In order to have an efficient, organised, and smoothly running company there needs to be proper communication between all the people involved. This includes communication between all levels which are the managers, employees, and customers.
All the traditional business software still use emails and calls to communicate throughout all the departments which is time consuming and inefficient.
Emails may not be seen or replied to on time and may require multiple replies to get the message through.
On the other hand, the person you need to call may not be available in the office at that very moment. The Odoo communication tools were therefore designed in such a way to recognise the need for instant relaying of information using modernized tools.
How to Communicate Through Odoo
The best module that enhances communication throughout all the Odoo apps is the discuss module. Some of its features that help to do this are―
- News feed
Anyone who has used social media knows the best way to get updates is through the news feed. The Odoo discuss module allows you to view all the discussions taking place between all levels of workers on your news feed at a glance. Viewing it on a news feed lets you get a summary of what is going on without needing to delve too deep into irrelevant conversations.
2. Channels
To make it even easier to track what is being discussed, you can create discussion groups called channels based on various subjects for different projects. These channels are made to be open for all and any employee who wishes to know more about certain projects can subscribe to these channels.
3. Create exclusive chats and chat groups
You can add or remove members in private groups and can limit the group to only a specific number of employees. It does not necessarily have to be a group either, you can start private chats with individual employees too.
4. Chat popup windows
Much like social media platforms, the Odoo discuss module has the feature to keep live chats open in a pop up window while doing other tasks. The best part is, you can keep working in any of the other modules and the chat window does not interfere with your work. This saves you the hassle of having to open the conversations each time you need to send a reply. There is also an added bonus of using smileys to lighten up your conversations.
5. Prioritize your conversations
You can avoid overlooking important messages if you prioritise your conversations right. You can star the main messages you wish to see and conveniently find them in the starred list.
6. Constant Updates
You never have to miss a thing using the Odoo communication tools as you can set an option to get email notifications for specific project discussions. Moreover, you can customize the notifications that are being sent and avoid cluttering your mailbox. You can set a time and which person to send a notification for what topic. You can also use mentions for example, @odoo_username to instantly get notified when you are needed for a conversation or you need to view a specific message.
7. Internal and Public mailing lists
You can set up internal mailing lists for specific employees or departments so that only they receive emails for named topics. You can do this directly based on groups you have already created. Moreover, you can keep organised public mailing lists for sending newsletters and offers based on channels. Any user who visits your site can add their email address while subscribing so that their email address gets added to your mailing list.
8. Seamless Integration
The discuss module readily integrates with all the other Odoo apps and lets you add messages, notes, channels, and followers from any of the other apps to one place. This allows you to monitor discussions based on one subject, including information from all parts of your business, to let you get a clear concept of what is going on.
Though the discuss module is the central module that helps you communicate through Odoo, it is not the only approach. You need to choose an application that fits you company’s needs. If you need to get more organised and want a less direct method, The Odoo Notes module also offers features that boost team communication and collaboration. Some of these features are―
- Shared notes
Instead of live chats and crowded mailboxes, using notes you can convey the important part of messages if you add colleagues and employees to let them view it. You can easily share your note by just sending them the embed URL or link. They will then receive notifications when the note is updated and follow the discussion and your thought process.
2. Easy to differentiate between authors
Each writer has text with different coloured backgrounds so they do not get mixed up. Each colour can also be set up with the name of the author so you can effortlessly find out who wrote what.
3. Keep track of changes and who can make them
You don’t need to worry about loss of progress or records as you can use the timeline slider feature to view all the changes made to the note from the beginning to the end. You can also choose who you want to grant permission to edit the note and who can only view it.
4. Live chat
Even though communicating through the notes module is an indirect approach, it does offer the feature to directly communicate with other users. Real-time chats can take place between the people following your note and those added to it. It also lets you see who is viewing the note right at that moment since it shows all the online connected users.
Odoo is one of the world’s chief business applications and they offer over thirty applications to be used by many commercial organizations ranging from small-scale firms to large-scale companies. They have over 1500 members and these members have contributed in growing Odoo’s range to provide up to 1600+ apps, to get in touch with Odoo connect with Syncoria.
Syncoria is a digital transformation solution provider based in Canada, and an official Odoo Ready partner.