Aug 11, 2022
Upgrading Sitecore may not be an overnight task, but the ramifications of remaining on older versions of Sitecore can creep up on any company. With digital experiences becoming a crucial part of most organizations today, having an outdated solution can negatively impact your brand.
Organizations need to become increasingly customer-centric, make their teams more agile, and personalize their user experiences. And this is exactly why they need to upgrade to Sitecore Experience Platform 10. Upgrading will enable you to adapt rapidly and intuitively to meet customer expectations.
This article outlines the benefits of upgrading your Sitecore platform from older Sitecore versions to Sitecore XP 10.x.
The Facts: 7 Benefits You Can Unlock by Upgrading to Sitecore 10
Sitecore 10.x offers many benefits to developers and marketers. Here are some of them:
Upgrading to Sitecore XP 10.1 will improve customer experience delivery, ensuring a better synergy between marketing and IT.
Sitecore AI Auto-Personalization helps brands to quickly and efficiently track, segment, and deliver personalized experiences to customers.
Rules-based content profiling allows brands to track content and gain insights into user behavior and consumer habits.
SXA and Horizon updates streamline content creation and improve site authoring, editing, and workflows.
The Next.js SDK offers multiple JavaScript deployment options, from static websites to server-side renderings to hybrid deployments.
Sitecore containers enable greater developer efficiencies through faster deployments and collaboration.
Leveraging the Sitecore CLI simplifies development efficiencies by providing a headless approach for creating and delivering content.
The Issue with Staying on Sitecore 6, Sitecore 7, Sitecore 8, and Sitecore 9
Despite the many excellent features available on previous Sitecore versions, you should upgrade to Sitecore XP 10.x for an integrated platform that enables your marketing and IT teams to provide personalized customer experiences. Here are reasons why you shouldn’t stay on older versions of Sitecore:
Ending support: In the long run, Sitecore may stop supporting your current version if you fail to upgrade. This was the case with the Sitecore 6.x back in 2020 with its ending support, meaning existing users won’t get access to upgrades, new features, security fixes, and maintenance. Other versions face the same fate without upgrades.
Poor security: Security updates stop when support ends. Without support, you become vulnerable to attacks and website downtime. You cannot access security updates, installation support, and development and compatibility issues even if you want to pay for them.
Missing out on new features: Failing to capitalize on the latest features and upgrades present in newer versions means you aren’t getting the full benefits of the platform. For instance, you won’t have access to integrated analytics, email marketing, and ecommerce solutions. You may have the same problem depending on the version of Sitecore 7.x you’re using. For other versions before Sitecore 10.x, you’ll be missing out on one feature or the other. Additionally, only the latest versions of Sitecore will be integrated with Sitecore’s latest acquisitions. For example, you won’t be able to fully use Sitecore CDP / Personalize unless you are on the latest version of Sitecore.
Difficulty in finding a developer or party support:Having an outdated version of Sitecore will discourage partners and developers from working with you unless you upgrade to the newer versions.
Less stable and harder to maintain platform:In general, all software deteriorates over time, irrespective of the platform. It becomes more difficult to change your system when libraries become old and incompatible.
Sitecore 10.x: The Full List of Features
Some of the latest features and updates in Sitecore 10.x include the following:
Sitecore Containers
One of the most important new features in Sitecore 10 is its full support for containers. While this was already possible with Sitecore 9.3, now it is included by default. Sitecore containers can now leverage Docker and Kubernetes for faster Infrastructure-as-Code deployments, better collaboration, and team onboarding.
Headless Development With ASP.NET Core
With the introduction of an enhanced Sitecore headless development experience on ASP.NET Core, upgrading to Sitecore XP 10.x enables your team to develop omnichannel Sitecore applications faster and more efficiently.
Next.js SDK
Upgrading to Sitecore XP 10.1 enables you to take advantage of its support for the Next.js SDK. This ensures Jamstack support for JavaScript-based Sitecore applications, leading to faster loading times and easier scaling.
Editing Experience
Sitecore XP 10.0 and subsequent versions offer even more editing options with the Horizon editing interface. These versions provide enhanced SXA support, multisite and multilingual deployments, real-time analytics, and device-specific previews.
Sitecore AI Auto-personalization
The Sitecore AI Auto-personalization feature available on Sitecore XP 10.1 and beyond helps to track visitor trends, define customer personas, and customize website elements for a more personalized user experience.
Managed Cloud
Sitecore XP versions prior to 9.x are not supported on the Managed Cloud. Upgrading to 10.x allows you to take advantage of Sitecore on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform in a Managed Services environment. This translates into easy deployment, reduced infrastructure costs, greater flexibility and scalability, and high availability.
Content Hub Integration
Remove inefficiencies within your content production processes, gain control over the end-to-end content lifecycle, and optimize both content production and personalized delivery by integrating Sitecore Content Hub with Sitecore XP 10.x. This integration provides a seamless connection between your content planning, creation, collaboration, and management tools and your content delivery and customer data platform and management capabilities.
Marketing Automation & SFMC
In Sitecore XP 10.x, brands can deliver better marketing campaigns by leveraging Sitecore Marketing Automation. It enables you to integrate directly with Salesforce products in real-time, making it easier and faster to automate and react to events for better marketing campaigns and data analysis.
Subscription Model
Subscription/Cloud allows you to plan your budgets over the life of the contract, with the opportunity to add as many production systems and as many users as you need at no extra cost.
How to Upgrade to Sitecore 10
Upgrading Sitecore can be a tricky, time-consuming task, especially when you consider the complications that can arise depending on your existing Sitecore version. But failing to upgrade can lead to even greater problems such as a buggy and unstable platform with poor security, reduced productivity, and lost opportunities. This challenge is why it’s important to upgrade now.
If you’re upgrading from Sitecore XP 8.1 or later versions, it’s a straightforward upgrade to Sitecore 10.x. However, this isn’t a simple process for older versions before Sitecore XP 8.1. No matter what the migration option is, it’s best to seek out an experienced Sitecore partner like Oshyn to help out.
Oshyn is a certified Sitecore partner that has worked with several brands and agencies across the globe. With a team that consists of over 25 Sitecore developers, analysts, and designers, Oshyn helps businesses build remarkable digital experiences that align with their business goals.
Moreover, Oshyn has developed its own proprietary technology that enables faster and more cost-effective upgrades than conventional upgrade timelines and costs. Choosing the cheapest upgrade solution is not always the best since you’ll still end up needing an expert hand to resolve upgrade issues.
Learn more about Oshyn’s Sitecore upgrade services.
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