Vendor profile: Hub

The Intranetizen team are often asked advice about intranet vendors that supply software and hardware solutions to run your intranet. Whilst we have 44 years of blue-chip intranet experience between us, in common with many intranet practitioners, we have relatively limited experience of the 200+ software systems that companies use.

To help you, to help us and to help the vendors themselves, we run a series of posts showcasing intranet companies. We don’t ask for any payment to feature them and we aim to include any relevant platform that is willing to openly respond to our questions.

We’ve supplied them with the same standard set of questions and will publish their answers in their own words to ensure equity! All the images have been supplied by the company themselves and are reproduced with permission.

Today, we showcase Hub

In a brief paragraph, who are you?

The Hub is a flexible social intranet that can also be used as a client portal. It has been built and developed by an award-winning, London-based digital agency ranked among the top 100 agencies in the UK. Our clients include Ralph Lauren, RSA, Viasat and Bluefin.

Briefly describe your product’s history? Why did you start it, where does it come from?

The Hub has been continuously developed over the last six years. We used our extensive experience building intranet systems for enterprise clients to create an agile platform that was secure, flexible and user friendly, requiring no technical expertise to manage it.

Describe your typical customer – what kind of company, what size, what are the kinds of problems they need to solve?

Our clients range from large multi-nationals to SMEs. Some use the system as an intranet to connect and engage geographically diverse employees, some as an external collaboration tool and others as a secure client or partner portal. The problems they need to solve are engaging employees, sharing news, assets, resources and enabling two way communication to save time and money and build partnerships.

What do you see as your product and company’s USP?

The Hub has an incredibly rapid roll-out with no impact on IT. It is ultra flexible and easy to administer. Regular updates plus new features and functionality are provided seamlessly at no extra cost. We’re backed by a full service digital agency with all the expertise and experience you need to make your intranet a success.

Which feature(s) of your product do your customers rave about most?

The social features, which enable community engagement. Agility and flexibility plus the continuous development, with new features and functionality rolled out seamlessly. Editorial permissions that allow many people to contribute content, empowering communities to get involved. Ease of use – the Hub can be set up and branded with no impact on existing IT.

Which feature(s) of your product do you feel are most under-used?

E-learning assessments

How much customisation does your product typically need / how much to you recommend your customers make?

The Hub is fully set up in line with your brand identity. Our customers simply supply us with their brand guidelines and logos and we ensure their Hub reflects this. It can be branded, sub-branded and even co-branded according to what the customer needs (company intranet, team resource centre, partner support portal etc). The Hub enables you to build different communities, structure content your own way and have different themes and backgrounds.

What advice would you give a company planning to invest in a new intranet platform? / what are the most important factors to consider?

Empower people to contribute. Enable people to get involved. Release often, release early – find out what works and don’t be scared!

What’s your cost model? Free; one-off; per seat per month charging; something else?

Per user, Fixed price – unlimited use – annual / monthly, Non-profit or educational discounts

What are the hosting options?

Private cloud

Who are your main competitors?

Interact, Sharepoint, Sorce

What do you need from *your* customers to deliver intranet success?

The time and enthusiasm to contribute. An intranet system – any intranet system – needs community contribution to be successful.

What does the future have in store for your product?

New features, consistent improvement and development based on user feedback, larger customer base.

What does intranet 2017 look like?

The best of intranet technology and social networking technology combined. Engaging, slick, seamless, intuitive and accessible anywhere.

Who should Intranetizen readers speak with to find out more about your product?

Martin Boswell, call 020 7099 6370 or email hub@pancentric.com

What question should we have asked? And if we had, what would the answer have been?

Q: Name some of your clients. A: RSA, Ralph Lauren, Bluefin and Direct Line Group.