From Monolith to Momentum

Many customers on Sitecore XP are facing the end of support and it is a tremendous opportunity for them to modernise. For the last decade, Sitecore XP has been the cornerstone of their enterprise solutions globally and business leaders are now rapidly approaching a shift which is essentially a pivotal decision point.

Is modernisation just another rush in digital transformation that overpromises and underwhelms? We don’t think so, we see the maturity of the market and their customers which is driving not only the experiences that deliver value (for businesses and customers alike) but also outcomes that truly achieve ROI.

Arguably over the past decade, digital experience platforms (DXPs) like Sitecore have become core to how organisations connect with customers. But what began as a centralised, all-in-one architecture is now straining under the weight of new expectations in a legacy ecosystem. In most instances, it is the implementation more than the platform that hasn’t quite delivered on the promises made so long ago. 

So there is a shift that is already well underway, some have already moved, for other  executives still running XP, it’s now unavoidable. Their teams are demanding greater capability to match their desired agility, they are more conscious than ever that budgets are there to deliver ROI. And they need an easy way to accelerate without the traditional risks that’ll derail their aspirations.

According to Forrester, 74% of enterprise CMOs say their current marketing technology stack is too complex to deliver agile, customer-centric campaigns. That potentially sounds familiar to you because previous implementations meant that integration of products designed to deliver speed and efficiency just didn’t.

 

This Isn’t Just a Tech Decision, It’s a Business Inflection Point

From the boardroom to the budget meeting, digital experience is no longer considered “just IT’s job” and it hasn’t been that way for some time. The collaboration of CMOs and CIOs has steadily grown over the last decade to provide outcomes for both. Further to this, it’s a cross-functional, business-critical capability and its maturity (or lack thereof) shows up directly in customer engagement, campaign performance, operational cost and brand agility. It is easy to see why this isn’t a tech decision only, it’s a whole of business impact if executed poorly.

For CEOs, this moment represents a broader operational truth that legacy platforms,  however well-intentioned in their time, now slow down transformation more than they enable it. Digital experiences are no longer a cost centre, they deliver revenue, reputation and competitive muscle. If your platform isn’t enabling change, it’s anchoring growth.

For CMOs, the need to migrate off XP brings potentially long-standing frustrations into sharper relief. Teams are under pressure to launch faster, personalise at scale and show ROI in real time. But rigid templates, dev-heavy workflows and monolithic content structures create constant friction. The result? Marketing velocity suffers and brand consistency becomes reactive rather than strategic.

For CTOs, the challenge is both architectural and political. The move to XM Cloud or any composable future isn’t just a technical upgrade, it’s a fundamental change in how platforms are structured, integrated, secured and governed. But that shift needs to happen while protecting business continuity, supporting cross-functional needs and managing risk. It’s no small ask (or task).

The reality is for us all, the demand for modernisation is speeding up, especially with AI accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The opportunities for agility and acceleration will enable larger enterprises to be more nimble than ever. But that requires a composable architecture that can capitalise on these opportunities and tooling that accelerates capabilities.

 

Gartner reports that by 2026, 60% of digital experience initiatives will be delivered via composable architecture, up from just 20% in 2023.

 

There are a number of challenges, but these are some common ones that are worth a shout : 

1. Lack of a clear, de-risked path to modernisation
   Many organisations know they need to move but don’t know how to do it in a phased, commercially intelligent way that mitigates risk.
2. Legacy customisations that add drag, not value
   What was once “tailored” is now technical debt without the benefit, unwinding that complexity is a key step, but also one of the most would no doubt be daunting for most enterprises.
3. Fragmented alignment between teams
   Without shared language and objectives across marketing, technical and business leadership, even the best platforms underperform. This is one of the greatest challenges within digital and when solved, becomes a force multiplier for your implementation.
4. Fear of operational disruption
   When digital is mission-critical, the idea of platform change can trigger paralysis, the risk of indecision or doing nothing is creating a larger challenge for your business don’t the line - standing still has its own cost that cannot be ignored.
5. Capability gaps internally
   Most teams are busy maintaining the now and BAU which as we’ve discussed above, can be very difficult meaning they don’t have spare capacity to build what’s next.

The Modernisation Playbook: What Good Looks Like with Recursion

At Switch, we’ve helped leadership teams navigate this transition not just technically, but strategically with tactical execution. That means avoiding the binary trap of "lift and shift" versus "rip and replace" and instead designing a phased, value-led modernisation roadmap. With Recursion, our Sitecore accelerator built specifically for organisations transitioning to the cloud. It’s not just a framework, it is a proven approach that includes:

• Pre-built components (45+ OOTB components with 134 variations)
• Integrations for Content Hub, OrderCloud, Personalise, Search and CDP
• Major features OOTB
• Governance models for project agility

The impact? Recursion has been deployed for several customers and we’re seeing  delivery timelines reduced by up to 40%, content deployment velocity increase by 60%, and TCO savings of over 30% while aligning IT, marketing and executive goals from day one.

Why It Matters Now - Not in Six Months

Digital transformation isn’t a one-time project, we’ve always said it is not a destination because your business changes, your customer needs evolve and your competition is always looking for ways to secure more of the market. The push towards modernisation is accelerating because the window to move from “maintain” to “innovate” is narrowing and the cost of delay isn’t just technical, it’s commercial.

Gartner estimates that by 2027, 80% of legacy DXP implementations will fail to meet business needs if not modernised, leading to either costly rework or wholesale replacement. Organisations that start now with a plan and clarity will not only avoid disruption they’ll accelerate differentiation with agility to respond to rapid changes.

This is more than a technology decision, it’s your moment to reset how your organisation creates, delivers and adapts digital experience at scale. We like to think Recursion makes that a less risky option when coupled with Sitecore - we know it works because customers are already live.

Let us help you on the pathway to SaaS and make sure what comes next isn’t just new - it’s better, with Recursion.