Not long ago, nearly all companies kept their primary information systems in-house. This approach not only requires a lot of capital expense in purchasing servers and software licenses, but also creates a lot of responsibilities and risks in backing up data and ensuring business continuity. Today, more and more companies are choosing to host their business applications in online networks commonly called the cloud. Odoo allows you the flexibility of both options—either hosting on your own hardware, or utilizing Odoo's online software services.

Odoo also offers developers access to Odoo.sh, a cloud-based, GitHub-enabled staging server for beta-testing customized apps and deploying them to a managed production server. This service is available to those who have a license for the Odoo Enterprise Edition and would like to have it hosted like Odoo Online but require customized features. For further information about this Odoo.sh, visit https://www.odoo.sh/features.

The best thing about accessing Odoo Online is that you can jump in and start using the software right away. You don't have to decide what operating system (OS) to use, and you don't have to install any software at all. Just enter the URL into your web browser and you are ready to get started.

Another added benefit of taking this approach is that you will verify that your web browser is up to date and compatible with the latest version of Odoo. So, even if you intend to install Odoo on your own hardware, it is still worth taking a minute to test out the Online Trial version of Odoo. You can expect to put a great deal of time into determining which Odoo applications are right for your company.

Taking a few hours to use the Odoo Online version is time well spent, and you can put off installing Odoo until you are more certain it is the right software for your business.

Odoo is designed to run on a variety of modern web browsers. Supported browsers include the following:

• Google Chrome (recommended)
• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari

Beginning with Odoo 8, Odoo has included native support for mobile phones and tablets. As with previous Odoo upgrades since, mobile support has been further improved in Odoo 12. Menus are designed to flow and format properly. The new website application even includes a preview within the portal administration to emulate how the site would appear on a mobile phone. While you still suffer many of the limitations that come with a small screen size, the applications are functional and this makes it even easier for developers to create mobile Odoo applications.

Odoo's mobile-application support covers both the Android and Apple iOS platforms. Note, however, that these mobile apps will only be able to connect to Odoo Enterprise; Odoo Community installations are not supported. Make sure you thoroughly test all processes that you intend to implement for your business, and test them on both desktop and mobile platforms. The smaller screen sizes might make some data unreadable or very awkward to work with.

Accessing the online trial version of Odoo Online could not be simpler. Just open up your browser and navigate to https://www.odoo.com/trial.

You will then be prompted to choose one of Odoo's primary business applications, as shown in the following screenshot:

Don't worry too much, because you can add more applications later.

Clicking on the appropriate button for the application immediately begins installing your own unique Odoo instance. For our example, let's go ahead and install the CRM application:

For installing the CRM application, you will need to perform the following steps:

1. Click the radio button for CRM.
2. Now, click Configure, and you will be taken to a simple sign-up page.
3. Fill out the Get Started form and click Start Now, as shown in the following screenshot:

Be patient, as it can take thirty seconds or longer for the servers to build the database and bring up the starting page. When the installation is complete, Odoo automatically signs you in so you can begin trying out the software. The goal of this approach is to get users to start using the software right away, and avoid having to fill out lengthy forms or create logins and passwords to begin using the software. It really is just one click, and you have your own version of Odoo to evaluate:

The screen now contains the Odoo dashboard for the Enterprise Edition. Please be aware that this will look a bit different than the Community Edition of Odoo, even though they are very similar in terms of functionality.

We will discuss the CRM application in detail in Chapter 3, Exploring Customer Relationship Management in Odoo 12.

Take a few minutes to look around in Odoo to get familiar with the interface. You don't have to worry about breaking anything or doing anything wrong. If you run into problems or get confused, just close your web browser and try again.

At the very top of the Odoo application, just under the address bar in the browser, you will see a message that informs you of how much longer your trial version of Odoo will run before you need to register. Also, remember that it is possible to lose this instance of Odoo before the time runs out, as seen here:

Clicking on the Activate by email link will send a message to the email address that you provided, containing a link to activate your Odoo database. Currently, you may use Odoo for free as long as you only install one application.

You can use one Odoo application for free without subscribing. If you wish to install more applications (as you likely will), you must subscribe to Odoo in order to keep using their Enterprise cloud-hosted version of the software.

For each user, the current pricing is $24 per month. At the time of this writing, there is a $4-per-month user discount, thus reducing the total per-month cost to $20. Each application you use will also incur a monthly cost that varies for each respective application.

The following is the Odoo Online Pricing calculator for October 2018 in the United States with one user and three applications:

You can locate the Odoo Online Pricing page at https://www.odoo.com/pricing-online.

Depending on your requirements, an Odoo subscription might be a good decision. Installing and maintaining an Odoo installation takes a degree of expertise and has risks for production systems. You must maintain adequate disaster recovery procedures in case of server crashes or hard drive failures. There are also complexities in applying bug fixes and migrating to newer versions of Odoo. This book will help you with many of these tasks. It can be quite convenient to have an Odoo subscription so that you can focus on the functional, rather than the technical, aspects of working with Odoo.

One of the greatest advantages of Odoo is that Odoo Community is both open source and can be used without paying any license fees. If you choose not to pay the subscription fee, do not fear! The remainder of this chapter will assist you with installing Odoo on your own hardware.