Should you delay your CMS upgrade? Eight reasons to upgrade sooner.

One of the decisions that our clients sometimes struggle with is when to upgrade their CMS or DXP. Upgrades are often regarded somewhat negatively, an unwanted obligation, cost, and distraction rather than an exciting opportunity for improvement.

There are lots of reasons for this perception, including:

• Upgrades are not necessarily exciting and may be delaying a more interesting project.
• The associated costs may swallow up the majority of that year’s digital marketing budget.
• The team may have no choice in carrying out an upgrade as a version comes to   end of support, so it feels like a decision that has been imposed on them.
• There may be no perceived immediate benefits to either customers or the marketing team from the upgrade.
• There may be a perception that the upgrade will be complicated and probably quite tedious with hours of testing ahead.

Of course, some of these points are valid. Upgrades can be expensive, particularly if you have not upgraded for a long time or have a lot of customisations. They can also involve testing, although our upgrade methodology means the work for the digital marketing team is usually quite light. 

Eight reasons not to delay your CMS upgrade

One reason that amplifies negative perceptions of upgrades is that organisations tend to wait to upgrade. That ticking clock makes it feel like the project and its timing is forced upon you, makes it more expensive, and limits your flexibility. In fact, there are several advantages to not delaying an upgrade. 

1. Ensure you control the timing

The more you delay an upgrade the less control you have over its timing. As you get closer to the "end of life" of your solution there may be fewer convenient windows for the implementation; when the team is not busy, when there isn’t that annual marketing push that sucks up everyone’s time, or when your digital agency has capacity.
Although upgrades involve less work for the team than they tend to think, being forced into an awkward timing can put pressure on small teams and cause disruption.

2. Avoid security and performance issues

The single most likely factor to force a CMS upgrade is the fear of going out of support and therefore triggering a security risk. Ensuring cybersecurity and data privacy are non-negotiable.
Your CMS also may face performance issues. Even if the risk of there being a security or performance issue might be relatively low, it is always better to be in a position of strength.

3. Don’t build up technical debt

One of the reasons many marketing teams try to minimise CMS customisation is because it builds up technical debt which in turn makes upgrade more complex and costly. Custom development can be integral for some websites and digital custom experiences, but it does mean there will be likely further custom work to address on the upgrade and testing. If your site continues to add more customisation over time, then delaying an upgrade will increase the work that needs to be done.

4. Reduce costs

The longer you leave an upgrade there is a likelihood that the associated costs will increase. As already noted, this may be because of increased customisation, but it can also be for other reasons:

• Your CMS might not be one release cycle before the latest version, but three of four, depending on how late you leave the upgrade. The greater the number of versions you are behind, the greater potential for a more complex and expensive upgrade.
• The closer you get to “end of life” of your release some digital agencies know you don’t have a choice so can charge more for their services. (We don’t do that by the way!) There also may be fewer developers familiar with your old version of your CMS so they may also be able to charge a higher hourly rate.

5. Earlier access to features

Upgrades bring additional functionality and features, fix issues and sometime drive deeper changes which then enable more benefits later down the line. Some releases bring stability, performance improvements, and more robust security. Whatever the benefit, delaying your upgrade means it is longer before your digital marketing team and website unlock this value. Often this is felt most keenly when teams do not have early access to key tools that would be useful for a particular project or must put up with glitchy performances and painful interfaces longer than they have to.

6. Enable less painful future upgrades

The CMS and DXP vendors recognise that upgrades are regarded as painful by many teams. Some of them have moved to versions and release schedules where upgrades are easier, less burdensome, and more predictable. We have seen this with Umbraco in recent years. 
If you are on a much earlier version of a CMS that has made the upgrade process easier, it can be worth the effort to invest in an upgrade to enable future upgrades that don’t take up all your time and half your annual budget. 

7. Avoid inertia and delays for future projects

When you have an upgrade that must be carried out it can lead to other plans being delayed. "We’d be better waiting to do this after the upgrade" becomes the default position on implementing any major change or improvement. While it might be true that it is better to wait – particularly if a change you want to make will be easier thanks to enhancements from the upgrade – it can lead to inertia and no changes to your website for months and even years.

8. Flip the negative mindset

As we’ve already noted, an upgrade can feel like an obligation rather than an opportunity. The longer the upgrade is delayed, the longer this negative connotation can fester. Avoiding delays can help flip a negative mindset surrounding the upgrade to one more focused on the benefits.

Ready to upgrade?

We know that there are multiple elements to consider when thinking about upgrades and it is not always a straightforward decision. However, it is also worth thinking about the consequences of delaying.
If you would like to discuss a CMS upgrade or its timing, then get in touch!