---
title: Strategic Category Positioning
description: NEAR BOS Strategic Category Positioning
sidebar_position: 2
---

# Strategic Positioning for NEAR/BOS at Consensus

**There needs to be a place to build open software experiences that enable community, commerce, and communication with progressive decentralization**

Today this is not possible in a scalable and accessible way in Web3. You either have to build and distribute your experiences on client-server websites or on centralized app platforms.

Why this needs to exist is clear for people who believe in the ownership of their data, assets, money, and decisions. But for those of us that don’t hold these truths to be self-evident there are practical considerations for why you might consider an open web alternative.

## High Level Summary:

### What does the Blockchain Operating System enable?



* For the first time, **decentralization powers distribution**. A sea change for Web3. What used to be a tradeoff for the sake of user-owned data, censorship resistance, and a more open web now delivers those same benefits while also bringing instant exposure to the entire Web3 user base of the BOS.
* **Enterprises** can easily introduce Web3 to their customers through existing apps and websites via the BOS. 
* **Individuals **can engage in community commerce and universal social/discovery across novel Web3 experiences by builders and apps from enterprises.
* **Builders **– whether developers or startups – achieve broad Web3 distribution and discovery instantly to the NEAR user base, while also gaining access to a super-simple development environment and a range of services just through some simple JavaScript. 

### Who are the first builders on BOS and what value does it deliver to them?

#### 3 highest level audiences for Consensus: Enterprises, Individuals, Builders



* For Enterprises: deliver seamless **Web3 optionality** to existing customer base and web properties with minimal development effort: deepen customer relationships and expand into new business models.
* For Individuals: engage in universal social and **community commerce **across the entire open web, greater discoverability, truly peer-to-peer
* For Builders: **fastest development environment**. Component ecosystem = easiest development environment for building apps, zero hosting, range of decentralized services and features included, with instant distribution to pool of common users who own their data via universal account

### What does it mean that NEAR is the BOS, what does the NEAR stack look like now?



  * Blockchain Operating System 
  * Near Discovery (featured gateway: Near.org)
  * NEAR Social Contract 
  * NEAR Onboarding (Fast Auth)
  * NEAR Data (Query API)
  * NEAR Protocol

#### Audience Level Positioning:

**For Crypto Developers - IaaS.** We are a blockchain-based development platform that offers build, deploy, and serverless backend services for web apps and dynamic websites that want to use crypto-based business models. We make it easy. You don’t need to worry about any maintenance or devops. 

Decentralization and distribution of apps has traditionally been a hard trade off. Choose a centralized app store to get access to audiences or build your own website and do all distribution from your own efforts. With the BOS, it is possible to expand your reach through decentralization. Building an app on a decentralized frontend is as easy as remixing an existing open source component. Once you build an app on a decentralized frontend, it can exist in your website, your app, on Near.org or any other website with just a few lines of Javascript.



* Decentralized frontends for security & resilience
* React-based framework for a familiar coding experience
* Zero cost, requires no hosting or special development environments 
* Build once and deploy to anything on the internet
* Super easy onboarding and re-engagement frameworks for users
* Publishing & co-marketing to sites with millions of visitors
* Interconnect with other blockchains

**The result.** We make your Web3 gateway more secure, easier to manage, and enable new distribution through decentralization.



1. Level 1: Explore a component on Near.org. Proof - [Burrow](https://alpha.near.org/ciocan.near/widget/burrow) 
2. Level 2: Build an app on Near.org 
3. Level 3: Embed a decentralized experience in your existing app or site. Proof - Ref 
4. Level 4: Upgrade the frontend of your website to be decentralized and resolve identity on near.org. 
5. Level 5: Build a fully decentralized gateway with IPFS and ENS/NEAR Domain. Go completely serverless.

**For Enterprise Businesses - PaaS:** We are like Salesforce but for the next generation of business models. We are a cloud computing provider for anything crypto. Our cloud is native to the blockchain which allows us to build a platform that is flexible to your business needs and interoperable with your existing investments.



* Enables the use of any crypto blockchain, no complex swaps or passing through exchanges
* Can be built entirely by JavaScript engineers at a fraction of the development cost
* Onboard customers seamlessly in seconds from their phones without apps
* Requires no hosting or special development environments

**The result.** We make your brand the gateway to crypto and new business models in community, commerce, and customer loyalty. You can build crypto into your existing business and web properties or extend your brand assets into the crypto-based web. You are in the driver seat, not the technology. 



* Luxury goods: Create community-driven commerce marketplaces that keep more profits in your hands and maintain the authenticity of your brand.
* Consumer services: Build closer relationships with your best customers by gamifying their experience with your services and giving them access to special perks and events. Build momentum and re-engagement like you never thought possible. 
* Sports: Deepen the fan experience through entertainment that embraces both physical and digital events. Collectibles and top moments brought direct to fan ownership. Even enable direct involvement in how the team is run and played. Proof - SailGP

**For Individuals - SaaS:** Exploring in the BOS is like super-powered Facebook groups that extend to every app you love to use. A way to connect and organize with people but you own the data/financials and you can customize it like your own website.



* Get started and invite in seconds
* Works on your phone without downloading new apps
* Send or pool money
* Thread conversations
* Find anything on the network with simple search 
* Use components to extend your group's reach with a little JavaScript and soon via Chat prompt.
* Take your data with you with identity tied to you, not the application.
* Free

**The result.** We enable you to shape custom experiences and freely collaborate with anyone you choose. For example:



* Organize a vacation with shared money and a custom itinerary
* Plan your wedding and allow everyone to share moments and contribute to your registry
* Create a personalized blog with a place for discussions and donations 

**Ultimately,** with BOS we are building an open source platform that offers an alternative to Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, & Microsoft as a full software services platform where you can choose how decentralized you want to be. Where to build along the path to progressive decentralization comes down to the following questions.



1. Will money be involved through digital goods or subscription services?
2. Is community ownership key to my experience?

If the answer is yes to even one of these questions, then the BOS is the right fit to evolve your business or project into the future web. NEAR offers the most flexible and accessible platform across Web2 or Web3, widely expanding your offerings and services at minimal cost to you compared to 15-30% cost of other platform services.