Why upgrade to Optimizely 12?

Optimizely released their 12th major version of their DXP platform about 2 years ago (at time under the Episerver brand). This was the biggest change in the platform in about 10 years with a change of the underlying technical platform from Microsoft. In this blog post we’ll go through the major benefits in upgrading to the newest version as well as a rough outline of the upgrade process. 

• Access to new functionality in the Optimizely platform
• Improved Site Performance
• Reduced Carbon Emissions
• Improved Developer Productivity 

Access to new functionality in the Optimizely Platform and Ecosystem 

Optimizely is clearly on the right track, which has been acknowledged in the latest reports from leading research firms like Gartner and Forrester (se links below). While the changes to the editorial interface do not differ dramatically between version 11 and 12, the Optimizely eco system has grown quite a lot and the Optimizely suite (now dubbed Optimizely One) has a lot more to offer than just CMS and Commerce. 

https://www.optimizely.com/insights/forrester-wave-digital-experience-platforms-q4-2023/ 

https://www.optimizely.com/insights/gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/ 

Optimizely still supports version 11 and will probably do so for quite some time, but getting up unto the latest generation of the platform ensures that you get access to new functionality which is released on a weekly basis. There’s also a rapidly growing marketplace with additions and integrations and being on the latest version unlocks a lot of these capabilities. One example of such an addition is the Epinova AI Assistant for Optimizely which aids editors for more productivity and quality. 

Improved Site Performance 

You probably already know that site performance is an important part of getting a high conversion rate for your visitors. Did you also know that site performance has been part of Googles SEO scoring algorithm for many years? The latest version of Optimizely’s DXP platform is build on top of Microsoft .NET, which is several times faster than the previously used (and similarly named) .Net Framework. There is much more to getting a performant web site than just the server speed, but this definitively is an important part of getting a top performing site. And with a fast framework, it also simplifies getting a personalized site.

Reduced Carbon Emissions 

The .NET Core framework was rebuilt with flexibility in mind. It is much more lightweight than the previous framework. This means that it needs less resources to run, which will result in less carbon emissions. For some clients, taking the leap up to the latest version of Optimizely is also a good chance to move to the cloud which can give lead to further reductions in carbon emissions (for those interested, I recommend reading cloud-computing-efficiency-IB.pdf (nrdc.org)). Most of our clients use Optimizely DXP with comes with Microsoft Azure based cloud hosting included – and running on a Nordic based cloud center is a really good way of making sure to keep down emissions. 
 
Tip: a good source to check emissions per location is https://app.electricitymaps.com/map. 

Improved Developer Productivity 

Since .Net is faster to run, it speeds up developer productivity. It’s also cross platform, meaning that developers are free to work on either Windows or Mac. If you’re not doing a lot of continues work on your web site, this might not be a big issue, but otherwise an upgrade will result in faster development cycles and thus an improved ROI of your investments in development. Also, the sharpest developers usually want to be able to work on the latest technology that makes them more productive, so lagging too far behind also means that you will not get access to the most talented developers. 

Upgrade or rebuild? 

We usually start with doing a solution review of the client’s current solution, which is a simple and standardized process where we assess the state of the current solution to be able to give recommendations depending on your current solution, needs and budget. For some solutions, a straight up upgrade totally makes sense. If this is the case, we either assign a team right away to work on it, or if preferred, we can run a first iteration where we begin the upgrade process to get a better understanding of the scope where we also produce rough estimates. 

If the solution has a high level of technical debt, it might make more sense to aim for a rebuild of the solution since upgrading and taking care of that technical debt (directly or over time) might be more costly than a rebuild. An example of when this could be the case is if the frontend layer of the solution is old and you have a need to meet the upcoming European Accessibility Act that will come into effect 2025 (https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1202&intPageId=5581&langId=en). 

Why Epinova? 

Epinova is a leading Optimizely partner in the Nordic region and we are 100% dedicated to the Optimizely platform. With almost 50 sites that we’ve either upgraded or built on top of the latest version of Optimizely, we have extensive experience of getting customers up on the latest version of Optimizely to unlock the full potential.