Customer Journey Swisslux

«Thanks to Odoo and with Camptocamp's support, we have reorganized and improved our entire processes in parallel with IT - a key step for us and our customers.»

René Glauser, CIO Swisslux AG

For a long time, Swisslux worked with a simple business software from the 1990s - not an ERP system in today's sense; the functionalities were more or less limited to finances and order processing and could not handle any concrete processes. If new requirements were added, the IT department had to develop suitable solutions with great effort. Nevertheless, there was still a lot of manual data entry work with complicated Excel lists and media disruptions.

After the turn of the millennium, further development of the software was discontinued, and soon after, the support was also stopped. A proposed alternative could not satisfy Swisslux's requirements.

Fewer dependencies - more possibilities

The follow-up solution should be an open, modern software that meets today's needs.

René Glauser, CIO and member of the management board, always had great sympathy for the Open Source philosophy, in which numerous developers worldwide work on new solutions and one is less at the mercy of a large manufacturer. That's why he looked at various ERP solutions based on Open Source. OpenERP, today's Odoo, convinced him the most.

He chose Camptocamp as his system partner. The choice paid off: Thanks to the great experience, the initialization phase was short, the conversion of the system proceeded quickly and without major frictions. At the end of 2016, the new ERP system was put into operation - with virtually no downtime.

Step by step to perfection

In order to avoid expensive specific developments as much as possible, the in-house processes were adapted to the system logic and the applications. Users and the internal IT department were challenged twice: Parallel to the training for the new system, they had to get used to the new processes in the company. For this reason, Swisslux decided on a step-by-step approach, which took a little longer - but was much more beneficial in terms of acceptance and organic growth of the internal system know-how and the applications.

Future-proof with upgrades

With such an innovative ERP system as Odoo, it is important to always move with time and keep up with major upgrades. During the previous migrations to Version 11 and 13, the support from Camptocamp's crew was a significant factor: they ensured that the process went almost smoothly.

New functionalities were also implemented. For example, the purchasing process  is now automatically done by the system instead of using an e-mail, and a part of the company's website has been integrated into the ERP to keep it up to date in a more efficient and professional way.

Everyone involved has realized that this approach reduces the susceptibility to errors in the work and helps to respond quickly and effectively to customer concerns. Thus, the path of optimization is still not finished, and more modules and updates will follow.

The future is on track

Today René Glauser is completely satisfied with what has been achieved: «At this stage,  we can concentrate on our work - and improve customer service with further process optimizations. With Camptocamp we have found a good way of communication after demanding beginnings, and we appreciate the competent "backup" during the installation of new releases and the support during complex tasks. The decision for the new system was a big step - and Camptocamp has significantly contributed to our success.»