So your Atlassian apps are Server-hosted and you’re not happy with Atlassian’s newest steps to bring customers to the Cloud Future…Don’t worry! We’ll give you the download, and provide a perspective on your options.
To summarize, February 2, 2021 will be the “last call” for new Server sales, with maintenance continuing till February 2024. Along with that, pricing is changing. Read on to discover myths, facts, and the options you have in front of you.
FICTION: Self-hosted Atlassian applications are going away.
- If you’re currently on Server-hosted Jira, you can continue on Server licensing for 3 more years. Moreover, Atlassian will incentivize a conversion to Data Center licenses, which will persist as the self-hosted option beyond 2024. Let’s remember that 2024 is a lifetime away, in terms of technology trends, and Atlassian’s product roadmap already has planning in place to mature Cloud even further (ie. HIPAA).
FACT: Pricing for Server & Data Center are changing.
- If you continue with Server beyond Feb 2, 2021, yes, your renewals and upgrades will go up. See new vs existing pricing here. Note, you qualify for “Advantaged Pricing” if you purchased your licenses before Oct 3, 2019.
- If you are on the 500-user tier of Jira Software Data Center, your price will not go up on Feb 2, 2021, but tiers above 500-users will. See the Overview and Pricing here. Pricing will increase for Confluence, Jira Service Desk, Bitbucket and Crowd.
FACT: Atlassian Customers pushing back the hardest against Cloud should evaluate their reasoning while the subject is out there.
COMMON FEATURES & CAPABILITIES THAT KEEP CUSTOMERS OFF CLOUD:
- Custom HTML
- IE. No adding jQuery to the page to tweak details
- Custom Stylesheets.
- IE. Hiding buttons from remote users and making styling different, especially for common macros.
- The ability to hide internal comments from anonymous visitors. IE. External user management
- Utilizing a Custom URL
- This makes a huge difference in terms of SEO/Google. The cloud version is troublesome with search results.
- HIPAA Compliance (Atlassian has this in the product roadmap, attestation of compliance planned for 2023)
- Configuring an outgoing (SMTP) mail server
- Atlassian Cloud comes with an internal SMTP server configured to send notifications.
- The internal SMTP server is not configurable
- Configuring listeners
- Configuring logging and profiling information
- Customizing email templates (Jira Core, Jira Software)
- Disable attachments, or set the attachment path
- HTML and JavaScript in issue fields
- Importing data
- Importing XML workflows into Jira
- Incoming mail servers – Configuring file system messages
- Installing intermediate SSL certificates
- Using your own LDAP for user management (You have to use Atlassian Access)
- System Administrator permissions
FICTION: Data Center’s offering isn’t changing on Feb 2, 2021
The following Atlassian-built applications and new functionalities will come with Data Center:
- Jira Software Data Center: Advanced Roadmaps (formerly Portfolio for Jira)
- Confluence Data Center: Team Calendars for Confluence, Analytics for Confluence
- Jira Service Desk Data Center: Insight – Asset Management, Insight Discovery
FACT: There are incentives to shift away from Server hosting
- Yes. They are called “Cloud Loyalty Discounts.” Server customers going to Cloud or Data Center can review them here.
FICTION: All customers moving away from Server and going to Cloud or Data Center can get loyalty discounting.
- Cloud Loyalty Discounts are for Enterprise customers (1000+ Jira Users).
- Those not eligible should look into a Free Cloud Migration Trial.
- Seek out a Solution Partner to expand on your options. There’s no cost to do that.
FACT: Some Add-ons may play a role in you considering Cloud
- ConfiForms
- The Cloud version is more limited. It does not work with the new Fabric editor (issue with Atlassian and the nested macros).
- Salesforce CRM is not yet compatible
- Epic Roadmap is not yet compatible
- Workflow Enhancer is not yet compatible
- Tempo Budgets
- There are alternatives, but none with all of its features.
- Global Search/Replace add-on
- The Server version is perceived to be much better
FACT: The new pricing for Bamboo can create problems in certain use cases in terms of readiness.
- Bamboo does not have a Data Center option yet (as of Oct, 2020). There is customer frustration on not having an affordable On-Prem CI/CD tool they can rely on with their setup (IE. Having an on-prem Bamboo build agent because compilers need to access data sources and deploy binaries across VPN tunnels.)
Review this Atlassian Investment Guide to see what else you can do if your budget is impacted.
