The End of Adobe Business Catalyst: What It Means for Your Business Website and Why You Need to Make the Switch

In the past, we’ve extolled the virtues of BC as a content and web building platform. And we stand by that.

Times change however, and much like mullets, bell-bottoms or disco, BC’s time as the preferred content management system is at an end.

With the recent announcement that (just like Flash) Adobe is ending support for BC, alarm bells are going off throughout the digital sphere.

Businesses need to be prepared for the fallout of this announcement.

Thousands of businesses have chosen BC to power their sites, and while it certainly had its flaws, BC is an excellent CMS, suitable for many businesses and their needs.

So understandably, this announcement has set many business owners into full-on panic mode.

Does your website still use Business Catalyst? And if so, what does its impending demise mean for you?

The Business Catalyst crash course

BC was the iPhone of content management systems when it first hit the market. Like Apple’s revolutionary smartphone, BC is intuitive, easy-to-use and offers everything businesses needed in a convenient all-in-one package.

Basically, BC is a hosted all-in-one solution for building and managing business websites: web design, customer databases, in-built analytics, newsletters, ecommerce… BC does it all.

Is it any wonder it became such a popular choice for busy business customers?

So what does this all mean for me?

If your site is still hosted on BC, you will need to migrate your site to a new platform.

However, there’s no need to panic!

You still have time. BC originally announced they would stop hosting sites on 26th March 2020, but has extended this out by another year to 2021.

So no, you don’t to panic, but you can’t exactly rest on your laurels, either.

Once it clocks over to the 26th of March 2021, all sites hosted using BC will be removed from BC infrastructure, making them inaccessible. In Adobe’s own words, “all customer data will be deleted” on the cut-off date.

Fail to plan around the shutdown and you can say goodbye to your website, customer databases, online store and business email!

Fortunately, while Adobe may own the platform, you own the content. Talk to a digital agency about building a brand new site for your business on a preferred platform like WordPress.
Important dates:

• 26th March 2018: announcement of Business Catalyst End of Life
• 18th June 2018: new trials and upgrades no longer available. BC customers will be moved to a monthly billing system
• 26th March 2020 2021: the day of reckoning. Adobe pulls the plug on Business Catalyst infrastructure, deleting any sites that haven’t transitioned to other platforms

What do you need to do?

Let’s say you’re a concerned business owner who recently heard the news. What are you going to do?

With so many competing systems, it can be hard to find a replacement that’ll offer the same functionality for your business.

We recommend discussing your needs with a digital agency. They’ll be able to help you find a new hosting platform for your site and will help implement a new CMS that fits with your goals and digital strategy.

At AI Format for example, WordPress is our CMS of choice.

Why choose WordPress?

Because we’re big believers in the power of content.

Good content dramatically improves your page rankings and SEO by building credibility with Google. Moreover, well-written content also establishes your credibility with customers!

The secret? A steady stream of high-quality, well-written content tailored for your customers.

WordPress began its life as a blogging platform, making it the perfect CMS for content marketing strategies.

Uploading and editing content is a piece of cake with WP – is it any wonder it powers 30.4% of all websites?

Best of all, WordPress is 100% open-source – all of the coding that powers it is free and open to the public.

What this means is there’s no central development team that pushes updates and features – instead, anyone with the know-how can dive into WordPress and develop for it.

This ensures a huge range of freely-distributed plugins and apps (45,000 to be precise) and unparalleled customisation.

While BC offers you a diverse set of different functions, your business simply might not need all of them! WordPress can also be much, much more affordable – the base CMS is free and you only pay for the extras you need.

Talk to an SEO agency about migrating your site – and turning it into your best sales tool!

Fortunately, you have a bit of time to prepare for the cut-off date. That doesn’t mean you can dawdle, of course – if you ask us, you should already be thinking about or in the early stages of planning your migration strategy.

Are you interested in migrating your site over to a new CMS like WordPress? Give AI Format a call on 07 3732 6522 or contact us here.