Headless CMS· 7 min read
Leaving legacy Kentico and Sitecore: a practical migration playbook
Upgrading an enterprise CMS does not have to be a year-long project. A clear content model, parallel build and AI-assisted migration change the timeline.
Decide the destination first
There are two sensible paths: upgrade within the vendor’s current platform (for example Kentico 13 to Xperience by Kentico), or move to a headless CMS such as Umbraco, Contentful or Strapi with a Next.js front end.
Choose based on who edits the site, how many integrations hang off the CMS, and whether you need the content in more than one channel.
Model content before moving it
Most migrations slip because content types were never designed, only accumulated. Map every page type to a clean content model, retire what nobody uses, and agree the model with editors before writing code.
Build in parallel, switch once
Build the new site on its own environment while the old one stays live. Migrate content with scripts and AI-assisted tooling, freeze edits for a short window, run a final delta, and switch DNS.
Keep every old URL working with redirects. Search rankings depend on it.
Where AI helps — and where it doesn’t
AI is excellent at repetitive transformation: rewriting templates, mapping fields, tagging content and checking translations. It does not replace decisions about the content model or sign-off from the people who own the content.