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.

[Peter-AM]

Some partners where left out in the cold, while others have perhaps had an idea for some time and have been quietly migrating and building strategies to sell. I see reports of, and heard from some of my resellers (down-line partners clients) that vultures are now circling and attacking partner clients before Adobe announce. Interesting community.

[Abambo]

roisinm93437110  wrote

The time required to resolve this problem for everyone who has used and relied on Adobe Muse and Business Catalyst for web design will be astronomical!

You can continue to use Muse as long as Muse runs on your computer. So you have time to look for a replacement.

BC will continue to work for 3 year (as Adobe extended the grace period). That's a long time in this business. I would have wished for a longer grace period, but it is not that bad.

Any new site development should be done on a new platform. Existing sites can be maintained on BC for 3 years. I agree, it would be nicer if you would not need to look for replacement, but depending on the complexity of your sites transitioning could be easy or complex.

I'm sure there will be offers around the globe to take part of the BC cake. Challenge the competitors. They will be interested in getting you as a client. For the moment you are still of pressure for decisions. Use the time wisely.

[work_at_it]

Extended time frames only stretch out the payment plan for small businesses to bail out a multi-billion dollar company’s software development mistakes.

[israelisassi]

"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."

Given that GDPR kicks in May 25, 2018 and BC's EOL is almost 3 years later, what, if any, information and/or guidance will be provided to clients and partners?

[WSI_Dave]

I have several clients with blogs on BC, but none are at the e-commerce level. With the end of life, I will need to export all the blog data. The BC-API-Discovery app only works for e-commerce sites. Since you will be ending the life cycle of this product I would expect that you would open up the ability to export ALL the data to ALL the customers. When can I expect to start being able to export the blog entries for all by customers? In total I probably have about 1000 blog entries between by customers that should not get lost and need to be imported into a new environment

[Liam Dilley]

You can set up the RSS feed on the blog and then you can grab that XML.

[LindaSA]

Has the announcement been sent to customers yet? If not, when will that happen? I'd like to get a heads-up shortly before my customers get the notification.

[Jinesh Vora]

Hi Megda,

We have migrated couple of websites to other hosting service. With this migration we hope to be refunded for the month they were migrated in at least prorated if not for full months. We understand the amount is small. But regardless if you add that up for all the website being migrated, then it is a big amount.

Not refunding that money is neither ethical nor legal, when we are forced to migrate.

Please advise accounting to provide the refund for the website migrated in the middle of their billing cycle.

Thank you

[cristinel@adobe]

Hi Jinesh,

If the sites were on yearly plans, please reach out to out support team and we will refund the remaining prorated value. We do not offer refunds on monthly sites or upgrade fees.

Cristinel

[Jinesh Vora]

Hi Cristinel,

I think that is not right. If you cannot pro rate it, you should refund entire month. You need to realize that this migration is happening due to your EOL announcement.

Th prorated refund neither make us reach nor it makes you poor. But this is the argument for being right or wrong. And if 77000+ webaites are not paid their prorated monthly refund you are talking about $350,000 corruption considering $5 per site on average (from various pacakages).

And if your system does not permit you should show readiness to refund for the month website migrated. I had never questioned why you have announced EOL, because there can be many business reasons. I also do not expect any type compensation for additional work that developers who relied on you need to do.

So I urge you that you do right thing and do not keep the month payment for the website is migrated.

Thannk you

[cristinel@adobe]

Hi Jinesh,

Based on the Adobe Business Catalyst additional terms, which you have signed if you have sites or accounts, we do not refund the unused portion of the subscription:

7. Purchases.

7.1 Use of the Services is subject to your payment of fees, which may vary according to the plan you have chosen. We are not liable for your inability to collect payments from your Clients. We will collect the fees for the Services at the time of purchase. Your subscription plan will renew automatically until you cancel. You may cancel your subscription before the end of your subscription period, and if you do, your access to the Services will terminate immediately and you will not receive a refund or credit for any unused portion of such subscription. We reserve the right to change fees and pricing at the end of your subscription period.

Cristinel

[Jinesh Vora]

Hi Cristinel!

It certainly does not state what if the cancellation is forced by Adobe's decision of EOL. So regardless what documents that you bring up (I like to request a copy of which anyways), they do not prove that you can keep the money for the website ended due to EOL announcement. It is still your decision, not ours that is causing cancelation those websites.

I still urge you to process the refunds of those who migrate in the middle of the monthly billing cycle. If the system doesn't support pro rata then process a full refund for that month.

Thank you

[cristinel@adobe]

Hi Jinesh,

Unfortunately we will not be able to refund monthly payments and the accounts team will not process these requests.

Cristinel

[Liam Dilley]

I think it is important so everyone knows so they do not wait on responses that will not happen.

Magda is no longer with Adobe so please point your questions to Cristinel.

[Jinesh Vora]

Thank you, Liam! The support team clarified that as well. I just want to talk about being right and wrong here. And I think anyone migrating website and not getting that month's payment (entire or prorated) should consider how big that number can become for Adobe to keep.

[C9-MB]

Duplicate hosting fees (BC and new host), migration fees, re-training fees, other unplanned business costs, loss of income, etc, which are all being imposed as a result of Adobe's choice to terminate their 'partner' service, are issues that will no doubt be examined by those considering legal action, and there are at least 2 class-action contacts available in this thread.

[JG_DesignStudio]

I hear you! We're all going to suffer enormous losses. I have to wonder if Adobe is in financial trouble... having to cut the less profitable things it possesses? If so, why don't they simply SELL BC and Muse to a competitor... so we don't have to migrate everything over? We can just move on with a new owner of BC/Muse. Right? Closing it down is a real desperate act on their part and it's going to hurt a lot of people that were lured into the Adobe trap of moving sites to Muse/BC. This has really damaged TRUST in Adobe... beyond what they realize. It would be good for the Adobe Board of Directors and CEO to read these posts and get a clue that you can't treat your loyal customers this way!

[Abambo]

j_gordon54  wrote

I have to wonder if Adobe is in financial trouble... having to cut the less profitable things it possesses?

I doubt that!

[Liam Dilley]

As I keep saying everyone, please keep to the facts and not speculate or make assumptions.

Opinions about Adobe, product quality and actions they have taken is low but they made record profits again in Q1.

Adobe posts record revenue yet again, earning $2.08 billion in Q1 of 2018: Digital Photography Revie...

Muse is outdone by several other products, they are doing very well so why would they buy it? Info about BC sales is already out there and covered by Adobe staff as well.
It all stinks and it is sad news but please lets keep it all above board and factual.

[Peter-AM]

Agreed Liam,  problem is there re no clear facts as why Adobe Managers decided to cause a disruption. All that partners get is cold shallow corporate dribble handed out by a low level staffer that the legal team probably wrote. That causes wonder and speculation, due to no valid reason being offered.Just because the overall earning is xyz does not mean a sub section is pulling its weight long term. As we have withnessed in partner comments many have been exiting accounts long before EOL announcement.

[Liam Dilley]

While it is in many ways a bad decision they really have not been doing the platform right for some time Peter. BUT they do not have to justify with all the details of their decision to us, it would be nice but they do not have too.

[Peter-AM]

Correct Liam, Adobe managers have to the right to remain tight lipped. That does not change the situation of most partners are left wondering why and openly speculating the demise of BC, Partners (resellers) have the same right to voice an opinion.

My observation that there are very few "BC Partners" that we ever see / hear from, and I question just how big BC Partner (resellers) numbers really are.

[C9-MB]

I would have thought Adobe will need to provide at least some explanation of the reasoning and justification for this decision to its shareholders, even if only to explain why it's the right decision for the company.

[Abambo]

Ok, if you are a shareholder, you could try to get answers. If you get answers they will be nothing precise.

As long as Adobe keeps shareholders happy with profit, there will be no problem for management and board.

[Jinesh Vora]

Hi,

Do you know links to those posts?

Thank you