Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) are vital for delivering personalized, scalable, and seamless digital experiences. However, as the digital landscape evolves, so do the expectations placed on these platforms.
For many organizations, the cracks in their legacy systems are becoming harder to ignore. Outdated architectures, limited functionalities, and the inability to integrate with modern tools aren’t just inconveniences, they’re barriers to growth, agility, and innovation.
DXP migration and replatforming isn’t just about upgrading technology, it’s about addressing the fundamental gaps in your digital strategy.
At their core, replatforming and migration address the need to transition from outdated systems, but they differ significantly in scope and impact.
Migration involves transferring content or data to a new platform with minimal changes to architecture or functionality. It’s akin to moving your belongings to a new house without altering the layout.
Replatforming is a more comprehensive overhaul. It entails shifting to a completely new system, often rethinking architecture, user experience, and integrations for better scalability and modernization.
A leading manufacturer of composite construction materials faced challenges such as
As a solution, the experts at Axelerant helped transform their digital experience by building a unified, multilingual DXP using Acquia DAM, Acquia PIM, Drupal Commerce, and HubSpot. The revamped website interface and streamlined navigation enhanced user experience, leading to higher satisfaction and increased conversions.
The integration of Acquia DAM and Acquia PIM consolidated their digital assets and product data into a unified platform, enabling seamless collaboration and efficient content management. Automated workflows, robust metadata tagging, and improved omnichannel coordination streamlined operations and ensured consistent branding across platforms.
Understanding the major differences between these two approaches is essential to making the right choice for your business:
| Aspect |
Migration |
Replatforming |
| Scope |
Focused on moving content or data. |
Involves a complete overhaul of the system. |
| Changes |
Minimal, primarily backend adjustments. |
Extensive, including architecture and UX redesign. |
| Purpose |
Address immediate needs like updates. |
Enable long-term scalability and modernization. |
| Cost |
Lower upfront investment. |
Higher upfront cost but greater ROI over time. |
| Timeline |
Shorter, as changes are incremental. |
Longer, requiring detailed planning and execution. |
| Use Case |
Ideal for version upgrades or patch fixes. |
Suited for evolving business models and growth. |
Replatforming is a significant undertaking that involves more than just adopting a new platform. It’s an opportunity to rethink your digital strategy and align your tools with future needs. Here are the key considerations to ensure a successful transformation:
Replatforming offers a chance to modernize your content architecture:
The process provides an opportunity to reimagine user experiences:
One of the critical advantages of replatforming is preparing your system for growth:
Successful adoption of a new platform requires addressing the human element:
A structured approach to planning ensures the replatforming aligns with business goals:
Replatforming is not just a technical upgrade but a strategic investment:
The Office Of The High Commissioner For Human Rights (OHCHR), a leading UN entity on human rights, had its data spread across three separate websites, OHCHR.org, the Human Rights Council website, and the Stand Up 4 Human Rights campaign site. This fragmentation led to inconsistent branding and navigation issues.
The primary site, hosted on SharePoint, also lacked a decentralized content management system (CMS) with defined user roles. This complicated content publishing and management across six official UN languages.
Axelerant helped OHCHR consolidate the disparate websites into a unified platform powered by Drupal 9. This transition provided a decentralized CMS, enabling defined user roles and streamlined content management.
The overhaul also included a reimagined user experience (UX) design and an improved information architecture. This enhanced usability across devices and ensured accessibility for visually impaired users.
Depending on your goals and business requirements, DXP replatforming provides multiple long-term impacts.
Replatforming lays the foundation for sustained digital growth. With platforms like Drupal and Acquia DXP, organizations benefit from:
Modern DXPs redefine flexibility and adaptability by enabling businesses to adopt emerging technologies and paradigms like:
The University of East London, founded in 1898, is ranked in the world’s top 250 young universities. The university’s vision is to advance knowledge and drive innovation for positive change.
UEL’s website provides information on courses, admissions, careers, and research opportunities. The old website existed on Sitecore, and UEL needed a platform with better system performance, flexibility, personalization, and security.
Axelerant helped UEL replatform from Sitecore to Drupal. The new website offers improved functionalities such as advanced course search, personalization, and a unified content hub. It is equipped to better understand user access and evaluate the site's data, thus enabling student retention through personalization. This resulted in:
The experts at Axelerant can help you plan your business’s digital transformation to achieve similar results.
Join Prateek Jain, Director of Digital Experience Platform Services at Axelerant, alongside experts Abhishek Dhariwal, Panshul Khurana, and Sabreena Khursheed as they break down the essentials of DXP replatforming in the first episode of “Deconstructing DXP Replatforming And Migration."