A few days ago, I received an email I wasn’t expecting.
One of my favourite and most-used software tools, Stencil, announced that it will be shutting down in just 30 days.
For those unfamiliar with Stencil, it has long been one of my go-to tools for creating quick social media graphics, blog images, and digital content. It wasn’t the biggest player in the market, but it was fast, reliable, and fit perfectly into my workflow.
Like many users, I simply assumed it would always be there.
And that’s exactly why this announcement got me thinking.
We Depend on More SaaS Tools Than Ever
Today, most organizations run on Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, whether they realize it or not.
Your email may be hosted in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Your donor database may live in a cloud CRM. Your accounting records may be stored in QuickBooks Online. Your social media graphics may be created in Canva. Your documents may be stored in Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive.
These services have changed the way we work. They are affordable, accessible from anywhere, and eliminate many of the headaches that came with traditional software.
But there is one important reality that is easy to forget:
You don’t own the platform.
The Risk Nobody Thinks About
When most organizations think about technology risks, they think about cyberattacks, viruses, hardware failures, or accidentally deleting files.
Very few think about what would happen if a service they depend on simply announced it was shutting down.
Yet it happens more often than many people realize.
Companies get acquired. Business models change. Investors pull funding. Markets shift. Sometimes a product simply becomes too expensive to maintain.
When that happens, users are often given a short window to retrieve their information and find an alternative.
Thirty days may sound like a long time, but if your organization has years of content, files, templates, records, or customer information stored inside a platform, it can quickly become overwhelming.
Imagine If Canva Closed in 30 Days
For many organizations, Canva has become as important as Microsoft Word once was.
Think about everything stored there:
- Social media graphics
- Event posters
- Fundraising materials
- Presentation templates
- Brand kits
- Volunteer resources
- Marketing campaigns
- Videos and digital content
Now imagine receiving an email tomorrow morning announcing that Canva would be permanently shutting down in 30 days.
How many organizations would have local copies of all their designs?
How many would know where their brand assets are stored?
How many would have a plan to migrate hundreds—or even thousands—of files to another platform?
The reality is that many businesses, churches, and non-profits have become deeply invested in cloud-based platforms without considering what would happen if those platforms disappeared.
The Cloud Is Not a Backup
One of the biggest misconceptions we encounter is the belief that because something is stored in the cloud, it is automatically protected.
Cloud storage and backup are not the same thing.
Most SaaS providers are responsible for maintaining their service. They are not responsible for ensuring you always have a separate copy of your information.
If a service closes, experiences a catastrophic failure, or changes its policies, having your data stored exclusively within that platform can create significant challenges.
The responsibility for protecting your organization’s information ultimately belongs to your organization.
Five Questions Every Organization Should Ask
If your business or non-profit relies on cloud services, ask yourself:
- Can we export our data from the platforms we use?
- How often do we back up critical information?
- Where are those backups stored?
- Who knows how to access them?
- Could we continue operating if one of our key platforms disappeared tomorrow?
If any of those questions are difficult to answer, it may be time to review your backup and business continuity plans.
Preparing for the Unexpected
The good news is that protecting yourself doesn’t require abandoning cloud services.
In fact, SaaS platforms remain some of the best technology investments available today.
The key is understanding that convenience should never replace preparedness.
Regularly export important data. Maintain copies of critical documents and assets. Document your workflows. Know what alternatives exist should a platform become unavailable.
Most importantly, avoid allowing all of your organization’s knowledge, content, and history to live in a single system that you do not control.
A Reminder for All of Us
I am genuinely disappointed to see Stencil go. Like many users, I’ve relied on it for years and appreciated the simplicity it brought to content creation.
But its closure serves as an important reminder.
Technology changes. Companies evolve. Services come and go.
Whether you’re using Canva, Microsoft 365, QuickBooks Online, Mailchimp, Google Workspace, or any other cloud-based platform, it’s worth taking a few moments to ask yourself a simple question:
“If this service disappeared in 30 days, would we be ready?”
If the answer is no, now is the perfect time to start preparing.
Because when that announcement arrives, you’ll wish you had started sooner.
