here’s why: the current difficult times require more efficient business management, and automation programs are designed to provide just such efficiency.

In addition, global business digitalization trends are forcing our entrepreneurs to be in this trend. In this paradigm, the familiar “one” for many no longer corresponds to it.

-Do you already have clients among furniture manufacturers?

-One well-known company in the industry, “Elio”, has already used our services. Working with them gave us an understanding of how and what we can be useful to furniture manufacturers, and also prompted us to join the UAM. So, I can say that the decision to join the associated furniture community is evidence that we clearly see the prospects for fruitful cooperation with them.

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The other day, the company held a webinar on its YouTube channel, which examined the strengths and weaknesses of the Odoo system in comparison with 1C, BAS. The webinar recording is available at the link: https://erp.todo.ltd/r/p2c

In addition, the company is ready to hold a separate webinar or online meeting (round table) exclusively for UAM members, if at least 10 interested companies gather. The conversation would be more substantive if the furniture manufacturers would announce in advance what they would like to hear and see in terms of the capabilities and offers of the ToDo company.