Update on Hub Marketplace

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Hello all,

As we had discussed at the last conference, we have started work in earnest on the Hub Marketplace. Let me recap, why the HUB?

  1. Extends the scope of an ERP system to an entire network. We know how powerful networks are compared to single nodes.
  2. ERPNext users get discovered by thousands of other users
  3. Ease of transaction (inter-company) within the network.
  4. Create a free, community owned marketplace for everyone.

Unlike, ERPNext which is only a software, the hub will have data assets. And it will also be place for discovery and services in the future. Our goal is to build this as a community owned asset - think of it as an Wikipedia for companies and products.

There are multiple goals and benefits of the HUB for the foundation. If this experiment succeeds, the foundation will have a great source of income from the HUB and will secure the funding of the product for a long time.

The vision of ERPNext is also to build a product for the future. We cannot deny that the last decade has belonged to companies that have eased communications and enabled sharing between people, the same will happen to companies sooner or later. Hence even from a vision point of view, this is a great experiment.

We would have loved to fund the HUB via Frappe, and it was being done so far. Since we were unable to move quickly on it, we decided to outsource this project to one of India’a top Python shops.

Expect a lot of updates soon and the official launch of the HUB with version 11!

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+1 for Hub

  • Thousands of erpnext instances connecting to do business.
  • This will help develop frappe/erpnext ecosystem at “big” scale.
  • Help develop api for big integrations.
  • Community governance ideal for building this.
  • Network for community funded by foundation over Network for community funded by company.
  • Hub is free and open source GitHub - frappe/hub.
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+1

Of course, It’s essential for a revolutionizing open source system like ERPNext to move ahead with time and help enterprises adapt to the rapidly changing landscape of running a social business. Way to go!

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+1 for hub.

Also waiting for more detailed specs.
Like
how to send PO and get SINV or Quotes between two ERP System?
Category, price filter in https://hubmarket.org/
How to display product variant, grouped item?

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Am I correct that this is something like SAP Ariba? If yes, then that’s pretty cool.

This marketplace would need to be moderated and will have requisite upkeep costs though, so I suggest some kind of way to ensure sustainability (not for the focus of monetization or profit necessarily). Maybe a $10/year listing fee to keep out cruft and provide a source for sustainability.

The foundation can be the overseer of the marketplace and can employ someone or outsource the task to moderate.

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What was the budget for the Hub?
How much money have we already spent on the Hub?
How are we in terms of % done in terms of development? How much %age of the budget have use used up?
Who is building the hub?

We seem to be going around in circles on this. There was another thread that asked all these questions and I was hoping that this thread will answer many of my questions.

I don’t think we need to spend money on the Hub. The Hub is a disruptive idea but cannot be an organic growth kind of approach. The network & Metcalf’s law (A network’s or ecosystem’s impact is the square of the number of users/entities on the network/ecosystem) has to kick in.

It’s not just a technology solution. It needs oodles of marketing money to make it successful. The base ERPNext adoption has to read hundreds of thousands of users before the Hub can really explode.

It’s great idea, but we DO NOT have the means to be successful. And when we build the network (hundreds of thousands of companies that use ERPNext), is when we need to invest in the Hub.

Let’s focus on ERPNext invest all our money on the core ERPNext solution and build everything that SMBs want.

The Hub is a logical extension at that time.

Else it will be another idea that will have very few takers. Like Schools, Healthcare, NFPs, Agriculture, etc.

Let’s not spread ourselves too thin. We are, if we choose to continue to invest in the hub.

I vote we pull the plug on the hub!

Thanks

Jay

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-1 for hub

not in need a new market place (there are plenty on the net); need a solid, stable, reliable, easy to extend and scale erp instead.

Looking at posts, people still having problems to install, update …imho priority are other than keep adding functionality and stuff …

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Adding hub will give many users the power to showcase their products to other ERPNext users, invite quotes and fulfill Orders. Frappe cloud may have close to 1000 users but there are many self hosted ERPNext users who may shift to Frappe cloud if they get an opportunity to increase their revenue by showcasing their products to other ERPNext users. That unknown number I am assuming would also be in thousands at least.

It is a great idea and concept, where ERP is not just a system of records but also can help you generate revenue by showcasing & selling your products.

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@Pawan for registering to hub, its not necessary to be on frappe cloud.

Any self hosted instance also publish items to https://hubmarket.org/

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@kolate_sambhaji maybe it is not but either ways I am in support for this new idea & concept.

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+1 or hub

Leveraging Eco-System: For the SMEs, our dear end users, generating a business is the biggest challenge. Offering them an ERP solution which will not only helps them run their businesses, but also generate some more can be deciding factor for them. This is where we leverage the eco-system. It can be game changer!

For me, it makes absolute sense to invest in the project like HUB which could helps overall community in increasing the traction for the product, and also benefits the existing user base.

Ready Backend: ERPNext HUB already has a strong technical backend, given all the investments by Frappe made over couple of months. Really surprising as there were no concerns raised earlier about the validity of the project itself.

It’s not just a technology solution. It needs oodles of marketing money to make it successful. The base ERPNext adoption has to read hundreds of thousands of users before the Hub can really explode.

If not the no. mentioned above… but I am confident that ERPNext has great no. of active user-base, counting the open source users as well… Hub will be their enter-point and we also get better estimation of our community strength.

Let’s focus on ERPNext invest all our money on the core ERPNext solution and build everything that SMBs want.

We were always ready for SMEs. Infact Enterprise features are the direction I see for the ERPNext, specially with V11. But like we all would agree, for a ERP kind of product, list of features never ends.

I vote, remain, finish, release and market Hub.

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I replicate the feeling shared by @JoEz.

I’m surprised on foundations members started voting for the Hub. No one denied the importance of Hub, the question was on priority over other issues.

I thought we were to get the list of requirements, the comparative cost of each of them and then looking at the budget prioritize them, based on comparative voting.

Guys, let’s work collectively and see all the requirements in comparison.

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@Pawan: How is these two connected: frappe cloud hosting and hub? Please elaborate, I’m not understanding it clearly.

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From whatever I understand, hub will allow you access to a market place from within ERPNext. This will enable you to connect with other ERPNext users to sell your products, ask for quotations etc. Hence, if you are a self-hosted user too, you may want to be a part of the ecosystem, so that you can increase your sales or purchasing capabilities.

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Actually I’m not as much mad about the hub as I am (was) about how little the community is getting involved in steering the direction of the Foundation.

Sure, the current office bearers of the Foundation are too intense, think of little else all day and hence they think they know better than the rest of us. In such a scenario its easier to justify any action against inaction. They have decided to place their bets on something they thought best. My personal opinion is that the Hub is too early and needs too much money for us to spend valuable money on at this time of our evolution.

But hey, I’ve been plenty wrong in my life before and would love to hear the "We Told you so"s from this group as the Hub proves to be immensely successful.

Since we have already made the commitment, let’s as a community embrace The Hub and hope that it will, if not, be a runaway success, create the viral traction for the supply chains of our existing and future clients to embrace ERPNext.

Let’s not make the Hub just a Sales Tool. Everybody wants to sell. So everybody putting products out there to sell just creates a bazaar.

Let’s also make The Hub a buying tool. Every company has existing vendors. Which company would not like to get a more reliable vendor or a better quality product or a cheaper price?

So with just one click of a check box, let’s make it easy for SMBs to post their RFP on The Hub. That will make it a good glue for our ecosystem and people outside our ecosystem to visit The Hub! Who wouldn’t want to participate in an RFP, huh?

Bidders that are on ERPNext already should be flagged clearly and we should run campaigns that go “Ceteris paribus buy from an ERPNext user”. Other things being equal (or even slightly unequal) buy from a ERPNext user. Vendor rating should be captured and reported to make it easy for buyers. And as people transact we should charge a small convenience fee (like ₹99.00) for deals larger than ₹10K (from the seller of course).

I mean its easy to get carried away with an idea like the Hub (its too alluring, seductive and sexy), but my hunch is that till we reach hundreds of thousands of SMBs on ERPNext, it will be frustrating to transact on the Hub. There will be way too many sellers and the few RFPs that buyers float on the Hub will be unviable for the buying organizations. Much like we keep hearing on the Forum that people don’t get “good” service providers to help them.

Still let’s build The Hub and I shall fervently hope you guys are right and I’m wrong!

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+0. Hub: I just don’t get it, but we have already spent about 2/3rds of the money, so it makes sense to finish the project. (However, I will be watching for a careful analysis before any ADDITIONAL funds are requested especially for Marketing the Hub.)

But as others have pointed out, the bigger question is one of priorities. @JayRam has tackled this head-on with his Roadmap project and I will add some thoughts over there.

In the meantime, let’s let Agiliq finish their project, then test it and see if it has the potential that is hoped for.

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I appreciate all the warnings and advice! We will be careful for sure. Those who don’t think the HUB should be a priority should be able to come up with an alternate roadmap. Let us hope this new effort brings some result.

From the point of view of the board, we still need moving anyways.

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Would a tool like openbazaar.org help the hub? I like it’s premise and it needs sellers.

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@Joseph_Mueller Open Bazaar is tied to IPFS. Also may be hard to enable deeper integration at a later point.

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+1 for Hub.

I think the Hub will open some, if not many, opportunities toward collaborative business for SMEs. As @JayRam mentioned, posting products (for sellers) and RFPs (for buyers) are just 2 applications. To wildly thinking, other could be collaborative projects (by posting project or task) or even a collaborative between the business and auditors (by posting the transactions to auditor).

But also as he mentioned, a centralised hub for everybody to post to will just create a bazaar… too big and too open a bazaar.

So I think Hub needs a way/option to “border” itself, maybe to same domain (for the multi-tenant version), or by way of a community ID, or else…

All in all… going forward for ERPNext is a good thing.

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