Today, we begin a two-part three-part series focused on Hubwoo and its recent re-launch of its network, “The Business Network.”

Note that this “Provider Profile” series is a sneak preview of the kind of supply management technology market coverage you will start seeing on CPO Rising in 2013. Click to learn more about our plans for CPO Rising in 2013 and click to learn more about Ardent Partners’ plans for 2013.

Provider Profile: Hubwoo Q4 2012

Founded in 1999, Hubwoo is the provider of a cloud-based source-to-settle solution suite and the operator of one of the largest business (also called supplier, B2B, or commerce) networks. From its initial start as a combination of different Commerce One marketplaces (Hubwoo version 1.0) that then merged and transitioned to become an SAP partner and provider of a cloud-based set of SAP solutions that linked to a network platform (Hubwoo version 2.0) to the operator of one of the largest global business networks (Hubwoo version 3.0 – which we will discuss in more detail part two of this series), Hubwoo has shown itself to be a very adaptable and resilient company with an ability to evolve its business model to the needs and opportunities of the time.

Hubwoo is based in Paris, France and has a global presence with offices in North America, Latin America, Asia, and throughout Europe; the Hubwoo stock (Ticker: HBW) is publicly-traded on the NYSE Euronext exchange. With its global focus and client base, it should be noted that Hubwoo has a strong US presence and focus where its CEO, executive team, and many of its 280 employees are based. Hubwoo reports that it has more than 150 international “buyer” customers with users based in more than 70 countries and 300,000 daily users.

In 2011, Hubwoo reported revenues of $47.5 million (€ 36.5 million) which it generated from three primary sources:

(1) The Business Network which accounted for 53% of total revenue

(2) Cloud-based suite of source-to-settle solutions which accounted for 22% of total revenue

(3) Professional services which accounted for 25% of total revenue

We will look at each of these areas here and follow-up next time with a discussion and analysis of Hubwoo’s new strategy and enhancements as part of the re-launch of its network.

The Business Network: Hubwoo matches its 150+ buyer customers with more than 300,000 suppliers who have used the network for transactions which, according to Hubwoo, totals in the tens of billions of dollars annually. While the core value delivered by every successful business network today is in transaction processing, the true promise of these networks sits just ahead as the different networks continue to rapidly develop and enhance their collaborative, social, and value-added service capabilities and offerings, Hubwoo has begun an aggressive plan to increase transaction volumes and collaboration between network participants. For Hubwoo, that process starts by increasing the number of participants. Earlier this year, Hubwoo partnered with D&B to enhance this number by registering an additional 700,000+ net new supplier contacts to create a dynamic business directory of more than 1 million total suppliers who are categorized by their unique DUNS number and business segment. Hubwoo also recently added a self-registration capability for suppliers.

Source-to-Settle solutions: Earlier this year, Hubwoo, was dealt a major blow when its primary go-to-market partner, SAP acquired its direct competitor, Ariba in a deal valued at $4.3 Billion [Ardent’s analysis of that deal can be found here]. While this acquisition validated Hubwoo’s business model of cloud-based solutions linked to a large business network, it also meant that Hubwoo would have to completely rethink and ultimately change its go-to-market and business strategies. For years, Hubwoo had been an SAP partner that held the rights to resell a cloud version of SAP’s standard procurement portfolio of solutions. Hubwoo, in fact, often served as SAP’s competitive answer to Ariba. Today, Hubwoo maintains the rights to resell cloud versions of the SAP solutions (Spend Analysis, eSourcing, Contracts, and eProcurement) and will compete for deals as opportunities present themselves; but, it will do so independent of its longtime partner. Hubwoo also has its own application IP in the form of its Invoice Management solution, hosted catalogs, and a new front-end solution that is designed to improve the usability and overall experience for SAP’s SRM and MM users (in some cases, it  may enable groups to bypass certain user licenses for both SAP offerings).

Professional Services: Hubwoo’s team of consultants that comprise its support and professional services organization are globally-based and can support 14 different languages. The professional services team’s primary offerings focus on supplier enablement (which now includes a Hubwoo commitment to enable 100% of suppliers), implementation services, strategic sourcing, and general consulting projects in support of source-to-settle operations.

We recently had the opportunity to meet with Hubwoo’s CEO and CMO and discuss their plans and vision for the next generation of “The Business Network.” In Part Two of this series, we will review that discussion and offer our thoughts and analysis on those plans.

Tagged in: Ardent Partners Research, Networks, Services, Solution Providers, Source-to-Settle