VERY frustrated with Atlassian (non) support with cloud migration! Please help!

[Beth Brown]

My company is currently using the starter server license for our external support center. We want to try the cloud migration, and we were told at first that we could have a free trial period. We had a meeting over zoom where we asked questions and were getting ready to initiate the trial. When we tried to start the migration trial, we got an error message. I reached out to Atlassian support (screenshots below) and were then told that since we have a starter license, we don't actually qualify for a migration trial. I asked how we can purchase a license and was basically told "I can't help you." (Note: we do have a Confluence Cloud license as well that we use for internal documentation). 

So, first, has anyone else had experiences like this with Atlassian support? 

Second, is there anyone using Confluence Cloud for a customer support center/knowledge base? Should we even bother trying to migrate, or look for a different content management system? 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No,  we (I'm talking about the clients we talk to - I'm an Atlassian Consultant) always knew we weren't supported with starter licences, and would have to go to the Community, so we never asked.

All you can do here is ask the Community, or engage with a partner who can help you.

[Myra]

(I'm with Beth) We finally got someone to help us, and were able to test out the migration. After many frustrating hours, though, I'm coming to the conclusion that Confluence Cloud is NOT a replacement for Confluence Server. It simply doesn't do half the things Confluence Server does that makes it useful as a customer knowledge base.

Confluence Cloud is unusable for end users. 

You can allow Anonymous Access, but anyone accessing anonymously still sees options to 'create' pages (which they can't), and view other Spaces, Apps, and Templates (...which they can't). The Help icon they get is for Confluence Help, which an end user would never need.

They can comment on pages (no way to turn this off). And it seems they are prompted to log in.

They can view page history (!!!) and other advanced details. 

Also, apps. 

And I still can't attach exiting images to a page.

This disaster makes me baffled as to how Atlassian could ever claim this was possible... why we were told multiple times that yes, we could use Confluence Cloud for our customer knowledge base.

Believe me, I'm really trying to get this to work.

I posted a separate question earlier hoping to get some answers: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/Confluence-Cloud-as-a-customer-Knowledge-Base-Header/qaq-p/2045370#M245354 

Meanwhile, I've tried out Refined, also Scroll Viewpoint, and they are cool tools... but they don't support the other add-ons.

Refined is really cool, but it doesn't let you properly customize the navigation, and still expects you to log in (e.g. an anonymous user can't 'like' a page). (I might be able to get it to work, except... can't use add-ons like HTML. Ouch.)

Scroll Viewpoint is super straightforward, but it makes you re-publish the site in order to see any change you made on Confluence pages (unusable). 

I'll continue trying. If anyone has any advice I'm happy to hear it. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

I see your pains, I'm not the right one to comment on them.  

But I want to say one thing about Refined and Scroll, and the other app vendors:  It's not their fault.  The architecture for Cloud apps just doesn't let them do what they want to do very well.

[Myra]

Thank you for the comment! Yes, I have been impressed with the apps offered. 

I'm working separately with Refined to see if they can support some of these other add-ons. If they can, they are a saving grace for Confluence Cloud's failures.

[Irene At Dragon]

Beth,

it is correct that starter server license won't qualify for extended free trial. But if you setup a new trial cloud instance, you can actually get at least 30 days free trial for standard or premium plan.  Once you setup the cloud instance, you can fill in the billing information to setup credit card payment for monthly subscription. It looks like you have less than 10 users, for cloud you can still get free plan for under 10 users, but with some limitations. I assume you are looking for Confluence? Here is the link for feature comparison of different plans.

https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/pricing

I'm a little confused that you said you have already a Confluence cloud instance. Are you going to migrate your server data to this existing Confluence cloud instance or you want a NEW instance. Yes definitely you can use Confluence for KB and customer support center. In fact if you also use Jira Service Management, together with Confluence, customer will be able to search for Confluence KB to self resolved the issues before they even raise a support ticket in JSM.

We are Atlassian Solution Partner, our company name is DragonAgile Consulting. If you have more questions, feel free to contact us. Check out our website: www.dragonagile.com.

Cheers,

Irene