Sitecore XM Cloud has been making waves as the next-generation cloud CMS. It not only provides tools to manage and optimize digital customer experience but SaaS-based functionalities that the previous Sitecore content management systems lacked.

Besides, its composable capabilities combined with the benefits of the cloud, make it the most efficient and fastest CMS available. A move to XM Cloud from your current Sitecore platform might seem exciting yet challenging. But then it all depends. Let’s say you have a new website that you’re building from the ground up, in that case implementing a new platform is a breeze. However, if you are a user of XP, ASP.Net, or MVC, a rebuild or redesign might not be the most prudent choice. Apart from this, the most crucial assessment is, of course, your business requirements.

The Shift from Monolithic to Composable

The very basis of XM Cloud is its composable nature. While the XM Cloud’s composability allows you to choose tools and products from vendors of your choice in the previous monolithic-based versions like Sitecore XP and XM it was impossible to update or separate the features without replacing the entire platform.

Needless to say, businesses today are going the composable way which is what Sitecore also gauged and hence came up with a headless product to cater to the increasing demand. Let’s assess a few advantages and challenges of migrating to Sitecore XM Cloud.

Advantages of Migrating to Sitecore XM Cloud

Swift Updates & Composability: You don’t need to worry about updating your software manually since the SaaS-based capabilities of XM Cloud will deliver new features and updates automatically. You can purchase solutions independently and build the best-of-breed MarTech stack that features the right tools for your business.

Elastic Scaling & Adaptability: No more getting bogged down because of traffic demands. With elastic scaling, you can forget about dealing with an influx of customers and traffic in the peak season. Brands need to adapt to the constantly changing customer expectations and market. Sitecore XM Cloud makes it easier for you to adapt to such changes and launch campaigns and go to market more swiftly.

Multichannel Content Management: With XM Cloud, you don’t have to think twice about multichannel content. It reuses the same content for multiple platforms and channels saving you time and resources. Also, it helps both your development and marketing teams by providing content authoring workflows, intuitive interfaces, and frameworks and technologies.

Challenges of Migrating to Sitecore XM Cloud

For Sitecore users, the move must be a well-thought-out one. As we mentioned above, a switch from monolithic to composable would lead to drastic changes which could be slightly challenging to adjust to. Let’s see what these are.

Features: Tracking, testing, and personalization are included in the XM Cloud suite through limited Sitecore CDP and Sitecore Personalize. Both CDP and Personalize work in a different manner than the traditional Sitecore. What does that mean? It essentially means that you must recreate track, test, and personalize if you want to use them.

License: This goes without saying. Since XM Cloud is a new product, you will need to buy a different license for it. And, the XM Cloud license is different for every customer, based on their needs. Generally, the factors that determine the cost include users per month to the number of features you want.

Caching: Content Management Systems usually have a layer of caching for easy retrieval of content but since XM Cloud is built on traditional Sitecore, it lacks that layer. What you would rather get is Experience Edge for XM Cloud caching, for which you need to pay.

In addition to this, there are a few more aspects that you need to factor in before you move to the XM Cloud. Take the delivery process for instance. It is different from the traditional Sitecore workflow, i.e., if you haven’t used Sitecore Headless Services (JSS) to build your sites then getting acquainted with XM Cloud might take some effort.