Magento 2 offers businesses an opportunity to build their sites around a new, state-of-the-art platform built for today’s ecommerce industry demands. While the initial release may have come with mixed reviews, Magento has made major updates to the platform to improve stability and deliver on the true promise of the new system. For example, a recent update from Magento detailed security improvements, performance enhancements, new payment functions that allow for streamlined processes when using PayPal and Braintree, upgrades to CSV file management and better configurable product management tools. These capabilities highlight Magento’s commitment to continuing to improve Magento 2 even though the solution is still a fairly recent release.
An Econsultancy report discussing the rise of Magento 2 emphasized this focus on continued improvement as a key benefit of the new ecommerce platform. The news source pointed out that Magento 2 has been getting positive feedback since it originally released in late 2015, but the performance and functionality gains have been met with some questions about lack of stability. Now that Magento has addressed those issues, businesses can focus on how they go about moving from Magento 1 to Magento 2 instead of wondering if they should do so at all.
With the time for Magento 2 migration at hand, consider these three tips to ensure a smooth transition:
1. Do your homework
Econsultancy pointed out that the Magento 2 platform isn’t an iterative upgrade to an earlier version of Magento. This isn’t like going from a 1.8 iteration of a software system to 1.9. Magento 2 represents an entirely new platform and businesses need to approach the move accordingly. This means carefully analyzing what they want the new site to achieve and which technical issues need to be addressed during the transition.
Preparing for the new platform isn’t just about strategic issues either. The news source explained that the underlying technical architecture that underpins Magento 2 is vastly different than that of Magento 1. Developers will need resources to learn the new system and understand the architecture they will be working within. This doesn’t just apply to design and development issues either, but must also be considered in terms of data migration.
Many of these functions can be handled with an ecommerce agency, allowing your internal team to take advantage of third-party specialists with dedicated Magento expertise.
“Recent enhancements to Magento 2.0 lay the groundwork for a stable, high-performance configuration.”
2. Build a team and use it to test
Creating a strong ecommerce team is critical in ensuring a smooth transition onto a new platform, Econsultancy explained. While specialized technical skills will likely be helpful on this team, it is also important to connect various stakeholders within this central group. Representatives from management, production and administrative departments, for example, can all be beneficial in leading the charge to Magento 2.
Establishing a good team is an important early step in Magento 2.0 migration, and it is essential to put that group to use in testing the new site over time. This includes formalized tests across a variety of departments to ensure the site performs as expected in practice. Econsultancy explained that testing should be considered absolutely essential and is vital to making a move to Magento 2.
3. Consider business goals
Up to this point, we’ve primarily discussed the major technical issues that come with launching Magento, though building a good team is about both technical and cultural change. It is also important to consider how moving onto a new platform can allow organizations to establish new practices that better align with overarching business goals. Whether this involves improving the site’s backend setup to align with business processes, enacting workflows that weren’t possible on the old site or otherwise altering core capabilities, a new platform represents an opportunity to drive value creation through positive change.
Magento 2 migration may seem like a daunting task. However, recent enhancements to the platform lay the groundwork for a stable, high-performance configuration. With this in mind, organizations that plan effectively can set themselves up for an efficient move to the new platform. At Pixafy, we have a team of Magento development experts on hand to help too, giving you the support and expertise you need to handle the most demanding elements of a switch to Magento 2. Let’s set up an initial call.
