So long, Kentico 12: Making the transition to Kentico Xperience 13 MVC

There are a few certain things in life: death, taxes, and the inevitable sunset of the technology you’ve grown to love—in this case, Kentico 12. Companies running on Kentico 12 Portal Engine have about a year’s worth of runway left (they’ve been rather generous with the roadmap) before the platform is no longer supported. This means a couple of things:

• It’s time to think about upgrading to Kentico 13 MVC, or

• Embrace the chaos and inconvenience of running on an unsupported platform

For everyone’s sake, we hope you pick option 1.

Rebuilding on Kentico MVC 13

If you’re happy with Kentico as a DXP, the answer here is simple: just rebuild on Kentico MVC 13. This comes with some advantages that (personally) we’re pretty excited about. For developers, making the full switch to MVC /.NETCore is a godsend. This is the future of the Microsoft tech stack and will get you fully aligned for the road ahead. Plus, Kentico has already plotted out updates to the platform, which will continue making enhancements easy. For marketers, the platform’s expanded capabilities as an all-in-one marketing powerhouse gives your team the core tools and analytics needed to maximize your goals.

We might be a little biased, but the latest version of Kentico MVC 13 is a solid, robust, and easy-to-use platform for organizations of a variety of sizes and types.

Chart your digital roadmap

The good news is, you’ve got some time, and this is a great time to work your rebuild into your larger digital roadmap. If you don’t already have a digital roadmap—or if yours got derailed due to market uncertainty—starting with the knowledge that you’ll need to rebuild is a good first step. Here are some things to consider in your initial planning stages:

1 - Align your rebuild with a redesign or brand refresh.

This might sound like making an already-complex and large project even larger, but it does avoid duplication of work in the long run. You could do a “lift-and-shift”—rebuilding on Kentico 13 MVC or another platform just as your site currently is, and then making design and content updates later—but combining the two to just get it done is much more efficient.

Chances are that once you start exploring the features of Kentico 13 MVC or your chosen platform, you’ll have some ideas as to how to optimize your user experience and your workflows, so the two go hand-in-hand.

2 - Audit and review your content and analytics.

One of the great things about rebuilding is it’s just like moving—the perfect time to go through all your stuff and clear out what’s no longer serving you. Doing a comprehensive audit of your content and comparing that to your analytics will show you what content is worth keeping and what’s not serving your audiences.

In terms of your roadmap, this will also give you insights into what needs to be created in the future. This could be as simple as consolidating video content into a library, or as innovative as seeing trends that make the case for personalization. Doing this in parallel with planning your rebuild will get you to the finish line faster.

3 - Consider how your team works.

The Great Reshuffling has upended a lot of marketing departments, so it’s likely that you’ve got a new set of skills at your disposal, and perhaps some new gaps. Take a close look at your in-house talent (both current and planned) and map that to your approach to rebuilding. For some, it may make sense to have some in-house development resources, and for others, outsourcing is the best route. It all depends on what you hope to gain and where your organization is headed, strategically-speaking.

4 - Daydream a little.

Roadmapping is both about the here-and-now and the infinite possibilities of the future. It’s a little like that age-old interview question: “Where do you see yourself in three years?” When you’re rebuilding, you have to keep one eye on both, especially with an investment like platform choice. Whether you decide to stay on Kentico 13 MVC or go with another platform, you’re going to want to understand what each offers in the long term, like support, user communities, integration with your CRM and tech stack.

Your trusted agency partner will be able to guide you through this visioning, and will be by your side over the course of your chosen solution.

Rebuilding is an opportunity

Legendary innovator Thomas Ediston is credited with saying, “Opportunity is missed by most people, because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work,” and this is quite true in this case. A rebuild is a big undertaking, with many moving parts, and lots to consider both before you get started, and all along the way. When you align your rebuild with your digital roadmap, however, the picture of what needs to happen and when will make decision-making and planning much easier.

We’re here to help

As Kentico Gold partners, we’ve launched over 300 Kentico websites for healthcare, nonprofit, B2B, and ecommerce clients. We have a solid knowledge of best practices to build these sites to be efficient and powerful marketing tools. We also have capabilities with Wordpress, Kontent.ai, Sitecore, Storyblok, and several other platforms, and are adept at helping our clients choose the platform that will best fit their business needs. Learn more about our approach to choosing a CMS, and drop us a line to chat about your replatforming project.