Does anyone have opinions on Business Catalyst from Adobe and is it worth pursuing? businesscatalyst.com
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My first thought is why is Adobe pursuing this stuff since there are so many other CMS's out there. Second thought, why would Adobe call another product Catalyst (Flash Catalyst, Omniture Catalyst). Never the less we got to see a live demo the other day at our Fire on the bay (Fireworks) user group. All I can say is wow! After seeing previous attempts at CMS I was expecting to see something that I would simply blow off, but I walked away being extremely impressed.
I have not had a chance to actually use it myself since I primarily do web application design rather than site design, that being said it was so impressive it made me want to go out and get a web client just to try it.
Here is what I liked about it.
1) It is a all in one tool (other than the design work).
2) It has a very clean interface that appears to be very easy (both for the administrator and the clients).
3) It offers hosting (though if all you are after is hosting Godaddy has plans much cheaper).
4) Obviously it is a CMS (Content Management Tool). It looked pretty easy to set up permissions for what areas can be edited. Since Adobe has been around the block a couple of times with CMS tools, it looks as though they learned a thing or two.
5 ) They offer a mid size data base with a nice easy to use interface for small to medium size ecommerce experiences, or any other experience that would need a mysequel size data base. This alone makes it worth it.
6) They have a large list of plug and play merchant services to choose from.
7) They even have subscription based merchant services (man what I would have done to have this product when I was doing web design).
8) This one was a little fuzzy during the presentation, I think they are offering blogging and feeds similar to Wordpress.
9) They also offer email marketing like Constant Contact complete with analytics and email list maintenance (bounce backs, opt in/outs, etc. Signups, etc.)
10) Complete site analytics
11) Business Catalyst is a hosted system so there is no software to install
12) The interface had a nice clean look like Wordpress.
13) It integrates well with Dreamweaver, you will need to get the extension. You will be able to manage all your business catalyst client in the sites view.
SummaryIt is worth repeating, it is an all in one tool. Again reflecting on when I did web design/development I would have been all over this tool. Hosting, CMS, eCommerce, Data Base, Email Marketing, CRM (Client Management), Blog/Feeds, and Analytics all in one tool that is priced right and appears to be easy to use.
If you have not already done so,,, check out the video on their page - businesscatalyst.com
Also there some more how to videos on Adobe TV. Tv.adobe.com
I have not had a chance to actually use it myself since I primarily do web application design rather than site design, that being said it was so impressive it made me want to go out and get a web client just to try it.
Here is what I liked about it.
1) It is a all in one tool (other than the design work).
2) It has a very clean interface that appears to be very easy (both for the administrator and the clients).
3) It offers hosting (though if all you are after is hosting Godaddy has plans much cheaper).
4) Obviously it is a CMS (Content Management Tool). It looked pretty easy to set up permissions for what areas can be edited. Since Adobe has been around the block a couple of times with CMS tools, it looks as though they learned a thing or two.
5 ) They offer a mid size data base with a nice easy to use interface for small to medium size ecommerce experiences, or any other experience that would need a mysequel size data base. This alone makes it worth it.
6) They have a large list of plug and play merchant services to choose from.
7) They even have subscription based merchant services (man what I would have done to have this product when I was doing web design).
8) This one was a little fuzzy during the presentation, I think they are offering blogging and feeds similar to Wordpress.
9) They also offer email marketing like Constant Contact complete with analytics and email list maintenance (bounce backs, opt in/outs, etc. Signups, etc.)
10) Complete site analytics
11) Business Catalyst is a hosted system so there is no software to install
12) The interface had a nice clean look like Wordpress.
13) It integrates well with Dreamweaver, you will need to get the extension. You will be able to manage all your business catalyst client in the sites view.
SummaryIt is worth repeating, it is an all in one tool. Again reflecting on when I did web design/development I would have been all over this tool. Hosting, CMS, eCommerce, Data Base, Email Marketing, CRM (Client Management), Blog/Feeds, and Analytics all in one tool that is priced right and appears to be easy to use.
If you have not already done so,,, check out the video on their page - businesscatalyst.com
Also there some more how to videos on Adobe TV. Tv.adobe.com
Thanks for such a detailed response! by Neil Monroe 2 years ago
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