For many Sitecore XP and XM customers, the move to SitecoreAI (formerly XM Cloud) is the biggest change since they first implemented Sitecore. It is not a version upgrade: it is a move from a self-hosted, often server-rendered platform to a SaaS, headless one. Done well, it removes upgrade cycles, speeds up the front end and opens the door to Sitecore’s AI capabilities. Done badly, it can turn into a rebuild with no clear end. This is the plan we follow. For background on the platform itself, read SitecoreAI explained.
Step 1: Assess what you have
Inventory sites, languages, templates, renderings, custom code, integrations, personalisation rules, forms and content volume. Identify what is actually used: most mature Sitecore solutions carry templates, renderings and rules that can be retired. Sitecore’s Pathways tooling can help automate parts of the analysis and migration, but it does not replace a human review of what is worth keeping.
Step 2: Decide the migration approach
- Lift and shift the content model: keep the information architecture and rebuild components headlessly. Fastest, but carries over old design debt.
- Refactor: keep content, simplify templates and components as they move. The most common choice.
- Rebuild with a redesign: new design system and component library, with content migrated into it. Highest value, highest effort.
Step 3: Build the headless front end
Renderings become components in a headless application, typically Next.js, consuming content through Sitecore’s delivery APIs. This is where most of the engineering effort sits, and where performance gains come from. We cover the approach in Sitecore headless development with Next.js.
Step 4: Migrate content and media
Content is migrated with scripts and serialisation rather than by hand, with media moved to the digital asset management layer where appropriate. Migration runs repeatedly against staging so the final cutover is a rehearsal, not an experiment.
A migration is the cheapest moment you will ever have to delete what nobody uses. Retire first, then migrate.
ESS ENN Associates Web Team
Step 5: Rebuild personalisation and integrations
Review every personalisation rule against its results before rebuilding it; keep the ones that earn their place. Rebuild integrations — CRM, commerce, search, identity — against APIs, with monitoring. See Sitecore personalisation and CDP.
Step 6: Protect SEO
Keep URLs where possible, build a complete 301 redirect map, carry over metadata and structured data, and benchmark Core Web Vitals before and after.
Step 7: Test, cut over and hand over
Functional, accessibility, performance and authoring tests; editor training on the new authoring experience; a rehearsed cutover with a rollback plan; and a hypercare period after launch, followed by ongoing support.
ESS ENN Associates provides Sitecore development, migration and support through our web development and modernisation teams. To plan your SitecoreAI migration, Contact us.