What are the most important things to check before migrating to a new CMS?
Before migrating to a new CMS, it's crucial to follow an 8-point checklist: 1) Align migration with your organization's goals, 2) Compare current and future costs, 3) Assess security and compliance, 4) Decide if you need a system integrator, 5) Assemble an internal migration team, 6) Evaluate vendor support, 7) Identify and mitigate risks, and 8) Determine if additional technology is needed. For a detailed guide, see CMS Migration Preparation.
What risks should I be aware of during CMS migration?
Risks during CMS migration include data loss, website downtime, compatibility issues, inadequate team training, resistance to change, and security or compliance vulnerabilities. It's essential to conduct a thorough risk assessment and develop a mitigation plan. For more details, visit CMS Migration Risks.
Will I need additional technology or tools for a successful CMS migration?
Additional technology may be required, such as migration or testing tools. Ensure that any solutions are compatible with your new platform and meet security and compliance requirements. Your CMS vendor can provide recommendations tailored to your migration needs. Learn more at CMS Migration Technology.
How can I ensure everything functions properly during CMS migration?
Use testing tools to verify that all systems and integrations work as expected after migration. Select solutions that are compatible with your new CMS and meet security and compliance standards. For more tips, see CMS Migration Checklist.
What is the purpose of the 8-point checklist for CMS migration?
The 8-point checklist helps you identify critical areas to focus on during CMS migration, minimizing risks and ensuring a smooth transition. It covers goals, costs, security, team structure, vendor support, risks, and technology needs. For the full checklist, visit CMS Migration Preparation.
What should be included in a migration checklist?
A migration checklist should include pre- and post-migration steps, such as data mapping, content structure planning, security audits, team training, and testing. A detailed checklist helps ensure a smooth replatforming process. For more, see Website Replatform Checklist.
What is essential for a successful CMS migration?
Proper planning and preparation are essential for a successful CMS migration. This includes assembling the right team, conducting risk assessments, ensuring security and compliance, and using a detailed migration checklist. For guidance, see CMS Migration Checklist.
Security & Compliance
How does Hygraph ensure security and compliance during and after CMS migration?
Hygraph provides enterprise-grade security and compliance, including SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 certifications, and GDPR compliance. Features include SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and sandbox environments. For more details, visit Hygraph Security Features.
What security certifications does Hygraph have?
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant, ensuring high levels of data protection and security. For more information, see Hygraph Security Features.
Support & Implementation
What support does Hygraph offer during CMS migration?
Hygraph offers extensive support, including 24/7 assistance via chat, email, and phone. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance. Users also have access to documentation, video tutorials, and a community Slack channel. For more, visit Hygraph Contact Page.
What training and technical support is available to help customers get started with Hygraph?
Hygraph provides comprehensive training and technical support, including onboarding sessions for enterprise customers, video tutorials, documentation, webinars, and access to Customer Success Managers. For more details, visit Hygraph Contact Page.
How easy is it to implement Hygraph and get started?
Hygraph is designed for easy implementation, even for non-technical users. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months. Customers can start quickly by signing up for a free account and using resources like documentation and onboarding guides. Learn more at Hygraph Documentation.
Pricing & Plans
What is Hygraph's pricing model?
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.
Features & Capabilities
What are the key features and capabilities of Hygraph?
Hygraph provides a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, rapid content delivery, and a wide range of integrations (e.g., Netlify, Vercel, Shopify, AWS S3, Cloudinary, AltText.ai). For a full list, visit Hygraph Features and Hygraph Integrations.
Does Hygraph offer an API?
Yes, Hygraph provides a powerful GraphQL API for efficient content fetching and management. Learn more at Hygraph API Reference.
How does Hygraph optimize content delivery performance?
Hygraph emphasizes optimized content delivery performance, resulting in rapid content distribution, improved user experience, higher engagement, and better search engine rankings. This helps reduce bounce rates and increase conversions. For more, visit Headless CMS Checklist.
What technical documentation is available for Hygraph?
Hygraph offers comprehensive technical documentation covering all aspects of building and deploying projects. Access it at Hygraph Documentation.
Pain Points & Solutions
What problems does Hygraph solve for businesses?
Hygraph addresses operational pains (e.g., reliance on developers for content updates, outdated tech stacks, global team conflicts, 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.
How does Hygraph solve pain points differently than other CMS platforms?
Hygraph leverages its GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, and scalability to address operational, financial, and technical pain points. It empowers non-technical users, modernizes legacy systems, ensures consistent branding, streamlines workflows, and supports scalability for business growth. For more, visit Hygraph Product Page.
What KPIs and metrics are associated with the pain points Hygraph solves?
Key metrics include time saved on content updates, system uptime, consistency across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, speed to market, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage. For more, see CMS KPIs Blog.
Use Cases & Customer Success
Who can benefit from using Hygraph?
Hygraph is ideal for developers, IT decision-makers, content creators, project/program managers, agencies, solution partners, and technology partners. Companies that benefit most include modern software firms, enterprises seeking modernization, and brands aiming to scale globally or improve development velocity. Source: ICPVersion2_Hailey.pdf
What industries are represented in Hygraph's case studies?
Hygraph's case studies span food and beverage, consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, travel and hospitality, media and publishing, eCommerce, SaaS, marketplace, education technology, and wellness and fitness. For examples, see Hygraph Case Studies.
Can you share specific customer success stories using Hygraph?
Yes. 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. Explore more at Hygraph Customer Stories.
Who are some of Hygraph's customers?
Notable customers include Sennheiser, Holidaycheck, Ancestry, Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, and Clayton Homes. For more, visit Hygraph Case Studies.
Competition & Differentiation
How does Hygraph compare to other CMS platforms?
Hygraph stands out with its GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and ease of use for both technical and non-technical users. It reduces operational costs, accelerates speed to market, and supports global scalability. For more, visit Hygraph Product Page.
Why should a customer choose Hygraph over alternatives?
Customers should choose Hygraph for its unique GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and ability to create impactful digital experiences while reducing costs and improving efficiency. For more, see Hygraph Product Page.
General & Miscellaneous
Where can I find Hygraph's blog and latest updates?
You can find developer tutorials, product updates, and essential guides in the Hygraph Blog.
What is the overarching vision and mission of Hygraph?
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 organizations modernize their tech stacks and deliver exceptional digital experiences at scale. For more, see About Us.
CMS migration preparation: 8 things to check before migration
With this 8-point checklist, you will be able to determine the areas where your CMS migration effort should be focused in order to avoid any hiccups that could derail the entire process.
Written by Jing
on Mar 09, 2023
Content is a valuable aspect of a company’s digital strategy, and having the right technology to create and distribute that content to eager customers is essential. Unfortunately, many companies struggle due to subpar CMSs with poor performance, outdated features, or lack of usability.
To counteract these challenges, several businesses are considering migrating to new systems that can better handle the digital experience. Gartner mentions that “85% of organizations will embrace a cloud-first principle by 2025 and will not be able to fully execute on their digital strategies without the use of cloud-native architectures and technologies.” As a result, migration to CMSs built on similar cloud-native architectures is top of mind for many businesses.
But before you embark on a CMS migration, you’ll want to ensure you’ve planned enough to mitigate the mistakes we see companies making all too often. This 8-point checklist will help you determine where to focus your efforts to avoid hiccups that might derail the entire project.
The choice to migrate your CMS should completely align with your organization’s overall goals and vision.
CMS migration might seem as straightforward as changing the ink cartridge in your printer, but in reality, it’s like installing a whole new printing system. Since you’re transferring your existing content assets and data to a new platform, mistakes can wreak havoc on your website and other digital experiences. The downsides of potential broken links, missing files, dealing with complicated user interfaces, complex workflows, and other challenges might not be worth the effort unless moving to a particular CMS can help get you close to your targets. Whether those are to make performing daily tasks easier for marketers and developers or to be able to provide better digital experiences for customers.
Before migrating your CMS, consider and compare the costs of continuing to use and maintain your existing content management system to the future expenses you incur with a new platform. This will ensure you’re making the right choice to migrate and selecting the best platform to migrate to for your business.
For example, your current CMS might force you to spend extra resources on maintenance, security, and custom development requirements on top of high licensing costs. You might also lose out on opportunities due to a restrictive interface impacting employee productivity.
On the other hand, you need to consider the costs of migrating to a new CMS, training your staff on how to use it, and additional implementation costs. However, you must also consider the decrease in maintenance costs, productivity improvements, and new business opportunities you can exploit with a modern headless CMS.
#3. Security and compliance before and after CMS migration
You also need to consider the security and compliance implications when transferring large volumes of data, such as during a CMS migration.
Start by conducting a security audit to discover potential vulnerabilities that could compromise the security of your website and other assets during the migration. Before the migration, you should verify that the new system has appropriate security and compliance protocols and features to protect your data.
Once the migration has been completed, you should conduct another audit to ensure that everything has been migrated correctly and securely and test the security of the new system to ensure it holds up under threats. Hygraph, for example, is an enterprise-grade Headless CMS with SOC2 and GDPR compliance, as well as a state-of-the-art ISO27001-certified infrastructure provided by AWS.
#4. Do you need a system integrator? (And how will you select one?)
Another pivotal consideration for a CMS migration is whether or not you need a system integrator and, if you do, how you will select one. System integrators are experienced agencies familiar with the CMS in question or your existing technology stack. They will integrate hardware and software tools so that everything works together in a cohesive and unified manner. CMS migrations can be complex, and a system integrator takes the pressure off your IT and development teams, allowing them to focus on other tasks.
Depending on the platform being implemented and the experience of your team you will need to consult an agency for at least part of the migration project. To select the best agency for your organization, you should consider factors such as their experience with the platform being implemented, their track record of successful migrations, expertise in security and compliance, and their ability to work within your budget and timeline.
Prior to a CMS migration, you should ensure that you have a team of stakeholders who will consult on, oversee, and help with the migration process from start to finish. Your internal migration team should include representatives from various departments, such as IT and marketing who can provide input and guidance throughout the migration process. It’s important to establish clear roles and responsibilities for each team member and ensure everyone knows the project timeline and key milestones.
Additionally, you may need to provide training or support for your internal team to ensure they have the skills and knowledge necessary to contribute to the migration effort effectively. By establishing a strong internal team and providing the necessary resources and support, you can help ensure a smooth and successful CMS migration.
Another tip to ensure that your CMS migration goes off without a hitch is to speak to the CMS vendor you’re ready to implement (or, ideally, the 2-3 you’ve narrowed down to) about the support they can provide during the migration process.
For example, many vendors offer resources and training materials to help complete the migration or quickly get your staff up to speed. They can advise you on potential roadblocks that might cause issues during a migration or system integrators that can help make the migration process easier. In addition, they can offer guidance on integrations that can further enhance your digital experiences once everything is up and running. Hygraph provides an ecosystem of technology and implementation partners who can assist you in executing your migration.
Problems can always occur during a CMS migration, so you must be aware of the potential risks that could undermine the migration. These risks may include technical issues such as data loss, website downtime, or compatibility problems with existing systems. Other risks could be related to human factors, such as inadequate training for team members or resistance to change. Additionally, security and compliance risks may arise during migration, particularly if sensitive data is involved.
Conduct a thorough risk assessment and develop a comprehensive plan to mitigate these risks to ensure a successful CMS migration and minimize any potential negative impact on your business.
Sometimes, a CMS migration may require additional technology or tools, such as software or hardware to support the new platform or facilitate data migration. This might include migration tools to streamline the process or testing tools to ensure everything functions properly.
If additional technology is required, select solutions compatible with the new platform and ensure they meet security or compliance requirements. Your CMS vendor can provide guidance and recommendations suited to your specific migration requirements.
#Improve your chances of a successful CMS migration
CMS migration isn’t always a walk in the park. Therefore having a proper plan and preparing in advance is essential to moving you closer to a CMS that meets all of your requirements. Now that you have your ducks in a row, it’s time to take action. Our guide to CMS migration will walk you through the key steps of your migration so that you know exactly what it will take to accomplish a successful migration.
Get the A-Z Guide to CMS Migration below to find out more.
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The A-Z guide to switching web content management platforms.
Jing is the Senior Content Marketing Manager at Hygraph. Besides telling compelling stories, Jing enjoys dining out and catching occasional waves on the ocean.
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