Why Sitecore upgrades are a must

Having upgraded more than 20 sites to newer versions of Sitecore over the last couple of years, we at One North have learned a thing or two about why upgrades are so critical, the impact they have on the overall experience you’re delivering, and how best to position and prepare yourself for a successful upgrade.

Upgrades are tricky

The fact is, upgrades are time-consuming and complex. Upgrading Sitecore itself is not hard; however, the process of integrating it with third-party modules—many containing thousands of pages with specific functionality—is challenging. At One North, we have a team expressly focused on Sitecore upgrades. Because we do upgrades on the regular, we know the nuances and have developed a proprietary process for making it as painless as possible. Additionally, as a hosting provider for a majority of our Sitecore clients, our upgrade and hosting teams closely collaborate to ensure a seamless transition.

Key benefits

Although software upgrades may feel like a nuisance, they’re integral to ensuring your marketing technology ecosystem is working as hard as possible for you, and they provide many benefits.

Better security

We can’t stress enough how crucial security is. When a site gets hacked, not only does it wreak havoc, but your customers also lose confidence in your brand. As vulnerabilities are discovered on supported versions, Sitecore alerts customers and releases a security patch, which helps to mitigate any potential risk and keeps sites built on its platform secure.

Continued support

As products reach the end of their lifecycle, they are no longer supported by Sitecore, which means important updates, like the previously mentioned security patches, are no longer offered. Sitecore does make it easy to ensure you remain on a protected version by publishing its product support lifecycle and support phases. Our team helps remind clients when their current Sitecore version is reaching the end of its lifecycle with plenty of time to start preparing for an upgrade, so they’re never at risk of running on an unsupported version.

New functionality

Updates add new features and improve existing ones. When making the jump to a new Sitecore version, it’s a great time to consider these additional features and how you can benefit from adding them into your digital marketing plan. Many of these features aren’t turnkey and require additional support and strategy to implement. As a Sitecore Gold Implementation Partner, One North has the expertise to advise clients on how to use the latest and most advanced features, so they make the most out of their investment.

Enhanced performance

Even better, when upgrades are made, performance improves—sometimes by as much as 100 percent. The application runs smoother, and the overall site loads faster, which is also great for SEO.

Planning ahead

On average, an upgrade takes 2-4 months to complete, so it’s important to plan and prepare. Our team shares Sitecore end-of-life dates with clients at least a year in advance to allow upgrades to be added to budget forecasting, and to help clients coordinate the effort with larger brand/design initiatives when possible.

In fact, upgrades can be a catalyst for getting a site redesign underway. You don’t want to spend extra time and money implementing an upgrade if you’re already planning a relaunch down the road. By working together, our team helps clients optimize their upgrade plan, so it’s aligned with their overall digital marketing strategy and plan.

If you’ve been considering an upgrade to a newer version of Sitecore, or your current Sitecore version is nearing a support end date, One North’s dedicated upgrade team can help.