The introduction of the Object Library opens up a huge opportunity to become more plug-and-play for non-SaaS industries like Manufacturing.
One problem I hope to alleviate with this idea thread is the fact that so many of us serving manufacturing are building and solutioning in silos right now.
Without a community-led effort to support a Manufacturing Data Template in HubSpot, it will be very difficult for HubSpot to provide a template free of the need for custom objects.
In my opinion, no need for custom objects is one of the biggest benefits of the new Object Library. I think we can get there.
Here's how.
Here are the native CRM objects that can be leveraged by most all manufacturing companies:
Contact
Company
Product
Marketing Events
Lead
Deal
Line Item
Quote
Cart
Payment Link
Order
Invoice
Payment
Subscription
Ticket
Appointment
Course
Service
While Appointments, Courses, Services were not meant for manufacturing, it is not hard to adapt them to use cases like Field Services, Product and Application training, and Repairs and Preventative Maintenance contracts.
But where does leave us for use cases like inventory, logistics, and quality management.
Without templated objects like Assets, Installs, Shipments, Warranties, etc. we will still need access to custom objects to complete the customer-centric manufacturing data model.
Now, I am not suggesting that we are trying to replace inventory management systems, accounting systems, and ERPs. They all have their place and have functionality that, IMO, we should not try to replicate in HubSpot.
What we do need is a place in HubSpot for all of the data our customer-facing teams need to serve great customer experiences.
Instead of creating object "creep" and a lack of standardization for the manufacturing industry, I think we can solve for all of these different post-sales use cases with one object.
I call it the "Deliverable".
Just like the Product object is designed in a general way to serve any product/service/experience a HubSpot customer might provide, the Deliverable object can be thought of in the same way.
I think of it like this...
The Product Library is the strategic, pre-planned version of what you want to sell.
Line items are the ultra-customizable version that help close the sale based on specific customer need. Not to be changed post-sale.
Deliverables are what was promised to the customer at the close AND any other deliverables needed to support that promise. (Ex. Warranty)
Put simply: Product <> Line Item > Deliverable
I have been working with Deliverables as a custom object and the magic is in leveraging Pipeline functionality.
So, instead of easily coming up with 5-10 more CRM objects, I believe we can serve known use cases with Pipelines instead.
This also allows for customized configuration for each business via new pipelines instead of new objects.
The "stage-and-gate" nature of pipelines not only unlock the rest of the HubSpot Customer Platform, they also create the perfect place for data coming from other systems that manage inventory, production, purchasing, and accouting processes.
Think of Product, Item, Expense, and Order pipelines that are found in other systems.
See the NetSuite Integration as an example of what I mean
Let this post not be seen as the final solution, but simply a means to support the HubSpot team trying to give us a sustainable one.
I'll be sharing more links and diagrams in support of this discussion and I hope the community will feel safe and motivated to do the same. Let's Build!
