Location/Region: Atlanta, Georgia
Industry: Garment care
Apps implemented: Inventory, Manufacturing, Employees, Shop Floor
Software Replaced: Google Drive, Notion, Osano
Number of users: 14
Company size: 20
Hosting type: Odoo.sh

Laundry is a mundane chore that everyone does, and yet for some people, it can still cause issues. Delicate garments can get ruined by the washer and dryer process, a white sock can come out pink due to a stray piece of red clothing, a shirt may pop out two sizes too small. In addition to being error-prone, laundry machines can take up to an hour to complete their cycles, requiring people to be home for long stretches of time to get this simple chore completed. Presso wants to change the way modern garment care is done.

Presso was founded in 2018 by two college students during their senior year at Purdue University. Co-founders Thibault Corens, from Belgium, and Nishant Jain, from India, met as freshmen in 2014, both having never done their own laundry up until that point. They quickly realized not only what a hassle doing laundry can be and how long it can take, but also how finicky the chore really is. Both of them ruined some clothes in the process of figuring out how the college’s particular laundry machines worked. By senior year, they had invented a new way of doing laundry.

Left: Co-Founder Nishant Jain, Right: Co-Founder Thibault Corens

Presso designs laundry machines with robotic technology that clean and press clothes in four and a half minutes. Not only is the process speedy, but the specialized laundering methods result in increased longevity for garments– 8x that of a regular laundry machine. This means no more color fading, shrinkage, or damaged material from harsh washers and dryers. This is due to Presso’s unique system that doesn’t utilize tumbling, meaning much less agitation for clothing. While this high-level of care is typically expensive and hard to access, Presso’s main focus is making its machines available in multi-family units, hotels, and other communal spaces as a self-service option. 

As Presso strives to change the way laundry is done, it has grown and reached levels of success that simply outgrew its old business management software. Enter Odoo as the modern solution for this modernized company!

Before switching to Odoo, Presso was using a combination of Google Drive, Notion, and Osano to manage its day-to-day operations. At the beginning, this system made sense for the company because it was only manufacturing around three laundry machines a year, and therefore wasn’t ready for a full-functioning ERP solution quite yet. However, as the company began scaling up, not having operations automated started becoming an issue. Co-founder Thibault Corens explains that managing inventory in spreadsheets was especially difficult and unsustainable for growth. He and his business partner Nishant began exploring other ERPs options, including Netsuite and Odoo. Ultimately, the pair decided on Odoo due to its simplicity, visual appeal, and high level of customizability. 

Presso went live with Odoo in early 2022. Thibault says that their Odoo implementation went smoothly, especially since it was more building out a new database rather than switching a lot of data over, since at the time, the company didn’t have much information to transfer. With a new ERP in hand, Presso was now prepared to tackle the continuing growth of its business.

Presso is now two and a half years into its journey with Odoo, and the difference in the company’s day-to-day operations is tangible. Thibault says that Odoo's Inventory application has made a huge impact on Presso, especially compared to its previous inventory management system in spreadsheets that left much to be desired. 

In general, the fully-automated nature of Odoo has made Presso much more efficient. The software has also provided the company and its team with tracking capabilities, particularly when it comes to seeing which combinations of laundry machines are out in the field at which locations. Thibault also explains how Odoo has allowed him and his business partner the ability to understand the efficacy of Presso’s manufacturing line. In the future, Thibault sees Odoo helping the company manage maintenance and repairs as well for its machines. 

With Odoo’s support and automated workflows, Presso is excited to change the way modern laundry is done.

Location/Region: Cambridge, MA (Headquarters) and Overseas
Industry: IT Services
Apps implemented: Sales, Purchase, Time Off, Planning, Knowledge, Project, Accounting, Employees, Documents, Sign, Timesheets, Dashboards, Consolidation
Software Replaced: Hubspot, spreadsheets, Docuware, Quickbooks, and in-house software
Number of users: 400
Company size: 500
Hosting type: Odoo.sh

Any modernized business in the 21st century strives to utilize technology to make its daily operations more efficient and effective. However, many of these companies have complex needs that go beyond the scope of an out-of-the-box IT solution. This is where companies such as First Line Software come in.

First Line Software is a professional IT services company that specializes primarily in custom software programming for various industries, including eCommerce, healthcare, real estate, and even AI. A typical customer will first approach First Line Software with specific needs; then, the company analyzes the business’ requirements, designs the project plan, implements the software, and tests its quality. From start to finish, First Line Software addresses everything its customer needs to digitalize and improve its business processes.

Founded in 2010, First Line Software has reached impressive levels of success and growth in its 14 years of business. As the company’s operations expanded, it needed more comprehensive business software to manage its day-to-day needs. Odoo, it turns out, was the best solution.

Prior to using Odoo, First Line Software used a piecemeal approach to its business management software. Dmitri Krasnov, CFO, explains that they used a “best-in-brand” method, finding the most suitable software for each separate part of the company’s workflow. At different times, First Line Software utilized Hubspot, Zoho, Docuware, and Quickbooks, among other platforms, as well as developed an in-house solution for a variety of other needs such as project and employee management. Dmitri explains that this aggregate system had its predictable pain points, most notably the lack of communication between the different software pieces. The company particularly faced challenges when running processes that went across different departments. 

Another issue First Line Software faced was a lack of data integrity due to information being stored in multiple platforms, sometimes with no master source. This led to errors and inconsistencies in the company’s old system, wasting valuable time and effort fixing mistakes.

[With our old approach], we had to invest effort into making sure data is consistent across the platforms.

In addition to these overarching challenges, management of access rights, lack of a seamless workflow, and user experience were issues that First Line Software was facing on a daily basis. These recurring painpoints had the company considering making a switch to a more comprehensive ERP, with the primary goal being to decrease the number of platforms that it used. However, the major breaking point happened around 2022 when the business began rapidly expanding into more subsidiaries. The old, piecemeal approach made it difficult to manage the company as a whole and make changes as it grew.

First Line Software began researching ERPs available on the market, narrowing it down to a select few, and having sales meetings with these options. Dmitri explains that they analyzed both the functionality of these platforms and their price points. After much consideration, the company finally decided that Odoo was the best fit for its needs.

First Line Software’s implementation process was smooth, particularly because the company planned it in phases. So far, it has completed two major phases and plans to continue adding more modules this way. One of the first functionalities that the company put in place was comprehensive employee management, as Odoo offered much greater capabilities compared to its previous system. As a service company, First Line Software has a lot of data and processes built around its employees and consultants. 

Now [with Odoo], we’ve got all parts of that process in one place, integrated with great transparency, with workflows and processes built around the data. That really helps.

Odoo’s overall integration has been a huge benefit for the company on a daily basis, allowing it to easily complete workflows that extend through different departments. Liudmila Kosheleva, Operational Director at First Line Software, says that before, trying to accomplish this would require more data storage and entail employees working in different departments sharing volumes of information over email or using shared folders. Now, everyone is on the same system. Having a defined and seamless workflow with consistent data and history is extremely important.

When reflecting on the most useful Odoo applications for First Line Software, Dmitri highlights several. The Employees module is perhaps the one the team uses the most. Accounting has proven to be very helpful, too, with the business moving all of its financial data over to Odoo. Studio allows for flexibility in terms of customization, especially when quickly prototyping changes that they might want to carry out. Finally, the Documents and Dashboards applications have improved the company’s reporting capabilities, which, for Dmitri as CFO, has proven extremely beneficial.

The difference between a piecemeal approach with its old system and Odoo’s integrated nature has made the world of a difference for First Line Software. With the company only continuing to grow, Odoo is prepared to help First Line Software continue its mission to serve its customers with unique IT solutions as efficiently and effectively as possible.