Meet the Nandoo founders: Ides and Lukas

Odoo contains plenty of apps to run your business and has gained huge popularity in recent years. This has not escaped our attention either. The idea had been brewing within The Digitals for a while to offer services around Odoo as well.

Enter Nandoo. With two experienced Odoo people coming on board immediately, we are off to a flying start as a very ambitious Odoo partner. By the way, that partnership is already a reality. Meet Ides and Lukas who lead Nandoo with knowledge and ambition.

J: Ides, let's start with you. How did you come to join us? What attracted you to the story of The Digitals and Nandoo?

I: During my time at Odoo, I worked with many different Odoo partners, big and small. Even then, I was itching to start as a partner myself but I realised that starting a partnership from zero and all by yourself is very difficult.

So when I came across the call for founders (ed: our call for new entrepreneurial talent) to start an Odoo partnership within an established company like The Digitals, I knew immediately: this was an opportunity I had to seize. Then, when Lukas also came on board, I knew we had the right people and the right framework to make it a success!

J: What do you personally expect from the growth of Nandoo and Odoo in general?

I: We are hyper ambitious with Nandoo and are therefore pursuing steep growth. We want to grow to Gold Partner level as soon as possible. The demand for Odoo is increasing year after year and that doesn't seem to be stopping for the time being. Odoo is conquering market share in the SME market at a fast pace and I expect Odoo to take more market share from established players such as SAP and Microsoft in the mid-market segment as well.

J: Lukas, you are fresh from the Odoo ranks. How was your job there?

L: At Odoo, I was team leader within the consulting department. An extremely interesting position because it allowed me to follow up and support others' projects in addition to implementing projects at customers myself. Each project in itself is already varied, given the different roles you have to take on as an Odoo implementer (ed: project manager, functional analyst, trainer, etc.) but you also see a wide range of companies and implementations pass by, so you learn a huge amount.

J: What was the biggest motivator for you to participate in Nandoo?

L: There are still many companies that could benefit greatly by switching to Odoo, or by getting more out of their existing Odoo environment. However, they need a reliable partner to guide them in that journey. So the need for quality partners is huge. Moreover, I had been sitting with the idea of starting something myself one day, if the momentum was right. So when the Nandoo idea was on the table, I didn't hesitate for long!

J: So what do you think is missing from these other partners?

J: In your opinion, where does make Odoo the biggest difference compared to its competitors?

I: Speaking from my own experience, I noticed that many partners are too quick to resort to custom development, which on the one hand increases the implementation cost and subsequently also the cost of maintaining the environment.
In addition, many partners lack a professional and customer-oriented approach that involves building a long-term relationship with a customer. Far too often, customers are only dealt with reactively instead of proactively approaching them with new proposals for further optimisation and automation. To make those suggestions, you obviously need to know your customer through and through and that's what we at Nandoo really focus on.

L: Odoo combines an unprecedented variety of functionalities with an exceptionally user-friendly interface. All this, and at the lowest prices in the market. All this makes Odoo truly unique.

I: I agree with what Lukas says around functionality. Odoo's new pricing (ed: where you have all apps for one price) has made it even more affordable to do your entire business through Odoo. This reduces costs, increases cybersecurity and ensures that as a company you have 1 single source of truth in terms of data.

J: We find that entrepreneurs and managers are often in a bind when they waste a lot of time on paperwork or manual processes. What advice can you give to entrepreneurs looking for a tool to improve their business management?

I: Switch to Odoo 😉. With Odoo, you can go completely paperless so at least you won't lose any time with that. It is also a misperception that an ERP system is only suitable for larger companies. Especially now that it is getting harder by the day to find the right staff, it is crucial to automate as much as possible and optimise staff working hours. Whether you are a company of 5 or 500, time is money and a good system can save you a lot of time.

J: Finally, how are you faring with the new colleagues?

L: Top! On the one hand, it is motivating to see how everyone works together and, on the other, it is also pleasant to be warmly welcomed again in each office.

I: It is great that we are part of The Digitals so that we can also enjoy the good atmosphere that exists in the company and also participate in all the activities that are organised.

J: Glad to hear that - 😁 - Thanks guys!