Sitecore 9 UpgradeArke’s POV

Key value features• Cloud hosting options• Smaller technology footprint• xConnect• Sitecore Cortex• Headless support• Fully integrated commerce

• Federated authentication• Sitecore forms• New CM interface technology• Technical application

management• Security, PII and GDPR support

Expanded cloud vs on-prem options

• Cloud, on-prem or hybrid. • Sitecore-managed, partner-

managed or self-managed.• Sitecore’s Azure “marketplace”

offering for • Experience Platform (XP) a.k.a. xDB• Experience Management (XM) a.k.a.

CMS• Experience Commerce (XC)

• ARM-based deployment and SIF (Sitecore Installation Framework) enables fully automated deployment to Azure.

On-Prem CloudHosted

VendorManaged

SelfManaged

Shrinking technology footprintSt

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Sitecore CMS

Windows Server

SQL Server

Solr

Sitecore <= 8.n

On Prem

Mongo DB

Sitecore CMS

Windows Server

SQL Server

Solr

On Prem

Sitecore CMS

Windows Server

SQL Server

IAAS (Azure) PAAS

Sitecore CMS

Sitecore 9

Sitecore CMS

Windows Server

SQL Server

Solr

IAAS

Mongo DB

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Sitecore 9 supports xDB on Mongo, Microsoft SQL Server (2016SP1), Microsoft SQL Azure, or CosmosDB. Azure implementations can replace Solr with Azure Search

xConnect paves the way for omnichannel

• xDB has been completely revamped into Sitecore xConnect.

• This isolates xDB into a separate service.

• Unify and centralize enterprise experience data collection.

• Improved scalability• Highly extensible

https://doc.sitecore.net/developers/xp/xconnect/xconnect-overview/index.html

Brains: Sitecore Cortex• ML-based tagging of key content using NLP• Roadmap:

• Contextual insights – the ability to discover the most likely needs and intentions behind every interaction, so you can deliver relevant experiences that lead to mutual value.

• Content and commerce – each robust in its own right, and both natively integrated so your visitors enjoy a seamless and personalized experience before, during, and after every purchase.

• Omnichannel distribution – giving you the freedom to use the right channel to bring contextual experiences to every customer, wherever they are.

https://www.sitecore.com/resources/index/video-assetssitecore-cortexhttps://www.sitecore.com/resources/index/slideshares//nothing-artificial-about-intelligencehttps://www.sitecore.com/resources/index/ebooks/the-marketers-machine-learning-glossary

Headless moves ahead

• JSS: Entirely new technology that shifts the heavy lifting from the back end to the front end, and enables Javascript-based headless design.

• Front end devs can drive the development lifecycle.• More suitable to presentation-heavy brochure and

highly interactive, that require precise UX and rapid design changes more so than frequent content changes and integrations.

• Sitecore Services Client: Improved API access to Sitecore data (Odata) where Sitecore is not the presentation engine e.g. apps, kiosk, IoT.

• Sitecore 9.1: Now matured and rebranded as “Sitecore Omni,”. GraphQL for data exchange with front-end applications, along with JSS REST and OData services. Client-side data exchange is further advanced with the introduction of the Universal Tracker.

Sitecore Experience Accelerator

• SXA is a “Framework” approach to site builds.

• It shifts much of the presentation-level development work from development to the application level.

• Over 70 out-of-the box components.

• Shortened build cycles with concurrent development, design and content entry.

• Prescriptive build process with best practices baked in.

Commerce now completely native

• Sitecore Commerce Server (now “Sitecore Experience Commerce”) now entirely native.

• Legacy apps completely eliminated. All features now in the Sitecore UI.

• Rewritten from the ground up on .net Core (very future-proof)

• Opt-in complexity. Modular design allows customers to exclude features they don’t want e.g. by not installing the shopping cart module, cart features don’t clutter up the interface.

https://www.sitecore.com/products/sitecore-commerce

Open, rapid authentication

• Federated Authentication (OWIN) fully baked in.

• Applies to back-end (content management) and front-end (site visitors).

• Allows more rapid integration with authentication providersincluding:

• OpenId Connect (AzureAD, identity server)• Microsoft Account• Google• Facebook• Twitter• WsFederation• OAuth• SAML

Forms, without the pain

• WFFM bites the dust!• New Sitecore Forms is much more flexible, sports a drag & drop

interface, and much more marketer-friendly.• Marketers now able to collect more data to xDB without reliance on

developers.• Surveys• Questionnaires• Membership sign up

forms• Reusable and

reskinnable.

Improved CM interface technology

• The Sitecore CM interface (SPEAK) is shifting from a proprietary framework to Angular

• Improves ability to develop extended experiences on the CM

• Improves Sitecore’s own interfaces (more and drop).

• Already evident in marketing automation (it’s really good) and the new Form builder.

Technical application management• SIF and ARM based deployments (already

covered)• Improved .config file management. Addition of

config file layering as well as “role” settings.• Avoids manual changes to Sitecore’s default config• Allows modules to add config and override Sitecore

default config.• Allows solution developers to add config and

override both.• Greatly simplifies config management.• Reduces the complexity of managing config for

multiple deployment targets. Less potential for failed deployments from config problems.

• Dynamic placeholders

Security, PII and GDPR• Installation now “Secure by default” … all

components expect to use encryption (SSL / HTTPS): IIS, Solr, xConnect

• GDPR• xDB has new features to support GDPR.• Right to be forgotten: automatically

anonymize a visitors data. (deletes all identifiers of the contact and attributes or values, which are identified as PII data)

• DoNotMarket flag on contact record forces EXM to never send marketing emails to that contact.

The ugly• Breaking changes. Obsoleted code has been removed, will require

many solutions to do a significant code cleanup.• SHEER UI ribbon. Some customizations to the CM interface will have

to be rewritten• Pipeline changes. Some pipelines (like httpRequestBegin) that have

been customized (this is pretty common) may be impacted and must be refactored. The good news is that this pipeline has better access to user data earlier in the process.

References

• Sitecore Whitepaper: Why upgrade to Sitecore® XP 9?• Compatibility tables• Cloud deployment• Cortex

Thank YouTo get more specific information on upgrading to Sitecore 9,

contact Arke at marketing@arke.com

We’ll be happy to connect you with a Sitecore professional to help answer your questions.