Adobe announces the End of Life for Business Catalyst

[MagdaN]

Adobe is committed to delivering exceptional software and services to our customers. It’s in our nature to innovate and try new things, and it was in this spirit that we acquired Business Catalyst in 2009. As we re-focus on products that broadly provide our customers with the most value, Adobe is announcing the end of development for Business Catalyst as of March 26th, 2018. New sites will no longer be available for purchase starting with June 18th, 2018. 

Adobe will stop hosting existing sites on Business Catalyst on March 26th 2020. Adobe encourages customers to download their data and migrate to other systems well before March 26th 2020. Detailed how-to information and assistance is available. Customers' data will be retained by Adobe until March 26th 2020, after which date the data will be deleted. Data retention is for the sole purpose of allowing customers to export their data and transfer to another platform.   

We thank our Business Catalyst users and want to help them make a smooth transition to a third-party service. Please see the following for more information on transitioning:  https://secure.worldsecuresystems.com/product-announcement

Please see below a detailed FAQ.

Why is Adobe discontinuing Business Catalyst?

Adobe is committed to delivering exceptional software and services to our customers. It’s in our nature to innovate and try new things, and it was in this spirit that we acquired Business Catalyst in 2009. As we re-focus on products that broadly provide our customers with the most value, we are now announcing the end of life for Business Catalyst. We thank our Business Catalyst users and want to help them make a smooth transition to a third party service.

When will the End of Life take effect?

On March 26th, 2020.

Will this end-of-service affect paid sites as well?

Yes, all sites, including trial and paid sites, partner sites, etc. will be affected by the end of life.

Will data be available for download beyond the service end date?

1. No. Data will be deleted. We encourage users to download their data before the service end date.

I need help downloading my data. Whom can I contact for help?

BC users may find export instructions in the Business Catalyst Help and Support pages. If you still have questions, please contact our Customer Support team.

How long do I have to export my data?

All Business Catalyst servers will be taken down on March 26th, 2020, after which all customer data will be deleted. Please export your data before March 26th, 2020.

How long will you keep my data? What will you do with it?

We will retain your data until March 26th, 2020 or until you delete your site, whichever is sooner, so that you can transition to another product.

Do you recommend another product for me to use?

While there are other hosting solutions available in the market, Adobe does not recommend a specific product. For basic websites and Creative Cloud users, we provide documentation to help with transition to GoDaddy, should the customer choose this replacement. Moreover, since we’ve seen the emergence of Do-It-Yourself (DIY) website creators that leverage customizable templates to quickly create responsive websites, Adobe is making our own investment in the DIY space and welcomes all interested customers to join our upcoming pre-release program for a new format that will be introduced later this year as part of Adobe Spark.

Will new features be developed?

No, new features will no longer be developed on Business Catalyst. We are maintaining a small team to correct critical issues, but no new work is being done. The Business Catalyst team will maintain the PCI and GDPR compliance throughout the lifetime of the product and develop any new features needed in this respect.

Will Adobe still fix the bugs in Business Catalyst?

We will continue to repair critical issues (related to security, payments or customer data for example) when they appear, however, the work will be limited to bugs that have a high security or high stability risk. We will not be fixing minor items with small impact or that have a workaround which can be used.

Will my site be closed down?

At this time, all sites will continue to be live and the public will see no difference in your site. However, starting with March 26th, 2020 all sites will no longer be live and they will not be accessible either to the general public, or to the site administrators. Please find an alternative platform for your site and data before this date.

Can I continue creating trial sites?

You can continue creating trial sites until June 18^th, 2018. They need to be upgraded to a paid plan before June 18^th, 2018. The data from these sites, as well as from any other site in your portfolio, needs to be removed from the platform before March 26th, 2020.

Can I upgrade my trial site to paid?

You can continue upgrading trial sites to paid until June 18^th, 2018, but the data from these sites, as well as from any other site in your portfolio needs to be removed from the platform before March 26th, 2020.

Can I downgrade my site or make any other plan changes?

Yes, you can continue making any changes to your site plan and extras until March 26th, 2020.

Can I still purchase extras?

You can continue purchasing extras until March 26th, 2020. Please note that all extras expire on March 26th, 2020 and can no longer be used after that date.

Can I continue sending newsletters?

The e-mail marketing features will continue to work for the duration of your site. You can continue sending emails until March 26th, 2020 at which point all newsletter credits remaining in your account will expire.

Can I still redeem my commissions?

You can continue to redeem the commissions available in your account until March 26^th 2020.  Following this date this feature will not be available anymore.

What happens to the commissions below $500?

At this time, we are researching technical options to allow redemption of lower commissions. Please stay tuned for further announcements from the Business Catalyst team.

Can I extend the validity of my extras beyond March 26th, 2020?

No, the validity date for your extras can no longer be extended. All extras not used until March 26^th 2020 will be forfeited.

Will I be able to use Adobe Muse or Dreamweaver to update my site?

Yes, until March 26th, 2020, if your desktop app still functions properly.

Will I still have technical support for Adobe Business Catalyst?

Yes, until March 26th, 2020. However, after June 18^th, 2018, our support team will give a higher priority to cases about the off the platform migration questions, in addition to critical security, compliance, and availability issues.

[spreadman]

Hi Cristinel,

That's fine up until the "click next to complete the process" - I get no "next" button displayed (the only buttons are the ones to Upgrade or Downgrade against other plans).

[cristinel@adobe]

[UPDATED]

More details can be found on the BC documentation page: How can I change the billing frequency of my customer site?

However, if you're on an discontinued BC plan, you will also need to change your plan to one of the existing ones (bronze, silver, gold), hence the fact that you only see the upgrade / downgrade options.

[spreadman]

Thanks Cristinel, but as I said, no option to "Change" appears after I click "Monthly" (changing from the default "Yearly 10% off").

I guess it's a restriction on my site for some reason.

There is no bill outstanding. I'll contact support later. Wrong place here.

[cristinel@adobe]

Hi,

Seems that we were writing in the same time. see my edit to the previous post.

Cristinel

[cristinel@adobe]

Hi Francis,

One more thing, I would suggest that you refrain from changing the frequency this month as we plan to update the functionality as soon as possible so that you can keep your yearly pricing of your current plan, but split into monthly payments.

Thanks,

Cristinel

[Barry Alt]

I had an account that I would have changed to monthly once I heard the news but it had already billed m for the year just yesterday. How can we correct this? Can I get a refund and then have you bill be for monthly? I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Barry

[MagdaN]

Hi Barry,

Please open a case with Accounts and we will get that sorted out. We need the site ID and we will make the change.

Magda

[colourrich.co.uk]

How are we meant to migrate a site containing a blog to a different platform? There is no function on Business Catalyst to export blog posts.

[MagdaN]

Hi Richard,

You can export the Blog posts through the Business Catalyst APIs.

Please see the documentation for reference: Blogposts and categories | Business Catalyst Support

Magda

[DaveChap]

BC Developers:

I highly suggest moving sites over to LightCMS. They were around before Adobe bought GoodBarry and created BC and was copied/used as a model for the new Squarespace design. LightCMS can handle almost everything BC could (and honestly, BC was bloated). Squarespace or Drip would need to be used for the email marketing. THE BEST THING about LightCMS is how easy it is for clients to manage/update sites through the CMS. You can white label too.

I'd look into it if I were you. I looked at BC over the years and decided to stay with LightCMS.

(I don't get any referral money for pitching them btw).

[IAMTEEJAY]

Thanks for the referral, but I think the graphic designers her are missing the point about the marketing power BC has (will have had) in their all-in-one platform. Sites like box are mostly about the front end. It's the back end of blogging, email marketing, and the very intuitive CRM that BC has (will have had) that ties into the front end seamlessly. With many other robust CMS platforms you are always going outside of the box to get another 3rd party service like MailChimp. Before you know if you are dealing with 10+ vendors on any given day for any given site. We BC it was just one, saving time and money to employ the basic necessities to market a site, hence the former, and more-appriate name webMarketing Package...not the silly Silver.

Oh, well off I go to find alternatives.

[Anthony Wallace]

That's right, there is no alternative to BC at its price point.

This may be helpful in people's research...

https://www.trustradius.com/products/adobe-business-catalyst/competitors

I have a client who signed off on a $30k site that's well into dev. Adobe, how should I go about it?

[Liam Dilley]

Trying to get things adjusted for people.

There are a number of people close to finishing big projects as it is the end of the fiscal year and that is where companies are looking to pay everyone and finish site build projects.

I guess it is up to you wether you tell them about the announcement, it is a shock to you with them and that work together to get the site life and it will be up for the time BC is and next year work with them on a migration solution.

All the design, core build work is done, you will need to pick a solution and migrate and you either decide if you will absorb that cost speak to the client about the cost.

This is of course pretty crappy things to be looking to do for all involved but if the extension on upgrading is increased a little it at least allows people to finish current work.

[Liam Dilley]

I would also add Anthony is that Adobe are the ones who all involved should label as the bad guys (Sorry Adobe but what is announced is simply a nightmare for many and 100% will end businesses and cause jobs to be lost) and the news is a shock to you as it will be to many businesses.. They have one site on there with you, you have many clients you have to work with and it impacts you more then them.

I think honesty is really the best policy here. Not making anything up about Adobe either but this announcement is being treated more like a software end which happens but this is a unique platform and service effecting many many people globally from the companies running services around the platforms, companies who build with the platform either exclusively or as part of their business. People will loose their jobs as front end developers as companies who use BC will have a front end first based structure and this will have to change.

But then you also have all the sites built on it - Those clients of everyone so they will all have to either pay out or have the hassle of their sites being migrated.. Possible SEO impacts, service and outage impacts, the cost of course and if any legal stuff was around being on an Adobe solution.

Then of course all THEIR clients too!

Any site with a membership based subscription service, online store with history of orders, cases and so on will all be effected and SOME data with how BC is will sadly in some areas be lost and Adobe really wont help much with the recurring payments to make those transitions smooth ones.

So ultimately this will actually effect millions of people and globally cost people millions after all of this. If Adobe feel their plans do not mean BC works for them any more after failing to really understand it and the industry around it BUT cared for their customers, their customers and so on they would have looked for a better solution such as a sale.

If they had any form of care in that regard, for me then they would have worked with the partners, senior BC partners and developers better, aided them better, announced things better or as I mentioned worked on a solution ,if it was not them, but what ever it took to allow BC to live on under a new home.

[BillyBowyer]

My exact thoughts Liam! Well said.

[C9-MB]

Yes - there is no way back from this and you can't hide the facts, and the more you try, the worse you will look to your client.

Adobe are the culprits here, so use that as much as possible. All that you can do as an ex 'partner' is deal with the problem and find a suitable solution on behalf of your client.

Then perhaps join the inevitable class-action to try and recoup some of the costs involved.

[Peter-AM]

Adobe claim they exhausted all sale options, yet who has heard of it being for sale? Surely it is not out of the realm of a partner consortium.

It is a system already stand alone running on AWS and Tucows (email) making it a WIWO take over as is service without relocation hassles. If they don't want to sell it and close it down then they have some serious corporate responsibility issues that should be openly announced to mainstream media to begin with.

But then again all the news in Australia is about high priority cricket cheating by idiots who where losing so badly they lost all sense and respect, just like Adobe MANAGERS have.

Remember it is not ADOBE (that is a brand) it is the managers who make decisions, keep it personal, otherwise there is no ownership. Name names where possible.

[Liam Dilley]

If you feel a news outlet, public medium, your clients or whoever want to hear as this is out there and you feel they need to know about this, the impacts etc you are free to contact them about it.

In terms of the Adobe saying "exhausted all sale options" IF that is true as I not heard them use that exact term, then I feel that is not true.

[Peter-AM]

FFS, Semantics Liam (mierenneuken)

Quote Liam

"In terms of the Adobe saying "exhausted all sale options" IF that is true as I not heard them use that exact term, then I feel that is not true."

Quote from reply to Wayne from Magda

"We know that this has a lot of impact on partners, and are doing our best to mitigate the effects as much as possible. As I discussed further up this thread, a sale option has been analyzed some time ago, and has been deemed not possible in this particular case.

We have looked at all options quite carefully, whether a sale, making the product Open Source or allowing a group of partners to take over the code base. Everything has been put into balance before coming to this very painful decision, but at this point we need to manage the process we have and see if we can help you in any other way before the product is discontinued."

[Liam Dilley]

Far from semantics. There are very clear difference in what was claimed and what was said. I am pretty angry like everyone else but the correct words here are really important right now

[Peter-AM]

@Liam it is not about correct words, it is about peoples lives, hopes and dreams. Adobe / Adobe BC did not create this issue, it was created by decision makers (people) who are paid and work at Adobe and perhaps board members or just a CFO. Regardless it is not a Brand creating the outcome, it is human decision makers and unless the finger gets pointed at people the faceless will sit in the shadows and never take ownership.

In the bad old black days of Adobe BC I was a labeled bad guy because I got very personal with some of the founders of BC who were retained as "consultants" post sale. However that personal attack resulted in them pointing their fingers at the unknown faces at Adobe who then had to take ownership. I hated doing that, but I do whatever it takes to get the necessary action / result.

Personally, I don't get how they claim it is "not possible to sell" it.

If @Magda, @Cristinel or their boss can not provide a genuine reason of how a sale option is not possible (selling impossible) then they are just full of BS and have not been doing their job in creating exit options.

Position; Partner manager, interesting title, I have had virtually no direct communications from a Partner Manager since BC became Adobe (except when they were eroding whitelable premium partner features). Makes you wonder what they were being paid to do and what they actually did.

So @Madga; what options for a sale where there, and what is the criteria for a suitable sale of Adobe BC? Please don't give us some corporate BS, show some courage and respect to the people who actually paid your salary, give us some concrete information that has credibility dripping off your lips. Perhaps a solution is sleeping in the details.

[MagdaN]

Hi Peter,

A full explanation for the sale option can not be detailed in public since it would entail a lot of details from Adobe's financial records. We are a publicly listed company and as such we are not allowed to share, outside a certain format and a certain venue, financial details pertaining to individual Adobe products or markets.

This being said, let me just detail once again (this has been shared before on other answers) what was needed from an entity interested in a purchase of BC:

- experience with AWS cloud setup - proven track record of at least similar, if not equal sized projects

- ability to finance and deliver the ops infrastructure before a single website moved to their servers (6-12 month project estimated 7 digits, depending on the salary range of the geography where development was done)

- .NET expertise to be able to take over the code (team in place and working on knowledge transfer 6 months prior to first site moved)

- 24/5 support team (team in place and working on knowledge transfer at least 3 months prior to first site moved)

- good track record running similar projects (we could not endorse and move our customers over to a potential fraud for example)

- ability to pass PCI level 1 compliance - meaning they needed to have managed more than 6M transactions per year, have their entire team verified and have the security team in place.

Before you pass all these tech details you get into the legal issues, the patented code, the disentanglement of BC code from other Adobe products and so on.

You will see that I have not gotten yet to the financials, but I would trust that anyone interested can make an estimate based on the details provided.

- OPS team arranging the cloud setup paid for 6-12 months prior to first site being invoiced

- AWS datacenters in place and paid for at least 3-6 months prior to first site being invoiced

- support team of at least 30, paid for at least 3-6 months prior to first site being invoiced

- .NET team arranging for actual transfer, probably also around 6-12 months prior to first site being invoiced

- legal team fees

All of these basically on both sides (vendor and client). To this you would add the actual purchase cost of the platform and you are quickly going into 8 digit numbers in total, before a single site moved over and started paying for their invoice.

From your business plan where you added all these expenses you subtract the fact that for sure not 100% of the sites would move (you cannot force anyone to move, you can only suggest). They need to re-enter their credit card data and certify that they want to start paying you, and not us.

And now just one final scenario: say we passed all of the checks and balances, cut some corners on some vetting and did make a sale, and pushed the clients towards another vendor. Say that vendor has a security breach 3 months in and all your client's credit card data is stolen. Who do you think the public would blame for it? And now add that PR risk to the final price.

I hope this criteria are detailed clearly enough, despite my inability to put actual numbers in.

[Peter-AM]

@ MadgaN
What is interesting about your post is that it indicates a requirement to protect users from problems that a new owner could cause.  That is commendable in thaat light, yet the alternative is to completely screw Parners, thier staff, families and hopes and dreams in addition cause many to have users / accounts have major problems and probably l;eave and go elsewhere and take legal action against partner firms.

In summary your corporate answer (regardless of numbers) is a load of crap, you want to avoid hurting end users but will do regardless, and you as a Partner manger are responsible for the sleepness nights and possible financial ruin or worse choice / action that a desperate partner may follow.

Magda, you must push for and execute a satisfactory plan for Partners, if not you should resign now and hold your head in shame knowing you did not do your very best as a Partner manager.

Fair disclosure; I am not effected by this A/BC EOL, my client sites are all due for revitalization, but I totally feel for those partners that are loosing their hopes, dreams and reputations because of Adobe BC managers decisions.

Economies can never grow with Austerity measures. read about real economic visionaries suc has Konosuke Matsushita.

You say Adobe is a public company, therefore it is responsible to shareholders and you also have a duty to those shareholders to ensure profitability. Screwing partners with this close down will surely ripple around the globe and it wont take long for Adobe shares to get smashed when grey versions of Adobe products begin to be released and CC subscriptions get closed and result will be a massive flock of 1 winged birds squawking back "screw you". Yes a concentrated  flood of  ... will surely not go unnoticed by shareholders when reporting season is completed. You may want to pass this on to your boss, and ask them to consider your and their bonus potential for 2018 -19. Think about that before you go to sleep and if you will have a job reference as a Partner Manager in future (Interview Question - and what were you most remembered for in your last position; Answer - well I helped screw thousands of Premium partners and their staff and clients, perhaps only 2 took their own life, but hey if they had BitCoin they may have been worse off).

[Tinymill_Tim]

I still don't understand why Adobe has to shut the entire thing down. Why not just stop allowing new sites and have a skeleton team manage the servers with little/no tech support? Surely what everyone is paying right now for all the hosting would cover that. Even if you did it for 5 years that would put a good lifespan on websites that poor partners that are about to launch sites now or partners that have to move everything one their own. Just seems like such a dick move from Adobe. Thankfully we moved the bulk of our clients away from BC years ago after but some of our clients have sites on here from over 8 years ago and simply don't have the money to pay for us to move them.

[Peter-AM]

Interesting reading that many partners lost faith in A BC some time ago and started moving away, and now perhaps wonder why A BC are abandoning them, something to consider with regard to Cause and Effect.