BookPal Transforms Operations with Odoo ERP for Seamless Workflow
Name of Company: BookPal
Country/Location: California, USA
Number of Odoo Users: 14
Industry: eCommerce, Book Publishing, and Distribution
Implementation Partner: Bista Solutions Inc.
Services / Apps Implemented: CRM, Sales, Purchase, Inventory and Accounting
Overview:
Going to multiple sources to gain information in order to make business decisions can be extraneous for any company and its team members. It can lead to inaccuracies, confusion, and exhaustion. BookPal was no different with its data spread across different platforms. This was becoming problematic, and they wanted it dealt with. With the goal being a centralized system that could be integrated with other important systems, the BookPal team set out to find a solution to their problem.
The Bista Solutions team, an Odoo Gold Partner and a five-time Odoo Best Partner award recipient, assisted BookPal with their venture resulting in decreased inaccuracies, efficient reporting metrics, and improved business procedures.
About BookPal
BookPal is a leading online bookseller that offers businesses, schools, and organizations easy solutions for purchasing books. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. BookPal’s mission is to help people and organizations be their best through the power of books, making them an ideal resource for schools, nonprofits, corporations, and other groups. The website offers a variety of books in different genres, including business books, educational titles, children’s books, and more. BookPal also provides customized book recommendations, personalized service, and fast shipping options. The company has been recognized for its commitment to customer satisfaction and quality service. In addition, BookPal partners with publishers and authors to offer exclusive content and book promotions.
Key Challenges and Requirements
The BookPal team faced multiple challenges before Bista Solutions’ team stepped in. They had an island of applications that were not integrated, making traceability a major issue. The team was handling sales through BigCommerce and SalesForce, while accounting was being done in Xero. This made it difficult for the team to have an interdependent workflow, and they had to rework a few things to overcome this. The BookPal team needed a single system that could handle all operations, which their existing setup lacked. The team was using BigCommerce, Salesforce, and Xero as their primary applications. Managing CRM activities, sales, operations, BigCommerce integration, procurement, inventory, dropship, shipment tracking, and accounting with Avalara Tax integration were the BookPal team’s key requirements. They planned to go live as soon as they could get their routine operations managed under one application, Odoo.
The Implementation
In June 2022, the Bista sales team was contacted by the point-of-contact from BookPal, Tony DiCostanzo. The team at BookPal had found Bista Solutions through an online search and reached out to them for assistance. After the initial contact, a virtual Business Analysis process was conducted to assess the client’s needs. The Bista team evaluated the client’s requirements and suggested Odoo as a comprehensive solution that could integrate all their operations under one platform.
The implementation process started after the project was signed in June 2022. The entire implementation was done virtually, without any in-person meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bista Solutions assigned a team of experts to work on the project, including a project manager, functional consultants, and technical consultants. The implementation lasted for six months, from June 2022 to February 2023. During this time, Bista Solutions provided online training to the BookPal team. They connected almost every day for two months to ensure that the team understood the system well. The main challenge during the implementation was training the client and educating them on how an interlinked department works in an ERP application. The client had been using independent applications, and switching to a single integrated platform required a disciplined and accurate workflow.
As the client further understood how Odoo worked, their understanding and expectation for the system grew, resulting in additional customizations and automation to streamline processes and more fully leverage the capabilities that Odoo offers. While the project scope increased due to these changes, Bista Solutions was able to handle it efficiently. The project had some custom modules, including a multi-shipment module that was enhanced to handle different shipments based on location, quantity, and delivery date, an Avalara Tax integration with auto-tax exemption, and BigCommerce integration. Bista Solutions successfully integrated all the client’s applications, including BigCommerce, Avalara Tax, BrainTree Payment integration, and removed dependency on Salesforce, and Xero.
As mentioned earlier, the implementation was completed in February 2023, and it has been one month since the implementation. The client is now able to manage their CRM activities, sales, operations, procurement, inventory, drop-ship, shipment tracking, and accounting with Avalara Tax integration, all under Odoo ERP. From Bista’s perspective, the project was unique because it required the Bista team to work more extensively with the client on defining new business processes based on Odoo’s interdependent workflow. Bista Solutions successfully navigated the client’s nuances and delivered a solution that achieved the client’s requirements.
Conclusion
The BookPal team has reported that they are satisfied with the implementation process and are currently benefiting from having all their information in one place, which has saved them approximately 30% of their time. This has resulted in increased productivity, accuracy, and easy traceability. Needless to say, the implementation has made their workflow more efficient. In fact, the team reported that they are now able to allocate their resources more effectively due to the streamlined workflow. Additionally, they have noticed that there has been an improvement in communication between departments, resulting in better coordination and ultimately increased satisfaction among employees.
With the implementation of Odoo, the BookPal team is now able to manage customer data more effectively and provide timely customer service. This is expected to result in increased customer satisfaction over time. Currently, BookPal is in the process of implementing new add-ons like Dashboard, Quoting Integration, and Odoo’s Expense Module, which are being developed by the Bista team. These new modules are expected to further enhance the functionality of their system, making it more efficient and user-friendly.
Ultimately, the implementation of Odoo has been a success for the BookPal team, resulting in improved efficiency, productivity, and better communication among departments. The team is now able to manage their operations more effectively, and with the addition of new modules, they are poised to continue their growth and success in the future.
BookPal Appreciation
The following is a quote from Tony DiCostanzo, CEO of BookPal:
“Launching a new ERP solution can be extremely painful. It requires the coordination of teams from across an organization for weeks or months, to define requirements, outline processes, and extensively test the system to ensure going live is a seamless transition from any legacy software the company used. Recognizing the potential challenges of implementing a new ERP solution like Odoo, we conducted a lot of upfront research before deciding on Bista Solutions as our Odoo implementation partner.
From the very beginning, we knew we had made the right choice. There was clearly a level of knowledge about Odoo from every team member that just wasn’t there with the other five companies we had interviewed. While discussing requirements, most companies simply answered with a confident, “sure we can do that” but the answer lacked substance and detail. The team at Bista instead provided the “how” they would do it that solidified in our minds that not only did they know what they were doing, they had already done it hundreds of times before.
Despite the confidence we had in the Bista team, we still expected the process to be challenging and full of roadblocks or compromises. That was certainly the case when I was rolling out SAP for a large entertainment company. I can honestly say though as I reflect back on the rollout, it was wildly easier than I expected, simply because the team at Bista comprised of Murali, Nikita, Mukul, Divesh, Hardik, Freni, Vidya and Hardik were amazing to work with. From day one, they guided our team through the requirements process, executed on customizations flawlessly and turned around work extremely fast. Not to mention, just being a great group of people.
If your organization is considering a new ERP solution like Odoo, I highly recommend Bista Solutions as I look forward to working with them on an ongoing basis as our business continues to scale and our needs evolve.”
