Is It Time to Move to Optimizely SaaS CMS?

If you’ve been exploring what Optimizely SaaS CMS offers, chances are you’ve stumbled across a sea of comparisons between Optimizely PaaS and SaaS. But what does that mean for your business if you’re currently using an older version of Optimizely?

You might be at a crossroads: Should you invest in upgrading your current setup, or is it time to embrace a fully managed SaaS model? The answer isn’t always obvious, but understanding the deployment options and how they align with your operational goals is the first step.

In this post, we’ll break down the key differences between on-premises, PaaS, and SaaS deployments for Optimizely and help you evaluate whether a move to the cloud is the right choice for your next phase of digital growth.

Understanding Optimizely Deployment Options

Before we get into whether you should upgrade or move to SaaS, let’s clarify how Optimizely can be deployed since terms like on-premises, PaaS, and SaaS often get mixed up:

• On-premises: Your infrastructure is your responsibility. Your IT team manages everything from servers to security patches, which are often hosted on physical servers or private data centers.

• Cloud-Hosted (PaaS): This is often called PaaS, though technically it's more of an Infrastructure-as-a-Service model. Your site is hosted on cloud providers like Azure or AWS, but your team still manages updates, deployments, and configurations. You get some flexibility and cloud benefits, but still own the operational overhead.

• Optimizely DXP (SaaS): This fully managed, cloud-native platform handles the infrastructure, scalability, security, updates, and patches. This gives your team more time to focus on delivering value through content and experiences, and it is the model we’ll focus on in this post when we talk about SaaS.

Note: In this post, we're primarily comparing on-premises Optimizely (especially pre-.NET Core versions) with Optimizely's fully managed SaaS/DXP offering. Suppose you're running an older version of Optimizely on-prem. In that case, this comparison is especially relevant to you since upgrading to .NET Core is a significant investment that often leads teams to evaluate whether it's time to move to the cloud altogether.

When Does Upgrading On-Premises Make Sense?

Sticking with your on-premises solution might be the right call if:

• You have strict data residency rules or regulations that require on-prem hosting.

• Your IT team has the skills and capacity to handle infrastructure, security patches, and software updates.

• Your setup is heavily customized, and moving those customizations to SaaS would be complicated or pricey.

• You want complete control over deployment schedules and system configurations.

That said, even with these solid reasons, it's worth thinking about the long-term costs of maintaining everything in-house versus the benefits of moving to the cloud.

Why Consider Switching to Optimizely SaaS

On the flip side, migrating to SaaS starts to look pretty attractive when:

• You need to scale fast. Scaling on-prem means buying more hardware and dealing with complex configurations. With Optimizely SaaS, scaling happens automatically with no extra hardware and no IT headaches.

• Your IT team is swamped. Managing servers, security patches, and updates can take a lot of time. SaaS offloads all that to Optimizely.

• You want the latest and greatest. SaaS gives you automatic updates and new features as they roll out. On-prem, you're stuck waiting for the next big upgrade cycle.

• Security keeps you up at night. Optimizely SaaS is built with enterprise-grade security and compliance baked in. On-prem solutions risk falling behind if updates aren’t applied promptly.

• Speed matters. Want to launch a new feature or run an experiment quickly? SaaS lets you roll out changes without the hassle of manual installations or custom configurations.

• Budgeting needs to be predictable. On-prem comes with surprise costs such as hardware, licenses, and emergency fixes. SaaS uses a subscription model, so you know what you pay monthly.

• You’re staring down a significant upgrade. If you’re still running an older version of Optimizely on-prem, you’re likely facing a costly and time-consuming upgrade, especially with the shift to .NET Core. That means rewriting a good chunk of custom code just to stay current. This might be a good opportunity to shift to SaaS and future-proof your CMS.

• You rely on modern tech stacks. SaaS easily integrates with other cloud-based tools, such as CRM systems, marketing automation platforms, and analytics tools.

• You’re thinking about composable architecture. If you're considering the latest architectural trends and the future, you're probably considering moving towards a flexible, modular tech stack. SaaS fits right in. It works with APIs and microservices, so you can build exactly what you need without being tied to a monolithic system.

Choosing the Right Approach

If control and customization are your top priorities, an on-prem upgrade could still work for you. But moving to SaaS might just be the boost you need if you're focused on scalability, agility, and staying ahead of the curve. No matter which approach you choose, it helps to have a reliable partner to support you on the journey.

Oshyn is an Optimizely partner with decades of experience in the digital experience space. We can handle everything from helping you assess whether or not it's time to move to the cloud and doing it the right way to providing design planning, development, post-launch enhancements, and maintenance. Contact us to learn how we can help you make informed decisions while planning your martech future.