What was once shiny and new is now old and tarnished. It happens to many things, and Content Management Systems are no exception. There could be any number of reasons you’re deciding what to do about your current CMS.
- The version it’s on is no longer supported
- The content editor interface is out-of-date and difficult to use
- It’s lacking the features you need
- Your development team doesn’t have the skillset to support it anymore
- Maintenance has become a nightmare
- Licensing has made the CMS cost-prohibitive
One way or another, the time comes when you will need to decide the future of your website’s Content Management System.
Given the prevalence of websites managed by a CMS, there’s a pretty good chance the question you’ll ask yourself is – do I upgrade to the newest version or scrap it all and find a new platform?
At Ascedia, we primarily work with either Kentico or WordPress. That’s not to say we’re opposed to all other CMSs (we really like Umbraco, too!), but it is what we have chosen to become very specialized in over the past 25 years.
In our experience, when clients are already using a certain CMS, they tend to stay with that one, which makes the “upgrade or new platform” question simple. If you have a good solution you’re comfortable with, why change?
Kentico CMS as an Example
The majority of our clients who use Kentico have done so for 5+ years. They find the content editor easy-to-use and like the out-of-the-box features it provides, like:
- form builder
- A/B testing
- workflows
- personalization
Kentico is always evolving its product, but even with major version updates over the years, it has made upgrades relatively painless and cost-effective. We have found that most clients who start with us on Kentico stay with it for many years and through major version updates.
When is an Upgrade not an Upgrade?
So, let’s talk about upgrades.
Sometimes, “upgrade” can be a bit of a loaded term. It suggests we hit a button or run a few commands and voila! The CMS has been upgraded. While that may be mostly true for something like hotfixes, upgrades can be more nuanced.
Using Kentico as an example and going into the Way Back Machine to 2014, Kentico released version 8. Then each year thereafter, a new major version until 11 in 2017.
A new version doesn’t mean the old version just stops working and is no longer supported. Any self-respecting CMS will offer extended support for old versions, because who can afford to do major upgrades every single year?
For Kentico 8 through 11, the upgrade path difficulty varied due largely to the underlying foundational code of the product.
- Version 8 to 9 was low effort, with most sites being upgraded in under a day
- Version 9 to 10 was more complicated because of a major change to the Admin UI, with most sites being upgraded in 1-2 days
- Version 10 to 11 was another low effort in under a day
Version 11 to 12, and subsequently to 13, and then the current evergreen Xperience by Kentico (don’t call it version 14 though), was more nuanced and is where we find ourselves asking – when is an upgrade not just an upgrade?
It’s when the very foundation of the CMS changes to adapt to advances in the technology platform it’s built on.
At the risk of getting too technical, Kentico is a perfect example. It was originally built on .NET Web Forms, which was supported through .NET Framework 4.8, which was released in 2019.
Kentico knew they had to evolve, so they adapted by making Kentico 12 ASP.NET MVC-first and Kentico 13 ASP.NET MVC-only. This change from Web Forms to MVC resulted in Kentico sites having to be rebuilt, not simply “upgraded”.
Fundamental structures of the implementation changed, resulting in an entirely new way of building widgets – small, reusable content or feature blocks that enhance functionality without rebuilding the entire page. This is the case for any .NET-based CMS that is more than 10 years old.
This matters because a rebuild is going to cost more in development time than an upgrade.
Below are some examples highlighting the difference in cost.
Fictional Pricing Exercise
Before making the leap to a new platform, really ask yourself (and your team) what the driving factors are.
Change for the sake of change is not cost-effective, so it’s important to know what problems you are trying to solve and whether or not your current CMS could actually solve those problems with a proper upgrade – or rebuild.
New build with a new CMS and a fresh design, plus 5 years of CMS hotfixes and/or upgrades
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Exercise A |
|
|
Initial Build Cost |
$ 200,000.00 |
|
Year 1 Hotfixes |
$ 2,500.00 |
|
Year 2 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
|
Year 3 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
|
Year 4 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
|
Year 5 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
New build with a new CMS and a fresh design with a rebuild in year 3 due to a major change in the platform, but keeping the same design. Then, additional years of hotfixes/upgrades.
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Exercise B |
|
|
Initial Build Cost |
$ 200,000.00 |
|
Year 1 Hotfixes |
$ 2,500.00 |
|
Year 2 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
|
Year 3 Rebuild |
$ 120,000.00 |
|
Year 4 Hotfixes |
$ 2,500.00 |
|
Year 5 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
New build with a new CMS and a fresh design with hotfixes/upgrades until year 5 when an entire new platform is selected.
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Exercise C |
|
|
Initial Build Cost |
$ 200,000.00 |
|
Year 1 Hotfixes |
$ 2,500.00 |
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Year 2 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
|
Year 3 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
|
Year 4 Upgrades/Hotfixes |
$ 5,000.00 |
|
Year 5 Replatform |
$ 200,000.00+ |
Closing
When you bring Ascedia on as your development partner, we can help you make the most informed decision to maximize your ROI on your website. We have extensive experience with a variety of CMS platforms. Whether you are looking to replatform, redesign, rebuild, or upgrade, we have you covered.
Contact us today for a free consultation and CMS demo anytime. We’ll be here for you.
