Challenge
ConnectWise is a market-leading software platform for technology solution providers with a focus on business automation, IT documentation, and data management. The company utilized three platforms, including Sitecore, WordPress, and HubSpot.
Given the overhead of managing three sites across multiple platforms and considerable technical debt incurred over the years on their main site implemented on Sitecore, ConnectWise sought to re-platform all three sites to a single CMS solution in order to drive efficiencies for authoring and maintenance. Connectwise needed a best-in-class content platform that could leverage the latest features and functionality in a cloud hosted environment and improve author workflows to streamline marketing efforts.
ConnectWise ultimately selected Optimizely for their site consolidation and Engagency as the implementation partner.
“We used to have multiple websites, with a mix of good, bad, and deprecated functionality, and now we have one with all the functionality we need. Engagency let us pick and choose the best content types and functionality from the different sites, so they could rebuild from scratch with the best of the best and roll our favorite functionality into the final solution. For example, we had a better pricing comparison and blog on one of our older sites, so Engagency lifted those and put them onto our new ConnectWise site. It’s really allowed us to streamline everything.”
– Ethan Caouette, Digital Strategy Manager at ConnectWise
Solution
The ConnectWise project required a multi-site architecture that would allow the ConnectWise team to leverage a shared library of page types and content blocks selecting the best functionality from each of the original sites.
Creating the Optimizely Architecture
Engagency’s CMS Solution Architects began the project with a comprehensive look at the functionality across the three sites. Engagency documented these in a matrix that showed where similar functions were happening, allowing the ConnectWise team to identify a) any functionality that was no longer being used; and b) of the functionality they wanted to keep, the version they liked best and why.
“We used to have multiple websites, with a mix of good, bad, and deprecated functionality, and now we have one with all the functionality we need. Engagency let us pick and choose the best content types and functionality from the different sites, so they could rebuild from scratch with the best of the best and roll our favorite functionality into the final solution. For example, we had a better pricing comparison and blog on one of our older sites, so Engagency lifted those and put them onto our new ConnectWise site. It’s really allowed us to streamline everything.”
– Ethan Caouette, Digital Strategy Manager at ConnectWise
Using the matrix as a guide, Engagency’s architects outlined everything that would need to be built for the new Optimizely site, including a resource center, blog, and gated content. Page types and specific content blocks, such as featured content or embedded videos, were all documented. Next, Engagency collaborated with ConnectWise’s design team to ensure they were using the right branding and skinning everything appropriately.
Given the importance of brand consistency and governance, Engagency created a structure for their content blocks that included applying color themes and header formatting — allowing for flexibility and creativity while limiting choices to ones that are within brand guidelines.
Sitecore to Optimizely Migration
To streamline content migration, Engagency broke development into rounds, anchored by when content would be moved from the three original sites to the new solution on Optimizely.
“We were blown away by how much of the migration process Engagency was able to automate for us,” shared Ethan Caouette, Digital Strategy Manager at ConnectWise. Instead of having to manually move every little thing over, the Engagency team moved maybe 90% of it over for us. Then, all we had to do was massage it from there. It was a huge timesaver for us.”
“Our expertise in Sitecore allowed us to easily map their current Sitecore content into Optimizely content blocks, and pull content out of Sitecore in such a way that it was easy to push it into the newly created Optimizely architecture,” shared Carla Romaine, Co-Founder & Chief Delivery Officer at Engagency.
Many of the product pages had interrelationships with other types of content, like related resources, product categories, or a gated form for a product demo. While moving this content over, Engagency determined the most efficient way to create this kind of content in the future, and provided personalized training that explained how a certain task they performed in Sitecore would now be accomplished in Optimizely.
“From content publishing and content entry to where content is located and how it gets associated with different pages, all of that is different in Sitecore vs. Optimizely, shared Carla Romaine, Co-Founder & Chief Delivery Officer at Engagency. “We created completely customized training for ConnectWise, using screenshots of their implementation, so they could make the connections between what they used to do in Sitecore, and how they would do it in Optimizely.”
“We’re amazed by how much easier it is to edit our site now. Admittedly, some of that is probably due to how much easier Episerver is to use, but a large part of it is thanks to Engagency. We expected this to be a stressful project but their team made the process incredibly smooth. Along the way, they trained everyone on our team so we could hit the ground running once our site launched. Everything we did in Sitecore, they showed us how to do in Episerver. It was really helpful to have a partner who was an expert in both platforms.”
– Ethan Caouette, Digital Strategy Manager at ConnectWise
Results
“We came from a place where we felt like there were a lot of limitations with our former websites. We felt things just weren’t possible. Then Engagency came along. Now, we feel like the sky's the limit. We can actually do things, and we’re really excited about it. Throughout the process, Engagency was always game to be collaborative, understand our pain points, and accommodate our needs. That was one of the selling points for us with Engagency, and they totally delivered on it. Time and again, Engagency was able to meet us where we were, whether it was figuring out how to streamline our content creation or provide advice on UX.”
– Christine Ellis, Senior Web Designer at ConnectWise
The launch of the new ConnectWise site has been so successful that ConnectWise has engaged Engagency to move their final HubSpot site over to Optimizely. Engagency continues to provide mentorship to their developers so they can take ownership of the new site, with additional developer-specific training documentation. Engagency is also consulting ConnectWise on the selection of a Digital Asset Management (DAM) provider.
“Because Engagency had the experience with both Sitecore and Optimizely, they completely understood the world we were coming from and the world we were going to — and that was reflected in the training and documentation they provided us with,” shared Rick Collins, Director of Marketing Operations at ConnectWise. “They helped us develop a whole new content creation process that not only made our lives easier, but set up our solution to run more efficiently into the future.”