Below is the email newsletter sent to all of our Business Catalyst clients on 23 May, 2018.

Dear Recipient,

You have likely heard of Adobe's plans to discontinue the Business Catalyst platform as of March September 2021. While the official EOL Announcement was released to the general public yesterday, we as Business Catalyst Partners were informed several weeks ago.

We were surprised by this announcement because providers typically put unwanted services on the market for purchase by another vendor to a) make revenue on the sale and b) minimise customer disruption.

On behalf of our clients, we, along with many other BC Partners, campaigned Adobe to have the decision reversed. While Adobe has remained firm in its resolve, we were successful in securing an extension of the EOL date by 2 2.5 years. (The original EOL announcement had BC being discontinued as of March, 2019.)

What Does This Mean for Me?

First and foremost, there is no need to panic. We have 3 years to investigate and implement alternative solutions. There is ample time to make carefully considered decisions.

Since the initial announcement to BC Partners, we have been investigating a range of low-impact "migration" options to minimise the affect on your website and your business.

What are the Alternatives?

Business Catalyst has been our CMS (Content Management System) platform of choice for over 5 years. It is a unique offering in the CMS industry due to its low, SMB-aimed price point, wide range of integrated features and secure, proprietary architecture.

Additionally, BC is highly flexible and customisable, allowing us to develop complex, custom solutions for our clients at a fraction of the cost of enterprise-level alternatives.

There isn't currently another platform on the market that matches it in this regard, although there are a number of vendors who are actively developing "replacement" services with a view to capitalising on the void that will be left in the wake of BC's departure.

While it is unlikely that we will find an "exact match" to BC, our research to date has given us confidence in that there are a plethora of CMS platforms available. Some look terrible, some look promising - it is simply a matter of identifying the one(s) that best meet our clients' needs.

Moreoever, we have realised that the EOL of BC is an opportunity to embrace change, grow and upskill, and ultimately find better ways to serve our clients. BC, for all its unmatched features, was 14 years old, and in the tech industry, 14 years is getting a bit "long in the tooth".

A Word of Caution on Vultures, etc

We are aware that some of our competitors have, disappointingly, taken the "opportunity" to contact some of our clients with scaremongering and quick-fix solutions. We encourage all of our clients to disregard such correspondence.

Naturally, we are intimately acquainted with your needs and have your best interests at heart. We are actively working to find the best solution for each and every one of you.

If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch via phone or email.

Kind Regards,
Luke Grayson | indie.web Ltd