In September 2018, Magento announced that as of June 2020, the Magento 1 platform software support and security maintenance will reach ‘End-of-Life’.
Which (if your website is on the Magento 1 platform) hopefully got you thinking about how that might affect your business… and should you be making the move to Magento 2 – or ‘moo-ving‘ away from Magento altogether? (see what we did there?)
The implications are that after June 2020 your website will no longer receive the security patches and support updates; leaving them open to security threats and cyber-attacks. This is a very big deal and will take your business out of action until it is resolved. Since many businesses rely solely on their online sales – now is not the time to be reacting, but to take the bull by the horns and make the move now!
If you haven’t already made the move away from Magento Commerce 1 it is strongly advisable to review this now as the move to Magento 2 is not just a quick upgrade – but a completely new platform.
In our experience, announcements like this Magento one offer a great opportunity for innovation and reflection, to add any new functionality which your existing site may be lacking, take the chance to review the analytics and how the current site performs – in particular making a note of what devices are most commonly used to view and navigate around your site.
Traffic from mobile devices has overtaken desktop searches by over half – meaning it’s crucial to ensure your site looks good regardless of the device being used to view it.
If your current site is not fully integrated with your back-end systems, this is also an opportunity to make that happen. A lack of integration can often lead to customer complaints – particularly if stock availability or any element of order fulfilment for your customers relies on the information stored in your core systems.
It may also start you questioning your core systems (another conversation subject perhaps, for another day) but it’s good to know that any new Magento 2 website, in fact, any online sales channel could be fully integrated with a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution to give you an end-to-end solution to manage your entire business including accounts, stock management and sales order processing. Leaving no need for manual manipulation or manual data entry and offering full visibility!
It’s also a great chance to update your branding, give your customers an enhanced user experience, or simply streamline your offering.
Food for thought?
If you would like any help or advice on making the move over to Magento 2 and minimise any future disruption or security risk to your business – we have an expert team ready to help you make the transition.
To ask a question or request a quote you can get in touch here