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On 2 April 2026, Fabien Pinckaers, founder and CEO of Odoo, and Roeland Van Dessel, CEO of Partena Professional, jointly announced the largest contract ever signed in Odoo’s history. The target: Belgian payroll, one of the most complex in the world. The goal: to build together the first fully integrated HR and payroll solution on the Belgian market, end to end. For Belgian SMEs, this 100% Belgian partnership is a concrete game-changer — and Agile Minds explains why.
Why Belgian payroll is a challenge in its own right
Before understanding the scale of this partnership, you need to grasp the complexity of the terrain. Belgium is the 3rd most complex country in the world for payroll, behind Mexico and Germany only. The causes: 262 joint committees (JC), distinct regional legislations (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels), stacked collective bargaining agreements and one of the densest social legal frameworks in Europe.
The concrete result for a Belgian company: managing payroll means juggling multiple tools, often outdated. Partena Professional, the number 2 social secretariat in Belgium with 920,000 payslips processed each month, relied until now on around thirty different systems to address this complexity. For SME clients, this translates into double data entry, delays, error risks and a considerable administrative burden.
What the Odoo × Partena partnership concretely changes
The agreement announced on 2 April 2026 is not a simple commercial deal. It is about building a new product together, a unified platform that did not yet exist on the Belgian market.
A joint team of around forty people — Odoo developers, Partena HR experts, business consultants — has been working for several months on this solution. The stated objective: a native end-to-end integration between daily HR management and payroll, seamless, without double data entry, without third-party tools.
Concretely, this is what the platform will enable:
- Leave management: request, approval and payroll impact in a single system
- Employee onboarding: from contract to first payslip, in a continuous flow
- Absence and time management: automatic synchronisation with payroll calculation
- Access for accountants and directors: unified dashboard, real-time data
- Automatic compliance: legal updates integrated by Partena, technology powered by Odoo
- Elimination of legacy tools: Partena will go from 30 tools to a single platform
A historic contract on more than one count
This partnership is exceptional, and not just for its volume. Two elements distinguish this agreement from all previous ones in Odoo’s history.
1. The largest contract in Odoo’s history
Fabien Pinckaers confirmed it publicly: this contract represents more than 10 times the value of its largest current client, across all countries. Odoo is active in 13 countries outside Belgium for payroll. To give a sense of scale: with EUR 900 million in revenue and 7,400 employees worldwide, Odoo is no longer a startup. And this contract remains “10 times” above everything that existed.
2. An unprecedented commercial exclusivity
Odoo is an open source player. Fabien Pinckaers’ philosophy has always been openness, freedom and no lock-in. Yet, for this partnership, Odoo accepted two exceptions it had never granted before:
- A commercial exclusivity: other social secretariats wanting to access the Odoo solution will need to go through Partena Professional
- Opening its source code to an external partner
The deployment timeline: what’s coming and when
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| April 2026 | Official announcement — joint team active for 4 months |
| Late 2026 | Platform finalisation (stated goal by both parties) |
| 1 January 2027 | Commercial launch — accountants and business leaders |
| 2027 | Extension to joint committees 200 (employees) and 302 (Horeca) first |
| 2027–2028 | Progressive rollout to other JCs |
JC 200 and 302 were chosen as the starting point because they are the most significant in Belgium in terms of number of companies and workers involved. The 260 other joint committees will then be progressively integrated.
What this means for Belgian SMEs using Odoo
If you already use Odoo to manage your business, this partnership is excellent news. Here is why:
Before this partnership, a Belgian SME on Odoo had to manage two separate worlds: Odoo for management (CRM, sales, projects, accounting) and a social secretariat (SD Worx, Partena, Securex, Acerta) for payroll. The synchronisation between the two was manual, error-prone and time-consuming.
After January 2027, Partena clients will be able to benefit from a native integration between their payroll and their Odoo management. No more double data entry for staff arrivals and departures, no more intermediate Excel files, no more delays between on-the-ground reality and the payslip.
For SMEs not yet on Odoo, this partnership adds a compelling argument: Odoo will no longer just be the management ERP, but also the HR hub integrated with your social secretariat.
Longer-term ambitions
Roeland Van Dessel, who aims with this partnership to claim the top spot on the Belgian market (currently held by SD Worx with around 1,260,000 payslips versus 920,000 for Partena), makes no secret of his growth ambitions.
Fabien Pinckaers dreams of going further: exporting the platform to other countries, starting with Luxembourg where Partena is present, and potentially the Netherlands. A business model has already been confirmed: Odoo will receive an amount per payslip processed, a recurring model that adds to its software licence revenue.
This partnership is also symbolic: it is an openly expressed pride of both CEOs to have built a sovereign 100% Belgian solution, carried by two companies rooted on either side of the language border.
How Agile Minds supports you
As an Odoo integrator specialising in Belgian SMEs, Agile Minds closely follows this partnership and its technical implications. Here is what you can do now to prepare:
- Audit of your current Odoo HR configuration: verify that your Employees, Leave and Time Off modules are correctly set up for a future Partena integration
- Mapping of your joint committees: identify whether your JC is among those covered first (JC 200 and 302) or in a later wave
- Migration support: if you are not yet on Odoo, now is the time to anticipate — an Odoo implementation today positions you ideally for January 2027
Agile Minds operates in Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders, in French, Dutch and English. Contact us for personalised support.
Patrick Impens · CEO Agile Minds SRL · agile-minds.be
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Further reading
Frequently asked questions about the Odoo × Partena partnership
Does the Odoo Partena partnership apply to all Belgian companies?
At launch in January 2027, the solution will be available as a priority for companies under joint committees 200 (private employees) and 302 (Horeca). Other JCs will be integrated progressively during 2027 and 2028.
Do you need to be a Partena Professional client to use the new solution?
Yes. Odoo has granted a commercial exclusivity to Partena Professional. Other social secretariats wishing to access the solution will need to go through Partena. This exclusivity is a first in Odoo’s history.
Will the solution be available for SMEs already using Odoo with another social secretariat?
The launch will initially target Partena Professional clients and partner accountants. Companies already on Odoo with another social secretariat will be able to migrate their payroll component to Partena to access the native integration.
What is the cost of the new Odoo × Partena solution?
Both parties have not communicated a pricing grid. The confirmed business model provides for Odoo to receive an amount per payslip processed. Pricing for companies will be communicated closer to launch.
Why is Agile Minds relevant to support me on this topic?
Agile Minds is an Odoo integrator specialising in Belgian SMEs. We have been supporting our clients on HR configuration, payroll and Odoo modules since our founding in 2025. We follow the evolution of this partnership and will be able to prepare you before the January 2027 launch.
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