Adobe recently announced that it’s website building platform, Business Catalyst, will no longer be available. All users are encouraged to migrate their data to a third-party service provider before June 2020.
What is Business Catalyst?
Business Catalyst is an all-in-one solution to building and managing business websites. Business Catalyst customers like using it because it provided website building tools without requiring any coding knowledge. It also includes many features and tools that are great for eCommerce needs. Together with an integrated Email Marketing component and the easy to use turn-key website tools, this platform quickly became an attractive alternative to hiring a professional web designer. For small business owners who are looking for an easy way to set up shop and look professional online, this couldn’t have been a more attractive product.
What’s Happening to Business Catalyst?
Unfortunately, after only acquiring Business Catalyst for 8 years, Adobe has announced that it will retire the product and customers will no longer be able to take advantage of the website building platform or its features.
According to Adobe, Business Catalyst will end on a timeline to give customers enough time to migrate their data. All websites designed on this platform will have to be redesigned on a new platform. However, by March of 2020, all data will be deleted and sites will become unavailable to the public. Business Catalyst will continue to accept new customers who want to start a trial, however all trial websites started during this time must be upgraded to another product by mid-June of 2018.
How does Business Catalyst differ from WordPress?
Business Catalyst is a software developed by a for-profit company, Adobe. They are a business first. Therefore, Adobe has shareholders or investors to please and profit margins that dictate their development. Unfortunately, this means that if a product is not performing well and they’re losing money, they must cut their losses and make changes based on their bottom line regardless of how many people depended on the service.
However, WordPress is different. WordPress is an open source software, meaning the source code is available to everyone to use and study. The basic software is free to use and redistribute however one sees fit. Not only that, it’s open to individual contributors, which allows the product to expand organically. WPbeginner reports, “The open source software development model allows others to not only study the code but also improve it by testing, bug reporting, and submitting patches. Supporters of this development model argue that the open development environment allows software developers to quickly find and fix security loopholes and bugs in the software. As a result of its open source license WordPress has become the dynamic web publishing platform that it is today.”
On top of all of that, there are contributors who have created excellent products with premium features using the free basic open source program. These upgrades and contributions developed by individuals all over the world have revolutionized how websites are built and maintained. Because of these dynamics, you more than likely will not encounter a product recall similar to the recent Business Catalyst announcement.
This is why we use WordPress with all of our clients and encourage small businesses to consider WordPress for their websites. We also encourage our customers to be very cautious of third-party companies such as Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy to provide website building and maintenance services for your online presence. A business website is your online hub and how you communicate with the online community. It’s vital to host your website with a reliable source so you can avoid the inconvenience of losing crucial data or having to migrate your entire website based on the profit margins of another company.
If you need help building your business website, contact us. We can help you build a website that produces targeted leads for your business, product, or service.
