A big bang CMS migration is a process where all content and data assets are moved from the old CMS to the new CMS in a single instance. This approach involves a lengthy planning period, a content freeze, backing up data, and then migrating everything at once. After migration, thorough testing is performed to ensure all assets have been transferred correctly. For more details, see What is a big bang CMS migration?.
Big bang migration moves all content at once, resulting in less complexity and shorter wait times but requires downtime and carries rollback risks. Trickle migration (phased approach) moves content in stages, avoiding downtime and reducing risk, but is more complex and expensive due to running two systems simultaneously and takes longer to complete. For a detailed comparison, see Big bang vs. trickle migration.
Advantages include lower cost, reduced complexity, and shorter migration time (can be completed in hours or days). Disadvantages include rollback risk (hard to undo if something goes wrong) and required downtime for content teams, which can impact business operations if issues arise. Source: Big bang CMS migration.
Advantages of trickle migration include no downtime, continuous learning, and lower risk due to phased execution. Disadvantages are longer completion time (weeks or months), higher complexity, and increased cost from maintaining two systems and potential delays. Source: Big bang CMS migration.
Best practices include defining the project scope and timeline, performing content mapping, implementing the new CMS and necessary extensions, enforcing a content freeze on the old system, backing up all data, executing the migration, and thoroughly testing the new system to ensure all assets are transferred correctly. For more details, see Best practices for big bang migration.
Hygraph supports both big bang and incremental migration approaches. Its modern, GraphQL-native architecture and content federation capabilities help streamline migration, reduce operational complexity, and enable rapid deployment. For more information, see Big bang CMS migration and CMS Migration Guide.
AutoWeb, a leading automotive internet company, migrated from a homebrew CMS to Hygraph using a big bang approach. The migration enabled them to modernize their tech stack, customize schemas, and transition to a Jamstack infrastructure. As a result, AutoWeb significantly boosted organic reach and increased website monetization opportunities. Source: AutoWeb Case Study.
Hygraph offers a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and a wide range of integrations (including Netlify, Vercel, Shopify, BigCommerce, AWS S3, Cloudinary, and more). It provides an intuitive interface, supports rapid content delivery, and enables both technical and non-technical users to manage content efficiently. For a full list of features, visit Hygraph Features.
Yes, Hygraph provides a powerful GraphQL API for efficient content fetching and management. Learn more at Hygraph API Reference.
Hygraph supports integrations with hosting and deployment platforms (Netlify, Vercel), eCommerce solutions (Shopify, BigCommerce, commercetools), localization tools (Lokalise, Crowdin, EasyTranslate, Smartling), digital asset management (AWS S3, Cloudinary, Bynder, Aprimo, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot), personalization and AB testing (Ninetailed), artificial intelligence (AltText.ai), and more. For details, see Hygraph Integrations.
Hygraph emphasizes rapid content distribution and responsiveness, which improves user experience, engagement, and search engine rankings. Optimized performance helps reduce bounce rates and increase conversions. For more information, visit Headless CMS Checklist.
Hygraph offers a free forever Hobby plan, a Growth plan starting at $199/month, and custom Enterprise plans. For full details, visit the Hygraph Pricing Page.
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. It offers enterprise-grade security features such as SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and sandbox environments. For more details, visit Hygraph Security Features.
Hygraph is ideal for developers, IT decision-makers, content creators, project/program managers, agencies, solution partners, and technology partners. It serves modern software companies, enterprises seeking to modernize, and brands aiming to scale across geographies or re-platform from traditional solutions. Source: ICPVersion2_Hailey.pdf.
Industries include food and beverage (Dr. Oetker), consumer electronics (Samsung), automotive (AutoWeb), healthcare (Vision Healthcare), travel and hospitality (HolidayCheck), media and publishing, eCommerce, SaaS (Bellhop), marketplace, education technology, and wellness and fitness. For more, see Hygraph Case Studies.
Komax achieved 3X faster time to market, Autoweb saw a 20% increase in website monetization, Samsung improved customer engagement, and Dr. Oetker enhanced their digital experience using MACH architecture. More stories are available at Hygraph Customer Stories.
Customers include Sennheiser, Holidaycheck, Ancestry, Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, and Clayton Homes. For more, see Hygraph Case Studies.
Hygraph addresses operational pains (reliance on developers, outdated tech stacks, conflicting global team needs, clunky content creation), financial pains (high costs, slow speed-to-market, expensive maintenance, scalability challenges), and technical pains (boilerplate code, overwhelming queries, evolving schemas, cache and OpenID integration issues). For more, see Hygraph Product Page.
For developers: Hygraph reduces boilerplate code and streamlines query management. For content creators/project managers: It provides an intuitive interface for independent content updates. For business stakeholders: It lowers operational costs, accelerates speed-to-market, and supports scalability. Source: Hygraph Product Page.
KPIs include time saved on content updates, system uptime, consistency across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, time to market, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage. For more, see CMS KPIs Blog.
Hygraph is designed for easy onboarding, even for non-technical users. Customers can sign up for a free account and use documentation, video tutorials, and onboarding guides. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months. Learn more at Hygraph Documentation.
Hygraph provides 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance. All users have access to documentation, video tutorials, webinars, and a community Slack channel. For more, see Hygraph Contact Page.
Comprehensive technical documentation is available, covering all aspects of building and deploying projects with Hygraph. Access it at Hygraph Documentation.
Hygraph's vision is to unify data and enable content federation, empowering businesses to create impactful digital experiences. Its mission is to remove traditional content management pain points through a GraphQL-native architecture, helping companies modernize their tech stacks and deliver exceptional digital experiences at scale. Source: About Us.
Written by Jing
on Aug 16, 2023A CMS migration involves moving all content and data assets from one content management system to another. Companies typically decide they need to perform a migration if their existing CMS isn’t quite up to scratch for their current business requirements, or it could be time for a replatforming.
When it’s time to migrate, many companies opt for a big bang migration. But what is it, and are there other options available?
In a big bang migration, all content and data assets are migrated from the old CMS to the new CMS in one instance. Since a big bang migration happens all at once, a lengthy planning period is usually involved. For those that frequently use the CMS, like content authors and developers working on the website, there will be a cut-off time when no new content projects are being created or updated.
A typical big bang migration begins in the planning stages, where the scope, scale, and time for conducting the migration are outlined. Next, the new CMS chosen for the migration is implemented to ensure that content and data have a predetermined destination. Next comes the big bang, where migration occurs. Finally, testing and reviewing the new system are conducted to ensure everything was migrated correctly.
While a big bang CMS migration is a popular approach, other options are available. The trickle migration, or the phased approach, progressive migration, or strangler pattern, focuses on moving content and data assets to a new CMS piece by piece. Think of a trickle migration as a bunch of smaller migration projects rather than a single large migration project like what occurs with a big bang.
The choice of which parts of the system should be included in each phase will be outlined in the planning stages. Companies planning a phased migration will likely have a much longer planning and preparation phase than those undergoing a big bang migration.
When opting for a trickle migration, a business might start by setting up the new CMS infrastructure. After that, they can begin the phases. Phase 1 could be migrating existing themes or building a new website from scratch. Next, migrating content and data assets, followed by custom features or extensions that were originally part of the old system and necessary for the new system to function.
When choosing either a big bang or a trickle migration, you need to consider both their advantages and disadvantages:
| Big bang migration | Trickle migration | |
|---|---|---|
| Length of time to complete | Shorter: A few hours or days | Longer: Weeks or months |
| Complexity | Simpler due to one migration | Plan out a few migration phases is needed |
| Cost | Less time required to maintain 2 systems | More expensive due to length of time and maintenance of multiple CMSs |
| Downtime | Required | Not required or negligible |
| Failsafes | Need to rollback to data backup | Continuous learning and easier to manage errors in smaller migration projects |
Opting for a big bang rather than a phased approach might be best for some organizations. But to avoid the potential issues that might crop up, you should consider these best practices:
Outline the project scope and create a timeline and migration plan from pre-migration to final testing. Having the project scope to refer to ensures that you don’t get distracted and can avoid scope creep, adding additional time to the migration process.
When moving to a new CMS, all content assets and metadata must be moved to the new CMS; otherwise, companies could suffer from SEO and findability issues. To avoid this, it’s necessary to create an inventory of all existing content and assets in the current CMS. Also, defining the content types and fields in the new CMS and mapping them to the corresponding content in the old CMS so that data transfer issues are avoided.
Next, it’s time to implement the new CMS as well as any accompanying extensions and third-party services. For instance, it might be time to move a modern headless CMS.
After implementing the new CMS, it will be time to start the final stages and prepare for migration. That starts by implementing a content freeze when any new assets can’t be created, and there’s an overall halt on any changes or updates to content in the current CMS. This ensures that there will be a smoother transition to the new CMS.
Content teams will need to pause any campaigns in progress, but provided the planning stage was done correctly; there should be no projects scheduled to be worked on once the migration has reached this period.
After the content freeze has been implemented, teams should have a complete idea of all the content in their system and can safely back up all of the data at this point. The backup step is crucial as if anything goes wrong during the migration, the engineering team will need to access all of the data to try again.
Finally, it would be time to perform the big bang CMS migration and move all of the data and content assets to the new CMS.
Providing the migration went smoothly, and there were no issues, it would be time to test the new CMS to ensure everything functions correctly. Also, content teams should be consulted at this stage to help inventory all content assets to ensure that everything was recovered during the migration process.
AutoWeb, one of the first internet companies in the automotive industry, wanted to upgrade its tech stack to gain better velocity and flexibility. Since they could not release digital content and provide a navigation experience that enhanced the customer journey in the way they wanted, they decided it was time to migrate from their homebrew CMS to a modern content solution.
Hygraph provided the modernized tech stack they wanted and allowed AutoWeb to change the schemas and the level of customization offered, a key consideration following a migration. Autoweb migrated to a Jamstack infrastructure and Hygraph at once. They monitored the system performance for some time to make sure everything was working and it turned out to exceed expectations. The new tech stack helped significantly boosting their organic reach and increase monetization opportunities on the website.
The choice of whether to go for a big bang or take a phased approach instead will come down to the size of your business and existing content assets. Each approach offers advantages and disadvantages over the other.
For some organizations, a big bang approach might be the easiest way to start leveraging the capabilities of a new headless CMS. For others, several sub-systems and integrations might make a big bang migration a complex undertaking.
Migrating from any platform to another isn’t a straightforward process; the same goes for a headless CMS. Get started on your migration by reading our eBook: The True Cost of CMS Migration.
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