From Sitecore XP to Sitecore XM Cloud: Estimating the project

The cost of migrating to Sitecore XM Cloud depends on a number of factors, including the size and complexity of your current Sitecore XP environment, the customizations you have made, and the level of support you need from a Sitecore partner.

Here are some of the key factors that will impact the cost of your migration:

• The size and complexity of your current Sitecore XP environment
  
  The larger and more complex your current environment is, the more time and effort it will take to migrate to Sitecore XM Cloud. This should not be a surprise to anyone. 
  
  
• The customizations you have made
  
  If you have made significant customizations to your Sitecore XP environment, you may need to make some changes to those customizations in order to make them compatible with Sitecore XM Cloud. This can be a time consuming and expensive process.
  
  
• The level of support you need from a Sitecore partner
  
  If you need a lot of help from a Sitecore partner to develop your migration plan and implement the migration, this will add to the cost of your migration.

To get an accurate estimate of the cost of migrating to Sitecore XM Cloud, you should contact a Sitecore partner - or if you have the skills internally, you can save cost there. Your own resources or an experienced Sitecore partner can help you to assess your current environment and develop a migration plan that meets your specific needs and budget.

But - if the estimate is something you need for your business plan - and you need a number - you should reach out and ask a partner. The reason is, that it could have more specific consequences for a partner, if they don't meet a correct estimate, that if would be, if you get the estimate from an internal resource. Furthermore, a Sitecore partner should have way more experience from previous projects, and knows how to bring forward estimates that meet reality.

Alpha Solutions estimates on several levels. For a business case, such as migration of Sitecore XP to XM Cloud, we do rough estimates based on high/low estimates on main elements of the site(s). This is often good enough for a business cases to get a "The project will be in the range of $X to  $Y". For clients to evaluate the feasibility of a migration project, that's often sufficient. If it turns into an actual project, a more detailed estimation will have to be established, for budget tracking purposes etc.  

If you're interested in the actual details of such an estimation sheet and process - you should reach out to us and we can share details and guide you.

Lastly, we want to share some more general tips for reducing the cost of your migration to Sitecore XM Cloud:

• Start planning early
  
  The earlier you start planning your migration, the more time you will have to develop a cost-effective plan.
  
  
• Work with a Sitecore partner
  
  A Sitecore partner such as Alpha Solutions can help you develop a migration plan, that meets your specific needs and budget. And we'll be honest - we always are. It might not be something that meets your budget, but we can promise you that it will be precise and clear. That's why you need it, so you can take that back to your business plan and your ROI calculations and evaluate if you want to do this now or later. We promise you, that we will not give you a low number to "get the deal", that's not our spirit, and that has never been "Alpha Style"
  
  
• Minimize customizations
  
  If possible, try to minimize the amount of customizations that you have made to your Sitecore XP environment. This will make it easier and less expensive to migrate to Sitecore XM Cloud. This is actually very important. You should really spend the timeto evaluate if all the customizations you developed on XP are still so important, that you will need them in the future. In our experience, this is where you can save a lot of time and money. As always - "Keep it simple"
  
  
• Be prepared to do some of the work yourself
  
  If you have the expertise, you can save budget by doing some of the migration work yourself. However, it is important to work with a Sitecore partner to ensure that your migration is successful
  
  

By following these tips, you can reduce the cost of your migration to Sitecore XM Cloud and maximize the benefits. 

At Alpha Solutions we have developed an estimation methodology that helps us navigating migration project like this - and we keep improving upon it, as we learn more and more.

At this point, we can positively say, that we have a good feeling providing precise estimates for an XP to XM Cloud migration project, and you should ask us if you're considering to do such a project. There are no obligations at all by talking to us - you can always say "nope - not doing that". 

This is part 3 of 4 in a series on Sitecore XM Cloud:

Part I: From Sitecore XP to Sitecore XM Cloud: Why should you migrate? And what's the alternatives?

Part II: From Sitecore XP to Sitecore XM Cloud: Build the business case

Part III: From Sitecore XP to Sitecore XM Cloud: Estimating the project (this post)

Part IV: From Sitecore XP to Sitecore XM Cloud: The Alpha Solutions Migration Accelerator