Company Name: ITAF

Location: Belgium, Europe

Industry: IT Services

Established: 1999

Company Size: 50+

Odoo Users: <30

Hosting Type: On Premise

Apps: Purchase, Inventory, Sales, Invoicing, Accounting, CRM, Subscriptions, Sign, HR, and custom apps.

Implementing Partner: Modoolar

A fast-growing company with roots in Belgium and Serbia, ITAF offers its customers IT services within different areas such as support, security and infrastructure. To keep up with its growth, the company realized it had become critical to let go of the disconnected systems it was currently using and move on to a unified, all-in-one solution such as Odoo’s software. Ever since implementing this tool, ITAF benefits from streamlined workflows, boosted efficiency and enhanced customer experience.

With headquarters in Ghent, and several offices spread across Belgium and Serbia, ITAF provides services within the IT support and security and ICT infrastructure industries. Founded in 1999, the company has grown to over 70 employees, consultants, and specialists helping and assisting more than 1500 customers every day. The mission of the team is to create reliable partnerships through IT solutions and strategic guidance that support small and medium businesses’ growth. Over the years, more than 2000 successful projects have been completed!

Until 2022, ITAF was combining an in-house developed ERP system called IECOM and Microsoft Business Central for financial management. Even though IECOM was tailored to the specific needs of the business, it had certain limitations in terms of scalability and connection to other business processes. It also required constant maintenance and updates, which consumed significant IT resources and often led to system downtime. And regarding Microsoft Business Central for financial operations, it was lacking a seamless integration with the in-house ERP, which resulted in data silos and inconsistencies. It was quite challenging to maintain accurate financial records and generate clear reports. 

With its previous tools, ITAF encountered several significant challenges hindering its operational efficiency and growth. 

Product data

Maintaining accurate and up-to-date product information was quite complicated, leading to inconsistencies and errors in inventory data. Also, obtaining the correct price and availability for hardware products from vendors was taking a long time, as sales reps needed to contact each vendor, either by email or via a portal, before sending an offer to a customer. Therefore, the ability to fulfill customer orders promptly was impacted. 

Quotation templates

 The system ITAF used lacked flexibility in terms of quotation customization. As a result, this process was time-consuming, often caused delays in sending out quotes to potential clients, and led to missed opportunities. 

Subscriptions

The team experienced difficulties tracking and managing recurring subscriptions, entailing billing errors and customer dissatisfaction. Without automation, renewals and cancellations had to be dealt with manually, which was taking a lot of time and increasing the risk of mistakes.

Backward invoicing

Invoicing processes were not streamlined, with important delays to generate and send invoices. This affected the cashflow and financial management, but also impacted the relationship with clients expecting a timely billing. 

Customer relationship management

It was quite complex to have a comprehensive view of the customer interactions and sales pipelines without a proper Customer Relationship Management system (CRM). As a consequence, ITAF couldn’t provide personalized customer service, failing to nurture existing relationships, and effectively manage leads and opportunities, missing out on potential sales. 

Reports and analytics

ITAF did not benefit from real-time insights into its business performance, and was relying on manual data compilation. Therefore, it was challenging to make informed decisions, and causing a waste of time as well as errors. Lacking accurate and timely information had an impact on the strategic planning and ability to adapt to market changes.

In order to overcome the challenges brought by this combination of tools, ITAF chose to switch to a unified, centralized, and fully integrated software: Odoo. This solution has been selected for several key reasons, such as:

• Modularity and scalability: Odoo’s modular structure makes it possible to start with the necessary modules, with the possibility to add more as the needs grow and evolve.
• Customization and integration: Having a platform customizable and easy to integrate was key for ITAF, due to the high complexity of its service portfolio and commercial and administrative operations.
• User-experience: The company was looking for a tool easy to master and to use on a daily basis, which is exactly what Odoo offers. 

Modoolar, an Odoo implementation Gold Partner, guided ITAF through the entire process, ensuring that every stage went smoothly. The first step was to conduct a gap analysis to identify the exact points where the current systems were falling short and to determine the expectations regarding Odoo’s software. This enabled the team to create a road map with a set of priorities to implement the most important modules and features first.

The implementation has then been rolled out in phases to ensure a smooth transition. The first configured modules were Contacts, Subscriptions, Sales, and Accounting, which were essential to enhance customer interactions, manage subscriptions and handle sales and finances better. After this first implementation stage, immediate improvements in efficiency were noticed. 

Then, Purchase, Inventory and CRM modules were added. Those applications were key to streamline procurement, manage stocks and improve customer relationships. 

Modoolar, the implementation partner, worked meticulously to make the necessary developments on several modules that were essential to the daily operations of the company. Customizing Odoo to meet ITAF’s unique business requirements necessitated significant effort and expertise brought by the partner, whose help was fundamental to navigate the complexity and make sure that the system aligned with the stated needs. 

A focus has also been placed on change management by communicating the benefits of this transition to the teams, addressing concerns and providing ongoing support. Regular feedback sessions have been organized in order to make the necessary adjustments to meet the evolving needs. 

By September 2022, ITAF was up and running to make the most of Odoo’s suite of business applications, paving the way for its success and growth.

Before Odoo’s implementation, as mentioned, creating quotations was a long and tedious process due to a very complex service portfolio. Translating the company’s services into understandable human language was extremely time consuming. The introduction of Odoo’s quotation templates, together with several written guidelines and forms, enabled the team to:

 Create quotations 100% faster and with greater completeness.

 Address every upsell and cross-sell opportunity.

Additionally, the number of identified opportunities has increased by 25%, and sales performance has risen by 30%, offering exciting future prospects for ITAF.

Bringing all of ITAF’s workflows into Odoo’s management system has enabled the company to overcome the initial challenges while offering many benefits to grow and operate more smoothly.

Integrating all modules offers a unified view on the operations, significantly boosting both productivity and decision-making processes.

Various business workflows and tasks are now automated and streamlined, eliminating the need for manual entry, reducing the risk of error and saving time. Operations that used to take ages are now done super quickly. Here are two examples of enhanced processes thanks to the automation: 

1. Vendor Central: The system automatically contacts each registered ITAF hardware vendor on a daily basis, fetching the latest product data, prices, and availability. This way, ITAF has almost real-time product, price, and availability information for millions of products, allowing it to effectively maintain markups in its customer quotes.

2. Subscription App (Backward Invoicing): The process of creating invoices from subscriptions retroactively is now automated. At the beginning of the month, the system creates an invoice for the previous month, taking into account all relevant recurring services and any additional consumption the end-customers had during the previous month. Details are collected on additional consumption from external platforms (e.g., additional storage usage, number of licenses, etc.). This way, the customer invoicing process has been tremendously reduced, also minimizing the human errors.

The stock levels are constantly up-to-date, offering accurate data and reducing inconsistencies and errors.

The quotation template feature speeds up the sales cycle, with reduced response times to customer inquiries. Backward invoicing benefits now from a streamlined billing process, improving both the cash flow and customer relationships. Also, the CRM enhances interactions with customers and lead management.

Accessing real-time data in just a few clicks accelerates decision-making and makes it easy to plan strategically. 

“Odoo has integrated our operations, increased efficiency, and supported our growth, making it a valuable asset to our business. I believe it can do the same for other businesses too.” - Glenn Provoost - CEO of ITAF

ITAF is now making the most of Odoo’s all-in-one management software, benefiting from a very positive impact even on areas and operations they didn’t anticipate initially. This tool is a true game-changer to streamline workflows and improve efficiency, paving the way for even more success in the years to come.