Marqui: A Cautionary Tale
I started hearing rumors about a month ago that Marqui was in serious trouble. Then I began to get queries from business partners around the northwest, asking “Do you know anyone at Marqui any more?” Apparently no one’s been able to get through to support for awhile… and I let my connections there lapse years ago when I left the organization.
And I’m sad to say I read with interest this little cautionary tale in CMSWatch last week which seems to confirm: Marqui est mort, “belly up…” in receivership (a type of bankruptcy).
The news of a tech startup going belly up is not that unusual. However, the news of a Software as a Service (SaaS) (define) provider going under is especially disconcerting. It slams to the forefront the delicate question:
Who really owns my data?
More business applications reside online (in “the cloud”) these days. And the more we rely on cheap/free/hosted/SaaS applications, the more we rely on the people behind them to manage their businesses honestly, ethically, and with the fiduciary controls necessary to withstand market pressures.
Does that mean the due diligence process is heightened when considering your technology partners? Oh, yeah. Especially when you’re doing business with privately-held organizations. Where web content management services are concerned, your partners are often your outsourced IT department. A trust in your partner is paramount. And we’re talking way more than service level agreements and uptime requirements here…
- What recourse does one have when the customer support team won’t answer your calls?
- Who can help you navigate the (oft-remote) handshakes of the organization - when most of your original connections are gone?
- How long do you let things go before you take the actions necessary to take control of your data?
Interestingly, some signs of Marqui’s trouble ahead - called out in the CMSWatch article - are pretty easy to recognize:
- There had been no new press releases since March.
- There had been no new blog posts since September, 2007. (As an aside, it’s going to be extremely sad to have my first two years of blog posts go into the dark matter with Marqui’s demise…)
In the case of Marqui, people who have their web sites hosted by the company must be keeping their fingers crossed that their servers will be properly managed in the time it takes to move away from Marqui. Any implementation of Marqui can be exported to HTML and hosted elsewhere, but what a nervous hassle in the meantime. And the cost of doing so is a huge pain.
I’ve been away from Marqui for about two years now. I feel extreme discomfort for the customers who are scrambling to migrate their data. And I wish I could be of some help.
But I don’t know anyone that I can trust there any more.
I do know plenty of competent, responsible, highly reputable agencies to refer Marqui customers to. It seems as if there might be a bit of an opportunity to help folks who are in extreme need out in that… ping me if I can make a referral.
It’s the least I can do.
Janet,
Thanks for sharing this. As one of Marqui’s first and larger customers, I find this news very sad, although not surprising. Like you, I haven’t been involved with that company and Marqui in about 2 years. Back in the day, Marqui had a great team and fabulous service. I hope all of the employees and customers make out ok.
Hi Janet,
I came to Marqui after you left, but still remain to help insure a smooth transition for customers to the acquiring company.
We have arranged for appropriate partners, as well as our own services, development and support staff (yes, there are several of us still here) to help with any customer questions or concerns.
Many customers are continuing on with implementations and new services work, with the expectation that the acquiring company will continue the work.
If anyone needs a contact at Marqui, they can use the support email address or phone number, and can always call me personally.
Jackie Reid
VP Client Services
604.484.8531
Hi Jackie,
Good to meet you. I do hope you can get your partners some help in answering their questions.
And thank you for the offer of your direct line. That’s even better.
[…] and that got a lot of folks thinking. Portland-based marketing guru Janet Lee Johnson kept the conversation going and was lucky enough to get contacted by Marqui’s VP of Client Services and now feels like […]
Hi Janet,
Ex-Marqui executive Rick Patri weighed in over on Techvibes and offered some good advice:
“Relax and do nothing. You already made an investment in a solution and its a managed receivership that has agreed to keep the product up and running. So there is nothing to worry about. There is no need to panic as the Marqui product is fully functioning and the hosted sites are operational. They are staffed and providing support. So just sit back and wait and see what happens and then make a decision.”
www.techvibes.com/blog/gravity-factor-takes-on-marqui/
Sounds fair.
Sounds fair to me as well, Rob. I sat in on a call with a client yesterday who decided to do just that. Wait.
No one is holding any data hostage, the frustrations I’ve heard have been all around people access so far. Knowing what I know now, the folks there are doing the best they can to be responsive and helpful.
Can someone please tell me what we need to have in order to prepare for a migration to another platform? We are not planning on moving, but I would like to know what needs to be done?
I left Marqui about 3 months ago, and immediately rolled into doing some marketing / business development consulting for some of the customer base. It’s been smooth sailing so-far; I have been able to get very good support from Jackie’s team ongoing.
I am quite confident that Marqui will come out on top, given the customer base. So far, none of my clients are looking for an alternative.
However, it’s nice to have some piece of mind:
If you call Marqui support, they can help you publish all your pages to your own seperate backup ftp server. This uploads all pages, css, and javascript files in real-time as you make changes.
Then, all you need to to is download your subscriber databases once a week.
My advice really echos what Rick Patri was saying - Because of the revenue that’s there, Marqui will be picked up as a going concern, so customers will be taken care of.
I think you’ll find them pretty accessible, if you have problems, feel free to ping me with an email.
Rik’s advice could be costly if the plug is pulled on Marqui’s servers. My advice back up all your content and data locally and have a migration plan in place for another platform, should Marqui’s servers get shut down. This is a hosted solution for most clients so you are SOL if the servers get turned off. Maqui provides a good case study for the perils of a hosted solution.
Marqui has a new owner:
http://techvibes.com/blog/new-ownership-announced-at-marqui