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Category: Support

Top 5 Things to Look For in a Website Support Agency

Posted on by sean

Whether you’ve just recently built a new site, or you are in charge of maintaining an existing one, it’s critical to leverage the most you can out of that site on an ongoing basis. As the internet grows and audience needs change, your site needs to be maintained and adapted over time. Sites can also be expensive to upgrade if not properly cared for (think of not performing regular maintenance on your car for several years until finally it breaks in an expensive way).

And yet, most organizations don’t have the money to redo a site more than once every three or four years. Sometimes they often don’t have the money to hire someone in-house to maintain the site beyond content updates. Who takes care of your security updates, or changes to modules or plugins so that your site doesn’t break?

That’s where quality website support and maintenance comes in. A good website support agency can make your site last a long time past its creation date and keep it fresh until it’s time for the next rebuild and redesign.

Here’s are the top five things to look for when hiring for an outside website support agency:

  1. Make sure they have a dedicated support team or department. Don’t go with an agency that simply pulls people off of regular design or development build projects to do support tickets on the side. Your site won’t get the same attention or care, since they consider support more of a side gig rather than an important part of their business model. Make sure the agency has a dedicated team that is committed to and organized around supporting sites.
  2. Look for transparency in billing. Make sure you understand the billing options. Most companies will offer different levels of packages, each with a set number of hours. If you have a site with a lot of traffic and ecommerce for selling items to customers, you’re going to want immediate service if something goes wrong vs. a site that’s more informational and can wait a few hours before a fix is implemented. Understand the levels of service you’re getting and the differences in costs for the timeliness of the response. Also ask what happens with any unused hours paid for in advance: do they rollover to the next month, or are they “use it or lose it?”
  3. Ask if you can talk to a human if needed. All agencies use (or should use) a ticketing system in order to track support requests. Ticketing systems allow for transparency, accountability, and clarity on what is being addressed and when. While these systems are tremendous for tracking the progress of an issue as it gets fixed, using them exclusively can be frustrating if something is hard to explain via text. Ask the agency if you’re allowed to hop on a call with one of their support staff, or the Project Manager, for advice and guidance. Often you can save time and increase clarity to simply have a conversation with a human. Plus it’s nice to establish a relationship with the person in charge of keeping your site running smoothly.
  4. Check that there’s a diverse range of talent within the team. Most developers can do module, plug in and security updates. But can they do any front-end work? What if the theme breaks, or you need a new page design? You might need more than code updates. Go for a more diverse and creative team that has experience with feature development as well as creative enhancements to cover all the range of items you might need.
  5. Determine how important it is if they work in your time zone. Talented designers and developers are all over the globe, but it can be tough to get fast responses from people in time zones very far off from yours. What happens if you need something right away, but it’s the middle of the night for them? If you’re in Hawaii, for example, you may not want to have an east coast agency handle your support. Ask the agency what their hours are, and try to get serviced in as close to your time zone as possible.

Following these tips will help give you confidence that you are asking the right questions and finding the right website support agency and services to fit your organization.

If you’re interested in learning more about Kanopi’s support offerings, contact us. We have dedicated support teams for both Drupal and WordPress, with a diverse staff who can cover anything you need. We also do it very well. Our hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm your local time in North America . . . and that counts for Hawaii!

Kanopi Studios is a Top Provider on Clutch

Posted on by sean
Screen grab of the Clutch website home page

It’s not easy to find a development partner you can trust. Particularly if you’ve never been immersed in the world of web development, it may take you some time to learn the language. That can make it even more difficult to know whether your partner is really staying on track with what you want to accomplish.

Luckily, knowing what to look for in a business partner can save you from all of the potential troubles later on. Ratings and reviews sites like Clutch can help you get there. This platform focuses on collecting and verifying detailed client feedback and then using a proprietary research algorithm to rank thousands of firms across their platform. Ultimately, Clutch is a resource for business buyers to find the top-ranked service providers that match their business needs.

Luckily for us, users on Clutch will also find Kanopi Studios at the top of the list to do just that. Kanopi has been working with Clutch for a few months to collect and utilize client feedback to find out what we should focus on in the coming year. Through the process, we’ve coincidentally been named among the firm’s top digital design agencies in San Francisco.

Here are some of the leading client reviews that led us to this recognition:

“They were fantastic overall. We had great success communicating to their team via video conferencing, and they were able to answer every question we had. They also worked quickly and were very efficient with their time, so we got a great value overall.”

“Kanopi Studios’ staff members are their most impressive assets — extremely intelligent, experienced, and personable. Building a website is never easy, but working with people you both respect and like makes a huge difference.”

“Kanopi Studios successfully migrated our Drupal platform while preserving all the content that we’ve built up over the years. They worked hard to achieve a responsive design that works well on both mobile and large desktop displays.”

Not only have these kind words earned us recognition on Clutch, but we’ve also gained the attention of the how-to focused platform, The Manifest (where we are listed among top Drupal developers in San Francisco), and the portfolio-focused site, Visual Objects (where we are gaining ground among top web design agencies site-wide).

Thank you, as always, to our amazing clients for the reviews and the support.

Contact us if you’d like us to do amazing 5-star review work for you.

Defining a Minimum Lovable Product

Posted on by sean

Congratulations! Your Boss just gave you approval to build the website you’ve been pitching to them for the past year. A budget has been approved, and you have an enthusiastic team eager to get started. Nothing can stop you… until you receive the deadline for when the website has to go live. It’s much earlier than you planned and there just simply isn’t enough hours in the day, or resources available to make it happen. Whatever will you do?

Let me introduce you to the minimum lovable product, or MLP.

What is a minimum lovable product (MLP)?

You may have heard of a minimum viable product (MVP). Where a minimum viable product is a bare-bones, meets your needs solution; the minimum lovable product can be described as the simplest solution that meets your needs and is a positive step toward achieving your goals. It’s easy to view every aspect, every deliverable, as being fundamental to a project’s success. But when you actually look at each nut and bolt with a more discerning eye, you begin to realize that each component is not fundamental to the overall product’s success.

So basically the MLP is the sufficient amount of features your site needs to be satisfactory to your business goals for launch.

It’s important to note that an MLP is not necessarily a reduction in scope. It’s more a prioritization in the order for which things are addressed. The project team can circle back on anything that wasn’t part of the MLP. The goal behind an MLP is to deliver a functional product that you’re excited about, within the confines of the project.

When should you consider a minimum lovable product?

An MLP isn’t for every project, but is usually best leveraged when there is a restraint of some sort. I used timeline as an example in my opening, but as you know restraints can take many forms:

  1. Timeline: Maybe the deadline you need to hit, simply won’t provide enough time to complete all the work you have queued.
  2. Resource Availability: Perhaps there are scheduling conflicts, or limited resource availability during your project.
  3. Budget Constraints: Another possibility is that the budget just isn’t sufficient to get to everything you have on your list.

Regardless of the restraint you’re facing, an MLP can help you realign priorities, and expectations to compensate. But how do you go about evaluating your project for an MLP?

Need help with defining your MLP? Contact us.

How do you create a minimum lovable product?

When you’re able to parse the individual elements that are crucial to your website’s success into user stories and features, you’ll have effectively identified your project. But how do you actually go about separating the core building blocks that will comprise your MLP from the bells and whistles?  It all starts with goals.

Goals

Chances are that you already have a set of goals describing  what you’re hoping to achieve with the project. These ideally should be as specific as possible (ie. increase traffic) and ideally measurable (analytics). Without realistic, concrete goals you set the project up for failure. For example if your goal is to make people happy; chances are you’re going to have a hard time measuring whether you were successful. Establishing measurable goals will set the project up for success.

It’s not enough to know your goals, you have to be able to prioritize them. It’s simply not realistic that every goal be top priority. Try to narrow your priorities down to no more than three goals. Goals in hand where do we go from here in our quest to define an MLP?

Definition

Begin by thinking of all the factors that are needed for a User to accomplish a given goal. These could include anything from Layouts, to Features, to Content. Start a list of these factors:

  1. What are the things a User sees?
  2. What copy does a User read?
  3. What actions is a User taking while they navigate through the site?

Everything you write down while asking these questions should be in the interest of one of your priority goals. If an item isn’t directly contributing to accomplishing the goal, then it should not be on the list. If you’re not a subject matter expert that will be directly contributing to the work, you should connect with your team to determine the specific work that needs to be carried out for each of the items you’ve identified. Additional refinement, and further simplification may be needed to compensate for the restraint you’re up against.

By this point, you’ve probably realized that defining the MLP is a difficult task. The choices will be tough, and ultimately everyone is not going to get their way. What’s important is that the work you do strives to meet the goals you’ve set. This sometimes means detaching personal wants from the needs of the company. If you can tie the work back to this core philosophy, you’ll always have a strong direction for your product.

Time to get to work!

All done? Congratulations! You’ve now defined your MLP. Now you’re off to the races. Best of luck on the journey of building out your minimum lovable product.

Need help defining your MLP? Contact us. We’re happy to help.

Quiz: Is it time for a full rebuild or a focused fix?

Posted on by kendall

Reality #1: You have to have one!

In today’s world, it is difficult if not impossible to be successful without a website for your business or organization. 

Reality #2: Technology moves quickly.

It is difficult to keep up with the pace of change, but it can also be costly to your reputation and results to fall behind. 

Reality #3: Your website will always need attention.

The days when you could launch a website and call it done are long over. The most successful organizations are continuously evolving their sites based on changing technology, customer insights and industry trends.  Knowing all of this, it’s likely that your website could use some love. But do you know whether it could benefit most from a focused fix or a full rebuild? What if you could meet your goals and continue to make progress on your site without the major expense and time commitment of a full rebuild? 

Take our quiz to diagnose the next steps for your website.

Do you understand your audience and their decision-making journey? 

1. Super clear
2. Clear
2. Mostly clear
3. Unclear

How hard or convoluted is it for your organization to make decisions?

1. Super easy
2. Smooth, but slow
3. Tricky
4. Super challenging

Do you have pressing events, deadlines or organizational goals that require a refreshed site as soon as possible?

1. Nothing immediate
2. Yes, but it can wait
3. Yes!
4. Serious crunch time!!

Do you currently have the capacity for a rebuild (including funds, staff time and opportunity costs)?

1. Yes!
2. Very soon
3. Within the next 1-2 years
4. Unclear

How old is your website technology?

1. Ancient and crusty
2. Old
3. Recent within the last 3-4 years
4. Modern, updated within the last 1-2 years

Is your site WCAG 2.0 AA compliant?
(WCAG 2.0 AA is an accessibility standard that is rapidly becoming the expected norm and is required of some organizations)

1. We need to be, but I’m not sure how to make it happen
2. We need to be, and we have a plan
3. We should be, but it’s not required 
4.  Yes!

Is your site responsive? 

1. No
2. We’re ready for that, but haven’t started
3. Yes, but we have no mobile strategy
4. We are fast and mobile-focused

How is the quiz going? Contact us if you need help with your project.  

Is your site working to help you hit your goals and improve your audience engagement?

1. Ha, no
2. I’m not really sure
3. I think so, but I’m not sure how to tell
4. Yes!

What’s your score?

Give yourself:
1 point for each 1 answer
2 points for each 2 answer
3 points for each 3 answer 
4 points for each 4 answer

What does it mean? 

If you scored: 

8 – 15 points: It’s time to get going on a full rebuild and redesign of your site. What are you waiting for? 
16 – 24 points: You are in the middle ground and need more analysis.
25 – 32 points: We recommend a focused fix to extend the life of your current site, continue to evolve it and get the most out of your existing investment  

Want Kanopi to help you with any of this? Contact us.

Keeping things on track: Website project management tips for clients

Posted on by kendall

So your company is redesigning its website and you are going to be the project manager. You will be the one responsible for making sure that everything goes according to plan. You are probably excited! And maybe a bit overwhelmed as well. Good project management will make all the difference.

The more you know going into this process the better. Since we have managed thousands of digital projects at Kanopi Studios, we wanted to share our expertise to help you hit the ground running with solid project management.

Set clear and measurable goals

This is a critical step before getting started. Since your organization is investing time and money into its website, you’ll want to be able to prove it’s effectiveness and value. Think of all of the ways that a new website can support your organization’s goals and give some thought to how you could measure its impact. Having clear goals determined in advance will help your website vendors understand where to focus to deliver the most targeted solutions. It will also help you prioritize scope and features and prove the value of the site after it launches.

Find the right vendor

First, you need to write a strong RFP. Then, it’s on to selecting the right vendor for your project. You want to find a partner who you can communicate easily with, who has the expertise to do the job right and also meets your budget needs. To make things even more complicated, when you review the set of RFP responses, it is rarely apples to apples. The pricing and information represented in them will likely differ wildly. Be sure to ask each vendor what is included in their price. Some agencies will bid low to win your business, expecting that they will be able to issue change orders for more funds throughout the process. In general, you do get what you pay for, in websites as in other areas of life, so beware of the lowest bidder. And since your digital projects are probably only one part of your busy job, finding a vendor who is flexible, experienced, and trusted will help make things easier on you, leading the way to a successful outcome.

Gather (and wrangle) your stakeholders

Before your project ever starts, there is expectation setting to be done with your internal teams. We encourage you to establish a core team of approvers who will stay engaged throughout the project and understand the progression as decisions are made. Then, you’ll need to decide on the cadence for how you will share progress with the rest of your organization. Make sure everyone knows and agrees to their role in order to avoid last minute changes or requests that can throw off the process you have put in place. Consider documenting roles in a RACI chart for additional clarity. It can be to your advantage to use the project budget and timeline as a defense mechanism against new and last minute requests, as these things will have an effect on deadlines and dollars.

Keep vendors accountable

Work with your vendors to establish a cadence of check-ins and regular reporting on budget, percent complete, next steps, and risks. Ensure that you know what to expect from deliverables and when to expect them so that you can schedule time with the right people for reviews and approvals. Find out if your vendor uses a shared project management software platform that will allow you the ability to track progress, add tasks and keep all messages and files in a single, organized location. At Kanopi, we use TeamWork and have had strong success using it to increase transparency on projects.

Understand the creative process

During the UX and design process, your vendor will be establishing guiding principles that will carry through the project. The further the process goes, the harder it will be to change course. So if you aren’t sure about something, ask! It is always easier to adjust a strategy document or tweak a design than it is to rebuild something once it is in code. This should be a collaborative process, so we recommend frequent discussions and reviews to stay in touch on progress and get buy-in from your team.

Think about content early. Check in about content often.

Pay attention during the design phase to how content will be presented on the new site. Always be thinking: Do we have existing content to fill those boxes in the designs? Or will we need to create it? If there is new content to be created (as there most often is), do you have dedicated in-house resources to make this happen? Are your subject matter experts prepared to share details to help your writers deliver? Don’t forget that content also means images! We recommend making an internal content timeline that includes milestones and due dates to ensure that content delays don’t throw a wrench in your plans. If you don’t have the resources you need and are planning to hire, do this early on in the project so that your writers can be in aware of the strategy and design for the site. This will help speed their process, reduce rewrites and ensure that the copy is on target.

Requirements

While it can be hard to understand requirements documentation, it is important, because it serves as the blueprint for how your site will be built. Requirements should be presented in the form of user stories for the technical build to help put things in simpler terms and define expectations. A user story puts requirements into simple language and follows a common structure: As a (type of user), I need to (do something) so that I can (experience a result). While these may seem theoretical, they will impact the day to day reality for your content authors and site users. This is another area where you shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions to ensure that you know what you are approving and that you understand what it will mean once the site is launched.

Search Engine Optimization

With all of the activity prior to launch, SEO can fall through the cracks. It’s also a responsibility that may be split between your vendor and your internal team. With a little planning and coordination, you can ensure that SEO is in place prior to launch. Check in with your vendor about SEO, establish who is doing what and double check it all before launch. Moz has a handy pre-launch SEO checklist that lists SEO actions in priority order.

Need help with project management? Contact us.

User acceptance testing (UAT)

During this stage, your team will be reviewing the website and entering feedback prior to launch. Ideally, your team will have plenty of time to check the site thoroughly on all devices and browsers, clicking every link and paying special attention to more complex functionality including forms, transactions and interactive features. It is also ideal for your vendor to have enough time to address the issues that your team finds prior to launch. However, in reality, this process can be constrained by launch deadlines, making clarity and communication essential. Be sure to prioritize issues, making it clear which are launch blockers and which are nice to have fixes. Include the URL the issue was discovered on, the browser, device and version being used, details describing the issue and the desired fix.

Preparing for launch day

Talk with your vendor to make sure that there is a plan in place for launch day. Line up your core group up to test the site as soon as it is live and make sure your vendor will be available in case anything unexpected needs to be addressed. It’s best to delay announcing that the site is live until these final checks can be completed. We’ve even made a pre-launch checklist you can reference! If you need to announce the site launch in advance, plan the timing with your vendor and make sure there is enough buffer time to allow for a site review and bug fixes.

Don’t forget about support

Your project management has gotten you to launch. And yet, launch day in many ways is just the beginning! Inevitably your site will need something … whether it’s small bug fixes you discover after launch or some of those new feature ideas that came up in discovery but got put in the phase two bucket. In addition, keeping your CMS up to date and ensuring site security updates are in place is an ongoing and critical process. Website support is the answer. Having a support contract in place before launch ensures that you will not miss a beat and that you can evolve your site as you learn from using it, receiving feedback on it and examining analytics.

If you’ve followed these steps, your project management has gotten you far. If you need a little help getting farther, contact us.

If it ain’t broke …

Posted on by kendall
Designers mapping out a website.

So your site isn’t working the way you want it to. Maybe it’s sluggish, or you’re not seeing the conversions you want, or customers are complaining. Before you drop a huge chunk of your budget on a complete rebuild, consider that there might be a simpler (and more affordable) solution to your website woes.

We see a lot of Drupal 7 and WordPress websites here at Kanopi Studios, and we often discover that it’s more cost-effective for our clients to simply update their sites rather than rebuilding them. Making targeted updates can allow you to focus on addressing a few key issues, while still leveraging the investment of time, energy and funds that went into your site’s foundation.

In this series, we’ll look at three key topics to consider:

1. How do you know when it’s time for a change?
2. Is your website optimally organized and designed to be user-friendly?
3. How strong is your technical foundation?

How do I know it’s time for a change?

Do any of these problems sound familiar?

  • Low conversion rates
  • Site pages take more than 3 seconds to load
  • Site doesn’t work well on mobile or other devices
  • Updating content is a difficult and frustrating process
  • Users struggle to find what they need on the site or have shared negative feedback
  • Site crashes when updating
  • Too many bugs
  • Building new features is difficult or may not even be possible
  • Site is not loading on https and triggers security warnings

If your answer to any of these is yes, it’s time to take action.

But first … is it really that important for me to address these issues?

Yes! A website that isn’t working optimally can dramatically affect your bottom line. An out-of-date or poorly designed website can:

  • Damage your credibility. If your website loads slowly, is crowded with clutter or is just plain not working, you are sending the message that your company is unprofessional.
  • Make you appear out of touch. A dated website tells your customers you are behind the technological times, or worse – you don’t care enough to stay up-to-date.
  • Cost you customers. Every customer who leaves your site in frustration due to broken links, complex forms, slow pages or confusing navigation is a customer you won’t get back. If your competitors offer similar services and have a stronger website experience, your loss will be their gain.

Decision time. If you want to avoid the damage that a dated website can cause, you’ll need to either rebuild your site or update it. If you’re ready to take action, we can help you find the best and most cost-effective approach.

There are two primary things to consider when maximizing your site’s ROI: your user’s needs and the technology that drives your site. If you can identify and fix problems in both of these categories, you can most likely avoid a costly rebuild.

Venn diagram showing optimum website health at the intersection of smart user experience and strong tech foundation.

Next, we’ll dive a bit deeper into tips to help you level up your user experience and update your website technology without starting over from scratch. Consider it the non-surgical, diagnostic approach to improving your website experience right where it needs it the most. 

How’s your user experience?

Posted on by kendall

Now that you’ve decided that it’s time to take action to improve your website, it’s time to see if any user experience upgrades could help. Take a look through our list of issues below, and the tips to help resolve them.

Having a hard time converting leads or getting sales?

If you’re not sure why you’re not generating business from your website, it’s time to get serious about strategy and subsequent user experience upgrades. Here’s how:

  • Add a survey to your website using tools like Jotform’s Survey Maker to understand what users are looking for
  • Take a look at your analytics to understand where you are losing your users. If you don’t have analytics installed, get either Google Analytics or Tag Manager set up on your site.
  • Try an online user testing platform like Hotjar to help you go beyond standard analytics with heatmaps, visitor recordings, conversion funnels and more.
    Complete a User Experience & Conversion Optimization Audit with Kanopi Studios. We can make a whole range of insightful recommendations within your budget. Contact us to learn more.

Does your site take forever to load?

If it takes longer than three seconds, you have a problem.

  • Use Google PageSpeed or Pingdom to test your site’s speed, understand what might be slowing it down and take action to resolve any issues.
  • Make sure you have a reliable hosting company backing your site at the right level for the amount of traffic you receive.

Does your site work on mobile? Is it accessible?

It’s vital to make sure your site is accessible to everyone, no matter what device or screen size they are using. Here’s how to check:

  • Try using your site on a phone or a tablet. If you have to pinch or zoom to interact with the content, it’s time for a responsive design.
  • Make sure you can tab through all navigation and content on your site using only your keyboard, that all images have alt tags, and that you are able to use a voice browser to “read” your pages out loud. If not, you are missing key elements of accessibility.
  • Contact Kanopi Studios about an accessibility audit. We can help you identify the issues and build a plan for how to resolve them.

Is it frustrating – or impossible – to update content on your site?

If it’s a major undertaking to change even the simplest thing, something needs to happen.

  • Define your ideal workflow, then ask an expert to take a look and see how you can optimize the backend.
  • Consider the types of content that your site needs to support. Do you have templates in place that meet your needs? If not, it may be time to consider a bit of design and development time to build additional page types on your site.

Getting negative user feedback?

If the people visiting your site are taking the time to complain, chances are they might also take the time to help you make things better. Here’s how:

  • Collect feedback by sending out a survey, or document your customer service calls.
  • Always thank people for taking the time to help you improve.
  • Look for trends in the information you are receiving from users and build a plan to address any issues to help meet their needs

If none of the issues above apply, congratulations! Your user experience is likely more solid than many of the websites out there! But there are still more things to consider before committing to rebuilding your site. In our next post, we will walk you through a number of common technical issues and some helpful fixes for them.

How strong is your technical foundation?

Posted on by kendall

Now that you’ve considered your user experience, there are a number of possible technical foundation fixes that might help resolve your website problems.

What version of Drupal or WordPress are you using?

  • WordPress 2, while old, may or may not require a rebuild. You might be able to get by with updating and refactoring.
  • If you’re using Drupal 7 or WordPress 3, a rebuild is likely not needed. 
  • However, if you are on Drupal 6, it is at the end of its life, which may make rebuilding more cost-effective and viable for the long term.

Does your site use a lot of custom code?

If so, what does that code do, and are you still using that functionality? Look for ways to streamline where possible.

Is your site’s code a nightmare?

Did you use a professional firm with a North American team? An offshore team? A freelance developer? Or an internal employee who no longer works at your company? It’s a good idea to get the code reviewed so that you can determine its quality, and understand whether your technical foundation will be easy to update, or if you’d be better off starting from scratch. Contact Kanopi for a low-cost assessment.

Are you up to date with the latest security patches and updates?

Lapses can expose the site to hacks and backdoors. Often just updating your site and modules/plugins can solve many issues, so make sure to always keep your site up to date. If you don’t have the time or expertise, a good support team can help with that.

Want to learn more about how we can help you understand every aspect of your site and determine if you need to rebuild or update to help achieve your goals? Contact us to book a free 15-minute consultation. We’re happy to help.

Why you should consider migrating to Drupal 8

Posted on by kendall

By now you have likely heard quite a bit about Drupal 8. But do you have a good sense of when and why to make the switch?

Migrating to Drupal 8 will make new features and functionality available for your site and help you stay current with the latest best practices. But it will take time and effort, and may mean a bit of refactoring as well.

What’s new in Drupal 8?

Drupal 8 adds a number of helpful features into core, making it possible to build fully-featured websites out of the box. Drupal 8 takes care of basic needs, so contributed modules can be reserved for specialized functionality.

There are more than 200 new features in Drupal 8, including built-in support for multilingual and mobile-friendly sites, a simplified content authoring experience with in-place editing, native web services, Views integration into core, stronger HTML5 support and much more.

In addition, Drupal 8 is written in well structured, object-oriented PHP based on the Symfony framework. And it leverages the Twig templating system, making design patterns simpler, faster, more logical and more secure.

Once you are on Drupal 8, you can easily take advantage of minor releases that will add powerful functionality on a predictable schedule, without requiring you to reinvent your site. And the focus on backwards compatibility beginning with Drupal 9 means upgrading between major versions won’t be a massive headache like it has been with past versions of Drupal.

Time to switch?

There are a number of factors to consider when deciding on migrating to Drupal 8. In general, the sooner you can bring your site up to the most up-to-date standards, the better. But it’s also important to consider your objectives when deciding on the best time for an upgrade.

If the functionality in Drupal 8 would revolutionize the way you do business, or you are considering rolling out significant new functionality, now might be a good time to switch. But if your Drupal 7 site is running well and there aren’t any solid business reasons to make the switch, you may consider holding off until Drupal 9 becomes available.

To help clarify your decision, we’ve created a quiz to help you determine when it’s time to make the switch. You can also contact us if you want to talk through the options.