AI-native: the assistant is the core, not a bolt-on

Many business systems got an AI button last year. It is a chat window stuck to the side of an old product. Hub was built the other way round: the assistant has been at the core from day one, and it uses the same data and the same functions you do.

Published 2026-09-05

Two ways to do AI

The first way is to take a ten-year-old system and add a chat window. The window can answer questions and perhaps summarise a report, but it cannot do anything: it cannot reach the data the way a user can, and it cannot create a quote, an invoice or a work instruction. It is bolted on.

The second way is to build the system so that every function — creating a quote, logging an hour, sending an invoice, looking up a material price — is available to the assistant exactly as it is to you. Then the assistant is not a window but a colleague. Hub is built this way. We call the assistant Rax.

What that means in practice

"Make a quote from these photos." You take three pictures of a bathroom. Rax identifies the work, builds the lines, fetches material prices and shows you the quote before anything is saved. You approve or correct.
"Invoice the Merikulma painting job." Rax collects the approved hours, materials and extra work from the job, builds the invoice with the right VAT and reference number, and leaves it for you to send.
"Write tomorrow's work instruction." Rax reads the job, its checklists and yesterday's comments, and writes an instruction for the worker's phone.
"Where is the margin bad?" Rax works out hours, materials and billing for every job and tells you which one is losing money.
The morning brief. Before the day starts, Rax goes through overdue invoices, unapproved extra work, expiring quotes and jobs starting today — and gives you the lot in one message.

What these have in common is that Rax does not guess. It uses the same data you see in the portal, and every action that changes something is shown to you before it happens.

Why this does not work on top of an old system

In an old system the data is locked inside screens made for a human to click through. An assistant cannot see them. For it to create an invoice, someone would have to build a separate route into every function after the fact — and that stays half done, because there are hundreds of routes.

In Hub the routes exist because the system was built on them from the start. The same function serves both the button you press and Rax doing the same on your behalf. When a feature is added to Hub, Rax can use it the same day.

What the AI does not do

It does not make decisions for you. A quote does not go out, an invoice is not sent and an hour is not changed unless you or your worker approves it. Rax shows its working: where the lines came from, which price was used, why the margin looks the way it does. If you do not trust it, you correct it — and next time it remembers.

It also does not send your data anywhere to be sold. The model receives the question and the data it needs to answer, nothing more.

What it costs

Nothing extra. Rax is part of Hub's price, and the monthly fee includes a generous amount of conversation and actions. We do not sell AI as an add-on module, because it is not an add-on — it is how Hub is built.

The trial is 14 days. The first thing worth trying: take a photo of some job and ask Rax to turn it into a quote.

No setup fee, no commitment. Field staff learn it on a phone in minutes.

Try free for 14 days See the demo without signing up

Frequently asked questions

What does AI-native mean?

That the assistant was built into the core of the system from the start and uses the same functions as the user — it can create a quote, an invoice or a work instruction, not just answer questions.

Does Rax do anything without permission?

No. Every action that changes data is shown first and carried out only after approval. Rax prepares, you decide.

Does Rax see all company data?

It sees the same jobs, hours, quotes and invoices as the logged-in user, and follows the same permissions. A worker gets no more through Rax than they would otherwise.

Is the AI an extra cost?

No. Rax is included in Hub's monthly price. There is no separate AI module.