Future of Business Catalyst

[Graugans GbR]

I just red a post of cursorcreative about what they think about the future of BC (Adobe Business Catalyst is the end in sight? | Kursor Creative )

Can this be true? Should we all switch to another CMS, should all rats leave this (sinking?) ship? Does anybody know something for sure?

Regards, Dennis

[C9-MB]

Exactly, and (EZEZ1) I didn't say it had been sold - a couple of days ago (just after the shock announcement and in the vacuum of other information) I hypothesized the idea as one possible explanation of the ridiculous time-frame to end-of-sale, but it's quite clear now that the sale option was never on the table, and never will be. Adobe has made its decision and is locked into it - and we have no choice but to move forward without them.

[pictogram]

Any one know the reason why they killed BC?

[JAQ_Design]

Do you know why?

Last count there were something like 70,000 Partners worldwide. That's a lot of passive revenue - even in hosting - to throw away. There's got to be more going on.

Partnership with Microsoft on the cards - is it possible BC sold and developed would have created competition for an existing MS product? I also heard there may have been a security issue with the platform that Adobe didn't want made public by a new buyer.

Just theorising. I've suspected BC was going belly up for a while but held on hoping for the best; I assumed big partners like Pretty got an earlier heads-up.

[pictogram]

No idea. We were in the dark like everyone else.

Even if there was a conflict with a microsoft product the right thing would be to offer a cross over or alternative and not throw so many to the wolves. Liam any more information? Pretty jumped to Kentico a few years ago did you get the heads up?

[EZEZ1]

Why has Adobe forsaken BC, Muse, and BC Partners? Do Partners have any legal recourse?

C9-MB and Liam Dilley you got it right. There is a Class Action in the works ... send your contact info to dave@koby.law

This is what I theorize.

It feels like a real class action should happen. They signed us all on as Partners. They changed the partnership agreement and the partners without any consideration or input for The (original) Partners then purposely not allow us to continue with the lively hood Partners created for themselves and others. Tell me if this is true the average BC Partners age range is 30 – 60? What I feel the back door secret of Adobe and Microsoft that is going on are they intend to make or shake current Partners off the vine or pay to get accreditation. To me it is a case of age discrimination; yes you 30-year-olds are now the new 50 when it comes to age discrimination. Microsoft is accreditations start with 10th and 11th graders. They graduate H.S. certified in Microsoft. So now old and current Adobe Partners have to scramble to pay for new certifications before you can even use the product. Also to monopolize a segment of the industry.

They want Generation Z and not even you timeworn Millennials. They do not want the 30+ Partners unless you pay to keep up. Even you (Millennials) 25-year-olds have to compete with ( Gen Z) 11 &16-year-olds. Then they slam the door shut to make sure there is no competition by not letting BC and Muse continue. CORPORATE GREED!

Sorry, this is my conspiracy theory streak coming out in me, because this news has made me angry and depressed. I have lost faith in all enterprise companies when they cross a bridge they burn it! We have been hoodwinked and bamboozled!

Look at the links they may help you somehow or inspire?

Business Catalyst - Wikipedia

SPP

https://solutionpartners.adobe.com/home/news/2018/02/new_certification_ex.htmlNew Certification Experience

What did Adobe pay for Business Catalyst? How is the acquisition going? - Quora

Adobe Opens New Datacenters for Business Catalyst | Adobe Newsroom 

Your Adobe ID is not affiliated with an Adobe Solution Partner Program membership.

https://solutionpartners.adobe.com/home/error/contactNotFound.html

Partner with Adobe

SPP

  Adobe Microsoft Partnership

[C9-MB]

As I said in a post on the other thread...

Tech products End-of-Life all the time, and provided that the process is reasonable and workable, life goes on.

With a more reasonable and realistic End-of-Sale time-frame, that was compatible with the needs of partners to put bread on the table and pay the rent, this announcement  would have been met with regret and sadness, but been seen as inevitable and manageable.

For me, that would have been: End-of-Sale Mar-26-2019, End-of-Life Mar-26-2020.

Adobe still has the opportunity to at least correct that part of the problem, and give their partners some financial breathing space.

[S Hopkins]

Anyone have a good answer as to what will replace Business Catalyst?

I am absolutely sick with the news of its planned demise. Here's why:

Last year I had the opportunity to work on a complex "business" web site that had been started in Wordpress. I would have tried to sell the client on using Business Catalyst since they needed CRM and web app capability. But too much had been done already in Wordpress. After spending hundreds of dollars for Wordpress add-ons and seeing what the bottom-line ticket for hosting on GoDaddy was costing the company, I decided I was going to "push" Business Catalyst. After getting this monster site up and running, I dug into BC. Yes, the documentation, is scattered, and the learning curve steep to say the least. Updating CSS files is awkward, and menus still don't work the way I would like them to. But overall, once you figure it all out, there's a lot of functionality at a reasonable price.

My new business plan: to really start pushing BC. For small to medium business needing CRM, web-app backends, etc. etc. there is nothing I know of "out there" that offers this capability. Yes, you can add modules onto Wordpress but it's like trying to make a jet airplane out of a "junker" car.

As of mid March, I just got my brochures and business cards printed, started updating my BC Partner website, and talking BC...and then crush! I get the announcement that BC is going away (along with many other applications I have supported over the years)--applications that were "too difficult" in favor of something "easy".

With functionality comes difficulty--and POWER!. I am so sick of this try to "make it easy" culture that slowly kills a good program while trying to add on ease of use. Are we as users that stupid? Maybe the kings on the hill think we are. And yes, I have lost a lot of potential customers who went with the guy who promised a quick-and-dirty web solution (I've done plenty of them myself).

With Business Catalyst on the "let it die" list, I just don't know how I could provide the same functionality that BC provides. (I certainly can't sell anyone on a website that won't be supported in two years.) Anyone got some ideas???

[Todd H&M]

If you go back through this forum you'll see a number of suggestions and links to everyone exploring various options. And the solution will probably depend on specific site requirement and expectations. There are a few shared spreadsheets that are documenting options. Also recommend looking at the FB page for the group where suggestions are being made.

While it's in the early stages there is also a platform that has been shown twice on BC Sandpile that shows much promise.

https://www.bcsandpile.com/

https://www.facebook.com/adobebc/

Open letter from Alex Yagolnik

[Bren0-au]

Grief.

If you made it to the Sandpile meeting you might have breathed a sign of relief.  While it is only the first one I have looked at, and I am sure there will be several others, there are going to be solid options to move your clients to, so you don't need to have a meltdown.

In the sandpile, Alex from CodeProduction showed this:

https://codeproduction.co/transfer-my-site-from-business-catalyst

Looks nice, they also did a demo of their 'Treepl' template engine and showed how this would work with Adam Broadways 'Platform-OS'.

I don't have the link of the recording from the sandpile, but the link to Adam's presentation on Platform-OS is like the light that shines where BC should have been developed to:

Recording Play - Zoom

Code production also will have a service/tool(?) that will suck a BC site into their version of Platform-OS.

There is also this service/tool that will suck sites from BC in to one of several sites (Magento, Woocommerce, OpenCart, Shopify, Prestashop, Bigcommerce)

Adobe Business Catalyst Migration

If you want to find/choose your own platform, this doc, comparing products was shared in the sandpile:

Adobe It's Not Me, It's You! - Google Sheets

(not sure if I am out of line sharing this, so PM me if you want me to edit this)

I have no connection to the links above, I am just another partner, trying to come to terms with the news.

[mindquest2003]

I cant get into partner portal!  Is there a link to partner portal I'm missing?

Any experienced crazy client auto billing in the last couple of months.. I've had to issue refunds!

[cristinel@adobe]

Hi Mikal

https://businesscatalyst.com/PartnerPortal