Although it’s not something we usually advocate, sometimes an Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source migration just makes sense. Our client, The Ramp People, is a perfect example.
They wanted to spin off their German company as a separate entity. When they looked into it, the cost of keeping Adobe Commerce for just the German company simply wasn’t going to make financial sense. So, the idea was to move only the German side of the site onto Magento Open Source.
When a ‘downgrade’ makes business sense
We carried out a full assessment, really digging into the details. We needed to help them understand crucial questions:
- What was the total cost going to be?
- How much disruption would it cause? (And we’re talking disruption to the main UK and other European sites, as well as the German business itself.)
- What features or capabilities might they lose?
To figure all of this out, we went through our usual assessment framework. We looked at their infrastructure, the crucial commerce features, any third-party modules they relied on, their data and any existing integrations. This way, we could tell them exactly what the cost would be and what they might need to purchase in terms of third-party modules to make up for any lost commerce features.
Our Adobe Commerce Migration to Magento Open Source Assessment Framework
To fully evaluate the feasibility and impact of an Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source migration, we focus on five critical areas:
- Infrastructure
Adobe Commerce Cloud operates on a purpose-built, optimised stack. We will assess your current infrastructure and recommend high-performance, secure and scalable alternatives that match or exceed your existing setup.
- Commerce Features
Adobe Commerce includes a range of advanced features, but some capabilities often assumed to be exclusive can be replicated or substituted in Magento Open Source. We’ll identify exactly which features you’re using and provide equivalent solutions or strategies where appropriate.
- Third-Party Modules
Many Commerce sites rely on third-party modules to enhance core functionality. While most vendors support both Commerce and Open Source versions, some do not. We will audit your current modules and recommend compatible alternatives or custom solutions as needed.
- Data
This is one of the key differences between Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source. Commerce includes additional data fields that support its exclusive features – fields that often end up in use regardless of whether the features themselves are active. The main areas impacted will be product, customer and order data. Rather than reviewing field-by-field usage, we will extract representative data samples and analyse any complexities involved in migrating this data to Open Source. The complexity of this step will also depend on how your business interacts with external systems such as ERPs.
- Third-Party Integrations
Because Magento Open Source supports a leaner data model, we’ll assess how this affects your existing integrations. This includes payment providers, ERP systems, order management platforms, finance tools and any other connected services. We’ll identify any gaps and recommend strategies to ensure seamless operation post-migration.
From Go-Ahead to Go-Live
We then got to work, and from the moment they gave us the go-ahead to when it was all completed was just two months. A lot of that time was actually spent waiting for the German team to be available to fully test everything and give us the green light to push it live.
The upshot is that they’ve now saved on the expense of the Adobe Commerce license, and we set them up with a really good, cost-effective hosting solution so they can keep things running seamlessly.
What’s more, the downtime between moving them from Adobe Commerce and getting them up and running on their own URL for Germany was only about an hour as we switched everything over.
So now, their German business runs completely autonomously from the main UK operation. It’s a self-contained entity, benefiting from all the features and user experience improvements they’d already developed. They’re able to continue running their business exactly how they want, with full control and at a significantly reduced cost, all thanks to a well-executed Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source migration.
Do You Want to Explore Your Migration Options?
Are you considering an Adobe Commerce to Magento Open Source migration for your business? Let’s discuss your options – Contact us today for an informal chat.