Why Upgrade to Magento Commerce Sooner Rather Than Later?
I must have heard the phrase a thousand times while growing up:
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
I grew up in Arkansas, so it sounded exactly like you’re reading it.
The natural inclination for any practical person is to delay upgrading anything, if the previous version is still working just fine. (Unless you’re an Apple technology addict like me. My current iPhone practically bursts into flames as soon as the new release is announced. If you know of a twelve-step group for this, call me).
So, most merchants currently using Magento version 1.x are contentedly churning out commerce with no urgency, whatsoever, in migrating to the newest offering from Magento. They have a myriad of excuses for not upgrading, including the classics: “It costs money.”, “We still have time.” and my personal favorite, “It ain’t broke.” And an enterprising merchant making any of these statements would be completely right. It will, you do and it ain’t.
While Magento 1.x still deserves full respect for what it delivers by comparison to other digital commerce platforms, many merchants loyal to the solution may not be aware of how much better the product has gotten since Magento 2.1 rolled out. Most CTOs or eCommerce Managers currently using the M1.x, when given a demo of Magento 2.1, leave the presentation practically screaming, “Take my money!” But for all those uninitiated to that epiphanic experience, I decided to lay out a few of the features that might inspire a greater sense of urgency to migrate.

It’s Cutting-Edge Technology. Magento 2 has the most modern PHP code base, so the user interface and dashboard upgrade from M1 to M2 is like comparing apples to pineapples. With the acquisition of Bluefoot for CMS, the drag-n-drop efficiency of building pages and adding content makes the management of your store something a marketing intern can handle. (That sentence can also be read as, ‘Reduce your payroll by eliminating IT overhead’). If you’re looking to bundle an entire suite of solutions into one stack AND have hosting in the cloud included, Magento Enterprise Cloud Edition puts your Magento license, hosting, CDN (fastly), performance testing tools (New Relic & backfire.io) into a single monthly fee. Then they added platform.sh for continuous integration and rapid deployment as well as Magento Analytics (business intelligence software that PROVES you’re now driving more revenue than ever before).
If your heart isn’t beating a little faster right now, you might want to consult a physician.
