Migrating to Magento 2
The benefits of Magento 2 over Magento 1 are numerous — from increased transaction capacities to a radically improved user experience (for admins and customers) to the overall application architecture enhancements. Not to mention that Magento 2 also offers security benefits, such as improved password management tools and continued security updates.
With Magento 1 having already reached its end of life, many businesses find themselves in a conundrum. They can continue to invest their development dollars into an obsolete ecommerce site that no longer receives crucial security updates, or they can undertake a migration that’s complicated by how Magento 1 themes, modules, and customizations are incompatible with Magento 2. The first option is inefficient and risky, and the second option can seem quite overwhelming.
Migrating Britex Fabrics from Magento 1 to Magento 2
This was just the predicament that one of our clients, Britex Fabrics, found themselves in. Their existing Magento 1 hosting provider was neither focused-on nor optimized for the Magento platform. They knew that a security breach could be catastrophic, and they did not like living in such risky circumstances. Britex was also ready for a modernized look and feel, as well as some functionality upgrades. However, since themes and modules wouldn’t migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2, it would have been short-sighted to simply pour funds into improving their existing Magento 1 site. As a result, an upgrade to Magento 2 seemed the most practical solution.
Britex asked us to migrate their ecommerce site to Magento 2, with custom development for a new theme and streamlined admin functionality. Two key areas of focus were; 1. to simplify blog maintenance, and 2. improve the process for making bulk changes to product management categories.
Clients often seek outside help for their Magento 2 projects, but ArgonDigital isn’t the typical systems integrator, and that is evident from the very beginning of our process. Some clients tell us we are different because we treat their upgrade like any other IT product management effort, asking questions, digging deep, fully understanding “the why”, and prioritizing based on the pain points to target the most efficient and effective solutions.
When ArgonDigital tackles a project, we come to the table with a variety of requirements gathering tools to analyze the user experience, as both a team member and a customer. We also spend time truly understanding their business objectives, and these requirements gathering strategies — striving to understand not just what clients want, but also what they need and when they need it — pay off for our clients.
Magento 2 - Improved Security
For Britex, a key objective for the upgrade was on Security. Just migrating to the new Magento 2 infrastructure would provide some piece of mind, but given this emphasis, ArgonDigital also recommended a move to a new hosting provider. By partnering with Nexcess, we knew that Britex would be in good hands.
Next, we delved into the improved functionality that Britex needed as they moved from Magento 1 to Magento 2. By performing a module functional gap analysis, we examined their existing third-party modules for how well they could continue to meet Britex’s unique needs and vetted their efficiency and migration process to Magento 2. Some existing modules made the cut, some didn’t. But we wanted to make sure Britex had a rock-solid foundation, so everything had to be analyzed in detail.
Magento 2 - Improved Efficiency
Last, we got to the exciting part (at least as far as Britex as concerned) – the look and feel. To streamline development, we helped Britex select an existing theme and then worked with the Britex team to make that theme come to life. For a client who literally spends their day surrounded by lush and beautiful fabrics, having a site that emoted that same experience was paramount.
Instead of simply implementing what our client wanted, we made sure that they got what they wanted and needed. We take pride in being stewards for our clients, guiding them to solutions that meet their deeper needs as businesses.
Our requirements-backed approach gives us real insight into how we can not only meet Britex’s immediate needs, but also support their future business objectives.
Want to Know More About Migrating to Magento 2?
Is your ecommerce platform ready for a migration to Magento 2? Contact us to learn more about how we can help you make the most of your Magento platform!
