Are You Built For Your CMS Version?

CMS systems are constantly being upgraded by their vendors. This often requires customers to keep their systems up to date, enjoying the benefits of continued support and (hopefully) additional features. One particularly relevant case right now is Adobe’s base of customers moving to AEM Cloud Service.

However, not all platforms running on the latest CMS architecture are going to enjoy the same benefits. Applying this concept to AEM Cloud Service, if your legacy implementation is adapted to the latest platform you may get some benefits such as downtime-free deployments, off-boarded asset processing, and automated security updates. But will your site benefit from a robust analytics data layer, images delivered as highly efficient dynamic renditions, and the ability to reuse content on your mobile applications? Perhaps not.

Think of it this way – let’s say I finally convince my wife that we really do need the new 4k 80-inch TV for our living room, the latest and greatest version of TV technology. Can I play my old-school 8-bit gaming system from the 80’s on it? Absolutely! Sure, I’ll need to buy an AV to HDMI adapter, wiggle the cords a bit, and blow into the game cartridge to get it all working, but yes, it’s going to play in 80 inches of highly pixelated glory. And do I get to enjoy some of the benefits of the new TV? Sure – the kids can watch from the kitchen, and I can turn off the TV when I’m done with my phone rather than find the ever elusive remote. But do I get to enjoy my games from the 80’s with stereo sound and life-like resolution, or turn on my TV simply by starting my gaming system? Nope. My TV is capable of those things, and my dated gaming system is capable of being adapted to run on that TV, but it wasn’t built for it.

As you’re upgrading to AEM Cloud Service, or the latest version of any other CMS, ask yourself this question. Do you want to be built for it, in order to reap all of the benefits? Or is being adapted to the latest version sufficient?