Crafted Labs - Upgrading Your Kentico Website

A guide to upgrading your Kentico website.

It's time for a new Xperience.

Improved performance

By upgrading to the latest version of Kentico, you’ll benefit from improved performance, having a site that is not only quicker for users to browse but will also have SEO benefits and improve user experience, ultimately driving business growth and revenue.

Efficiency across the board

By staying updated with the latest tech, further development enhancements are generally faster to implement. With Kentico’s updated UI, your website admins will be able to make changes significantly quicker and without the frustrations of using an outdated and inevitably slower CMS.

Enhanced security & bug fixes

With each new release, Kentico introduces security patches and updates to address bugs and vulnerabilities discovered in previous versions.

Access to new features

Migrating to the latest version of Kentico allows you to leverage the latest platform features and functionalities that may not have been available in older versions, allowing you to enhance your marketing effectiveness.

You can find a history of changes and the new features that have been added here.

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Key features in Xperience by Kentico DXP.

Xperience by Kentico is the latest and flagship version of Kentico's line of content and digital experience management platforms. With a hybrid, headless Digital Experience Platform (DXP), it’s designed to help businesses to maximise their ROI.

Xperience marks a move away from specific versions like it's predecessors. Kentico will now provide continuous updates in the form of monthly refreshes. By removing some of the resource overheads on security patches and platform updates, you can focus your development budget on your key business needs.

A new approach to content delivery.

Xperience introduces the concept of channels. Instead of being focused primarily on providing content for a single website, Xperience now houses re-usable content that can be shared across websites, microsites, social media platforms, emails, apps and other third-party integrations, each designated as its own channel.

It has been developed with users in mind and is designed to give your marketing teams greater autonomy and efficiency.

first hand experience

Sam, Head of Marketing

Our Crafted website is powered by Xperience and one my favourite (yet simple) features from an end-users perspective is the editing functionality. Kentico's Page Builder previews exactly how my content will appear in the live environment as I type it.

Under the hood of Xperience by Kentico.

Personalisation

Maximum Flexibility

Digital Marketing with AI

Marketing & Content Tools

Smart Insights

Multichannel CMS

Kentico End of Life: What happens when support for Kentico ends?

Kentico 12 reached its EOL on the 31^st December 2023 and Kentico Xperience 13 will come to its EOL at the end of 2026. A version of Kentico reaching EOL doesn’t mean that your website will stop working. However, there are a number of issues from being version locked that arise. These include:

No Official Support: Users will not be able to receive assistance from Kentico for any issues, bugs, or technical problems encountered with the software.

No Updates or Security Patches: Similarly, Kentico will stop providing updates and security patches for the EOL version.

Compatibility Issues: Over time, as the technology evolves, the EOL version of Kentico might become incompatible with newer operating systems, browsers, and third-party software. This can severely impact the functionality and usability of your website.

Regulatory Compliance Concerns: Depending on the industry and region, there may also be regulatory requirements or standards that mandate the use of supported software versions.

Expert Tip

Lee, Technical Director

When upgrading your Kentico website, be sure to involve wider stakeholders to deliver the most effective project. It could be a more efficient way to tick off further technology, marketing, or compliance needs.

When upgrading to a new version of Kentico, it’s crucial to undertake some key checks and measures to safeguard your site and ensure a smooth transition.

Our technical consultants will deliver the functional aspects of upgrading such as:

Backing up your site including files and databases
Reviewing system requirements and hosting environment
Checking technical compatibility across elements such as third-party integrations
Building a staging environment to provide a test site for your team and ours during the upgrade
Planning the upgrade process
Reviewing and planning the content migration
Optimising performance, tracking and other site requirements

You’ll also want to consider:

Do you understand the latest platform features and opportunity?
Will upgrading still meet your technology and marketing requirements?
Do you have technical SEO expertise to support the migration?
Does your current content align with the new website structure and how much can be automated vs manually loaded prior to launch?

This is just a snippet of the key questions you need to answer when approaching a new website project or major upgrade. We cover a more extensive list within our Perfect Brief content.