The process of upgrading or migrating your Drupal site can be challenging, time-consuming, and expensive. So which questions should you ask before hiring a Drupal migration company?

Having put together a list of ‘clues’ for you, we have streamlined your selection process and reduced the risk of taking a wrong decision to the absolute minimum. 

So, Let’s Proceed! 

What makes Drupal so special? 

With over one million users worldwide, Drupal is the leading open-source content management system (CMS) platform. Small to large organizations can use it without fear of vendor lock-in or license expiry and renewal, as it comes with an abundance of open-source community code available for free, as well as a robust architecture. 

As a platform for digital innovation, Drupal offers a high degree of flexibility, speed, and scalability. 

Every year, a growing number of organizations either transition from their existing systems and platforms to Drupal or upgrade/migrate their Drupal-based websites or CMS to the latest versions of Drupal 9 or 10. 

So What Should You Look For In Your Drupal Migration Company?

Ensure they have extensive experience in upgrading Drupal sites

The number one piece of advice is to make sure the Drupal development company handling your migration project has adequate Drupal development experience. 

You can easily trust any Drupal migration company that has proven experience with Drupal migrations between 6, 7, 8, and 9. The bottom line is that any Drupal agency near Boston, MA is worth it if it has added a few Drupal 7 to 9 projects under its belt.

Check for references from their clients, as well as evidence of their experience with several versions of Drupal. This should be your priority as it is the first step in your selection process.

Beware of hurried estimates

Your site might not be best served by an individual or agency that says they can build it in 300 hours after a quick discussion or glance at your requirements. For a project estimate to be accurate, all the site’s details must be studied in depth. 

To obtain a comprehensive estimate before signing the contract. It is important to remember that nobody no matter experienced or skilled can provide an accurate estimate without considering the site in-depth – reading custom code, reviewing theme JS and CSS, exploring the site’s modules and settings, and understanding the content architecture. In the absence of examining all of this, anyone who makes an estimation can be considered untrustworthy. 

Contributions to Drupal Core and Community Involvement

If a Drupal migration company is actively involved in the Drupal community, they are more likely to make well-informed decisions about components, custom coding, and warranty services.

An effective software project mitigates risk from the start and anticipates problems. Consequently, good estimates and results will always be achieved. 

Module and Drupal Core developers know the actual status of major projects within the “Drupal ecosystem” and the main issues associated with them. To have a real idea of how much work it will take, you’ll need someone who understands how things work at the most basic level. 

Hire someone who knows the latest trends, is involved in the community, and has the evidence that they won’t waste hours coding PHP rather than utilizing the real maintainable, flexible, and future-proof solutions. This is, after all, why we chose Drupal.

Partnerships

A Drupal migration company that enters into knowledge partnerships with a company such as ACQUIa or New Relic will have access to exclusive resources and expertise that will help these companies that design Drupal websites to develop an effective and unique Drupal website.

Support and Maintenance

It is imperative that Drupal websites are updated regularly in order to maintain security. However, it’s not possible to maintain a comprehensive Drupal website yourself. An experienced Drupal support and maintenance company will provide you with round-the-clock services to ensure that you do not have to worry about anything after the website has been launched. To ensure that your website is continually updated and maintained, they will provide you with an update and maintenance plan beforehand.

Location of the server

Your host data center’s location is a key factor in the success of your site. Your online business will be safer if the country in which your data centers are located is stable in terms of information security, economy, and legal frameworks.  

Communicate your expected modules

Make sure you ask them how they will handle each of your critical modules.

You have the right to point out to each interviewed Drupal migration company what components, functionalities, or sections of your company’s existing website you definitely want to maintain.

Your site has many key features, so you may ask them about specific migration plans. 

Look for alternatives when it comes to modules in Drupal 9 that don’t have a correspondent. 

Anyway, you go, challenge each Drupal team you’re interviewing to come up with viable solutions to your requests. Avoid compromises that could impact the functionality of your website.

Once the migration project has been initiated, there should be no room for surprises so leave no margins for that. 

The budget must be taken into account.

Hire a Drupal migration company that is committed to providing quality work at reasonable costs. It is important, however, to strike a balance between quality and price. If a business offers high-quality work, it will not offer its services at the cheapest price.

Wrapping up the discussion

Ultimately, it is your job to ensure that you have all the essential elements and modules in your Drupal site. This can be made possible only by making certain that whoever is in charge of your site fulfills all the pre-requisites required for a successful Drupal migration. 
At Mpire Solutions, we are determined to make the transition from any Drupal version that is nearing its end-of-life term to the latest version while keeping in mind your exact requirements. Our proven deliveries are a testament to this statement. Get in touch with us for a FREE Consultation.