The Belgian ERP giant opened its Australian office three years ago with two people and a vision. Today, +80 employees later, Kelian Buitendijk is betting the snowball is finally rolling.
There are not many Belgian tech companies that Australians have heard of. Kelian Buitendijk, Managing Director of Odoo Australia, is the first to admit it. “Belgium is known for mussels, chocolate and beers – less for an ERP,” he says, with the kind of dry honesty that seems to come naturally to people who have spent years convincing a new continent that their product exists.
Odoo is, in fact, one of Europe’s most remarkable software success stories. Founded in Belgium and now counting 7,500 employees worldwide, it describes itself as a one-stop-shop for business management: an open-source platform covering accounting, HR, inventory, marketing, e-commerce, events and more, sold through affordable subscriptions rather than the prohibitive licensing fees that define rivals like SAP or Microsoft Dynamics. A half-billion-dollar investment from General Atlantic and Sequoia – the fund that backed Google – confirmed its global ambitions.
“The biggest mistake foreign companies make is assuming what works overseas will automatically succeed in Australia. It rarely does. Adaptation is essential,”
The decision to open an Australian office in 2023 followed a familiar Odoo logic: a mature local partner network was already selling the product, existing customers were requesting on-the-ground support, and the APAC office in Hong Kong was managing the country across a very large stretch of ocean. “When you manage Australia from Hong Kong,” Buitendijk notes, “there’s a lot of water in between.” The Gold Coast was chosen deliberately – not Sydney or Melbourne, where the company would have been neighboured by its biggest competitors – but a city where talented people genuinely want to live and, crucially, want to stay.
Retention is a constant concern in fast-growing tech companies, and Odoo’s Gold Coast bet appears to be paying off. “If you ask most people in our office whether they’d consider moving to Brisbane, most would say no way,” says Buitendijk. “They have access to an amazing lifestyle and can combine it with a career path. That really matters.” From two colleagues in a co-working space, the team has grown to 82, with a target of 100 by the end of the year.
Localisation has been central to the journey. The Australian market does not simply absorb foreign software – it demands adaptation. GST reporting, localised payroll, Australian-style accounting outputs: these are not cosmetic adjustments but fundamental requirements. “You need to make it look like an Aussie product, sold by an Aussie company,” Buitendijk explains. “That’s part of why we had to open an office. Australians appreciate local support.”
The integration of artificial intelligence into the Odoo platform is the next significant shift. Since version 19, AI features have become steadily more embedded – helping users draft job advertisements, enhance customer communications, or streamline repetitive processes. “The spirit of the product isn’t changing,” Buitendijk is clear. “AI is there to help users gain time, gain efficiency. It’s an opportunity.”
“Don’t stay quiet. Make noise. Reach out to anyone who has any interest in anything related to Belgium.”
Buitendijk’s support for the inaugural Belgian-Australian Excellence Awards is consistent with this broader philosophy of visibility. “We too often see French, Italian, American, English on the map – but never Belgian,” he says. “For such a small country, there is an extraordinary richness: cultural, economic, human. As Belgians, let’s embrace this and do more to champion and connect with one another” It is, he suggests, the same snowball logic he applies to Odoo’s own growth: build a great product, let people talk about it, and trust the word-of-mouth to follow.
Three years in, the office is no longer a startup. But the ambition, Buitendijk suggests, is only getting started. “In three more years? Definitively a stronger brand awareness, sustained user growth, and a well-established mid-market corporate team “ He pauses. “Above all, the goal is to truly disrupt the ERP industry with our amazing product. The climb is steep but once the snowball gains momentum, it becomes unstoppable .”
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