Acumatica vs Odoo: An ERP Comparison for ANZ Organisations
Comparing two flexible ERP systems so that you can make the right decision for your business’s future.Executive Summary
> Odoo is an open-source ERP system, with a large network of additional modules and applications.
> Odoo’s strength is in its flexibility for smaller businesses, without the requirement for rapid scalability.
> Acumatica is a powerful, cloud-based ERP system for larger more complex organisations.
> MYOB Acumatica is a localised version of Acumatica, giving ANZ organisations the leading functionality of a global system in combination with local support and compliance.
Acumatica and Odoo are two market-leading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Not all ERP systems are the same, and it is critical to choose the right one to fit your business’s unique requirements. The right solution should support your organisation, including industry and compliance, powerful automations, data visibility and reporting, and security in the cloud.
When it comes time to choose between the two and select the right ERP system for your business, it pays to understand which is better for ANZ companies. An ERP system is the backbone of your organisation. It allows decision-makers to drive the strategic direction of the business, backed by the best possible view of their data.
The Core Philosophies: Open-Source Flexibility vs Cloud-Native Stability
An ERP system is a powerful software tool that you use to consolidate data from across your organisation. You can use this information to build timely reports and make better business decisions. ERP systems must be easy-to-use, customisable, accessible, affordable, and able to seamlessly collect data from across the organisation.
Odoo’s unique market position is as an open-source ERP platform. Open-source means that the underlying source code is freely available for anyone to inspect, modify, and distribute. This gives you direct control and visibility over the source code of your system, so you know where your data is stored and how it is used. The power of customisability in the user’s hands to build a totally bespoke system to fit their requirements. Open-source does not necessarily mean a lack of security. Odoo has a secure framework to protect from harmful custom SQL injections and Cross-Site Scripting attacks. However, the open-source framework places the burden of support on the community, rather than dedicated support partners. Hosting environments also play a role in security as they govern the accessibility of your code and databases.
Acumatica is a cloud-native platform developed by the Acumatica company. Like other major ERP systems, it is a singular product controlled with the underlying code-base controlled and maintained by the vendor. It is a stable, structured framework of market-leading tools and functions, developed by ERP experts and software architects. Acumatica is built for the cloud. The US version of Acumatica can be deployed in private-hosted and on-premise environments if required, but otherwise is housed entirely within the cloud. The version of Acumatica that is available in ANZ is only deployed in a hosted cloud environment.
Benefits of the Cloud eBook
Download nowFeature Comparison: Head-to-Head
Because each ERP system is different, it is important to evaluate your own requirements and match them to the available software features. Generally, each ERP system will be an improvement over small-business accounting systems such as Xero or MYOB AccountRight. However, it is the intricate differences between each ERP system that will affect the day-to-day workflows of your team and the maximum benefit you will achieve from the implementation investment.
Industry Fits & Scalability
Odoo has a strong fit for Retail and eCommerce businesses. It has also seen success in the retail, wholesale distribution, Engineering, Construction, Healthcare, Education, and Renewable energy industries. Odoo does have a manufacturing suite, but it lacks the sophistication required to manage larger-scale production workflows and operations. One benefit to Odoo’s manufacturing is the Kanban-style drag-and-drop production scheduling.
Acumatica is an incredibly strong financial management platform and is well-suited to complex organisations with multiple entities, board reporting and compliance requirements, and sophisticated internal processes and audit controls. It also has integrated inventory, supply chain, CRM, and sales management, business intelligence and reporting modules that make it widely applicable to a large number of businesses without specific industry requirements.
Acumatica is configurable to meet the complex requirements of a variety of different organisations:
- Wholesale & distribution
- Not-for-profit
- Education
- Government
- Healthcare
- Multi-Entity organisations
- Financial Services
- Engineering
- Project Management and Project Accounting
- Field Services
- Insurance Providers
- US-based Acumatica users expanding into ANZ
Acumatica has also developed industry-specific editions for industries with more structured and complex workflows, such as:
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Professional Services
- Retail (US-version only)
Manufacturing Capabilities
MYOB Acumatica has a dedicated Manufacturing industry edition. It has the focused functionality to meet the specific needs of the manufacturing industry – especially for discrete or project-centric manufacturers. MYOB Acumatica Manufacturing provides an extensive suite of connected manufacturing business applications, such as:
- Production,
- Estimating,
- Material Requirements Planning (MRP),
- Bills of Materials (BOMs)
- Scheduling, and
- Product Configuration.
Its integrated, modular design means it can become one advanced platform to manage your entire organisation. MYOB Acumatica Manufacturing integrates with your General Ledger, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Project Accounting, Payroll, Inventory Management, and Distribution functions to provide real-time coordination of your entire organisation from a single source of truth.
Odoo’s manufacturing module is user-friendly; however, it can struggle to scale with more complex operations. It is more focused towards distribution and eCommerce, compared to Manufacturing. The drag-and-drop production scheduler is a strong positive. But for manufacturing organisations, it is often not enough to tip the scales compared to the functionality of other systems, such as MYOB Acumatica.
Reporting and Analytics
Real-time reporting and data analysis are key factors of your move to a new ERP system. The system is the vehicle for consolidating and analysing data quickly and accurately. Both Odoo and Acumatica update reports and dashboards in real-time. This means you can see important metrics at an instant and make decisions in response backed by accurate data.
Odoo can support custom reports and bespoke reporting, but this usually falls under the umbrella of additional customisation, which can increase the cost of implementation or long-term cost of ownership. This includes the modification of reports over the lifetime of your system. Modifying, integrating, and customising Odoo is incredibly technical and can be costly long-term. Odoo Support may also be unable to provide support for customisations created by your software consultant.
Acumatica has an in-built reporting and business intelligence module. Reports are easy to configure yourself in a low-code/no-code environment. You can also self-configure personalised dashboards for each team member based on their role within the business. Acumatica’s reports support click-through capability, so you can drill down to the specific transaction level of each data point. Reports also support side panels, which allow you to quickly investigate a singular transaction without leaving the current screen. Consultant-built reporting is still available for more complex reports; however, you should be able to handle the bulk of your requirements with Acumatica’s built-in tools.
Acumatica also integrates with best-of-breed reporting systems such as Velixo, Phocas and Power BI to build more complex reports, or make the data available to the wider organisation.
Support and Compliance
In 2014, Acumatica forged a strategic partnership with MYOB to deploy its globally recognised ERP system in the ANZ market. Today, the Acumatica Cloud ERP system is delivered in Australia and New Zealand under the MYOB banner as MYOB Acumatica. MYOB is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, and is the leading accounting and ERP software provider for Australian and New Zealand businesses.
If a cloud-based ERP system is the engine that drives your organisation, then MYOB Acumatica ensures that the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. You get to leverage all the power, versatility, and usability of the fastest-growing cloud ERP in the world. However, with local configurations, you can enjoy a smoother ride in software that is made for your organisation.
NetSuite is a global ERP system; there is no ANZ vendor to configure local compliance changes. All the idiosyncrasies of doing business in Australia and New Zealand will be familiar to you, but not to the NetSuite developers. The system is not built to reflect the complexities that a local provider is more familiar with.
MYOB is an ANZ specialist, and MYOB Acumatica has been built to reflect this. Other software vendors are generalists, building their systems to cater generally to the global market. NetSuite is developed overseas and for overseas markets. MYOB Acumatica has been specifically built to cater for the unique needs of Australian and New Zealand organisations. A local software option is the low-risk approach. You will not have to worry about workarounds or manual processes for requirements such as:
- Business Activity Statement (BAS) support
- Goods and Services Tax (GST)
- Cash vs accrual GST
- Unique ANZ payroll requirements
- Changes in Legislation
Acumatica vs Odoo: At a Glance
Both Odoo and Acumatica have a range of features to support the requirements of larger, more complex organisations. The table below lets you compare these capabilities at a glance.
| Feature | Acumatica (MYOB Acumatica) | Odoo |
|---|---|---|
| Target Audience | Larger and more complex organisations, localised for Australia and New Zealand by MYOB (reputable, local vendor). Fits a wide range of organisations due to its configurability, but typically at its best between $20 and $500 million in revenue and 20-1000 employees. | Small, slow-growing organisations that have predictable transactions and limited vertical requirements. Because of the significant customisations required, dynamic work environments and fast growth are difficult for Odoo to support. These businesses are usually up to 50 employees and $10 million annual revenue. |
| Pricing Model | Acumatica in the US operates with consumption-based licensing. MYOB Acumatica in ANZ uses headcount-based licensing with different pricing and access based on the individual’s role. | Odoo offers a free open-source Community version and a paid licensed Enterprise version. Enterprise is billed based on the number of modules, apps, and users. The price per user is the same, regardless of what you need to do in the system. |
| Integrations | Acumatica’s Open REST-based API can be widely developed and customised to integrate with a wide range of best-of-breed systems. It supports native integrations with popular 3rd party applications such as Shopify, HubSpot, Salesforce, and BigCommerce. | Odoo has some compatibility issues with integrations, especially as users upgrade to newer versions. Its open-source structure led to the availability of over 40,000 3rd party apps, however, governance over these applications is limited. It is difficult to identify and integrate best-of-breed systems without direct support from Odoo. |
| User Experience | Market-leading user experience-focused platform. The easiest ERP system to use. MYOB Acumatica is built for the cloud on a stable, AI-first architecture. | Odoo users experience slow performance, corrupted transactions, and conflicts with concurrent users on the system as transaction volumes grow and place additional load on the system. |
| Deployment | Acumatica in the US can be deployed in public and private cloud environments as well as on-premise. MYOB Acumatica in ANZ is only deployed in the public cloud as Software as a Service (SaaS). All data is hosted locally within ANZ via Amazon Web Services. | Odoo can be deployed in on-premise, cloud, or hybrid environments. When hosted in the cloud, data is stored on Odoo’s managed cloud environments. Hosting on servers within Australia is available on request. |
| Local Support | Available through a strong network of Value-Added Resellers (VARs). In ANZ, this is managed by local support partners, such as Kilimanjaro Consulting, who understand your business, local compliance requirements, and how best to configure the system to meet your needs, and the vendor (MYOB) for more critical support escalations and product maintenance. | Vendor support is included in the Enterprise edition; Community users must rely on forums. Because of the customised nature of every site, you rely on the specific individual developer for support of your site. |
Mitigating Operational Risk with the Right ERP System
Both systems are powerful, market-leading ERP platforms. Although the differences are significant, the overlap in terms of functionality and opportunity will make a short-term improvement to your business efficiency, compared to a small business accounting system. However, the benefit of an ERP system is measured over years. Choosing the best possible option is the key to your long-term growth, productivity, and profitability. This is where a granular comparison of your organisation’s unique processes and workflows is highly recommended to best map your requirements and choose the best ERP system. To determine exactly what is right for your organisation, you need a trusted guide. This is the role of your software implementation partner.
A software implementation partner can evaluate your business, its processes, workflows, and operational requirements, and recommend the best-fit ERP system to meet your needs. The best software partners can take this knowledge and put it towards the ERP implementation, so that it can be designed and built to match your requirements.
Making your way through the ERP Selection Process eBook
Download nowMYOB Acumatica vs Odoo Industry Reviews
Acumatica is consistently rated by industry bodies as a leader in the ERP space, including market-leading usability. When assessing the viability and quality of an ERP system, it pays to not only take the advice of software experts but also look further afield to market reviews and real-world feedback.
Info-Tech is an IT Research and Advisory group that collects and analyses data on business software. They produce Data Quadrant Reports that map product features and satisfaction scores against vendor experience and capability ratings to evaluate different technology systems. In their most recent Data Quadrant Report, Info-Tech rated Acumatica as a Leader and the number one midmarket ERP option based on those metrics.
Odoo is still a strong performer and part of the Leader quadrant. However, Acumatica outperforms it on both axes: product features and satisfaction and vendor experience and capabilities.
Other MYOB Acumatica ERP Comparisons
We have produced honest, open comparisons of MYOB Acumatica vs other ERP systems, such as:
- MYOB Acumatica vs NetSuite
- MYOB Acumatica vs Microsoft Dynamics 365
- MYOB Acumatica vs Sage Intacct and Sage X3
- MYOB Acumatica vs Odoo
Want more information about MYOB Acumatica?
MYOB Acumatica is a sophisticated, powerful platform with nearly endless customisation possibilities to suit your business’s requirements. Choosing a business management system is like climbing a mountain – it is best achieved with a trusted, experienced guide.
Download our free and comprehensive Guide to MYOB Acumatica to discover everything you need to know about the number 1 ERP system in Australia and New Zealand.
Next Steps
Kilimanjaro Consulting is the leading Australian and New Zealand implementation partner for organisations using MYOB Acumatica. We have endeavoured to write an honest, unbiased comparison of MYOB Acumatica and Odoo that shows off the strengths of both systems.
Odoo is better for smaller businesses to take advantage of its flexibility and affordability. For larger, more complex organisations, MYOB Acumatica is largely the better choice due to its powerful functionality, responsiveness to scale, auditability and compliance management, and stronger local support.
We would love to talk to you about your ERP requirements to evaluate if MYOB Acumatica is the best fit for you. To contact us about MYOB Acumatica and your business, email sales@kilimanjaro-consulting.com or call 1300 857 464 (AU) or 0800 436 774 (NZ).
