When digital experience platforms (DXPs) first emerged, Sitecore set the standard. Its all-in-one, monolithic suite delivered control and consistency – qualities enterprises valued for more than a decade. Those of us at early Optimizely (then Episerver) were the challengers, advocating agility in a market that prized centralization.
Today, that paradigm has flipped. The DXP market now revolves around composability, cloud-native architecture, and embedded AI — and legacy systems are struggling to keep pace. Sitecore has become a cautionary tale in architectural rigidity, while Optimizely has risen to Leader status in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms, recognized for its unified data foundation, AI-driven intelligence, and rapid innovation.
At Nansen, we’ve seen firsthand how composability transforms speed, creativity, and ROI. In today’s digital economy, adopting an AI-ready, composable platform isn’t optional — it’s essential to staying competitive.
Sitecore’s Architectural Drag
Enterprises aren’t re-evaluating platforms out of preference — they’re reacting to systems that can’t keep up with how digital business now operates. Years of layered acquisitions have created measurable drag on speed, innovation, and ROI.
Across nearly every Sitecore-to-Optimizely migration we’ve led, the barrier isn’t code — it’s confidence. Teams know their platform is slowing them down but fear the cost and disruption of change. The truth: staying put costs more.
The Cost of Complexity
Sitecore’s stitched-together architecture locks enterprises into a high total cost of ownership (TCO). Clients pay for bundled, non-native modules that introduce integration debt, slow delivery, and inflate spend. In our migration assessments, as much as 40% of total platform cost is tied to maintenance and upgrades rather than innovation.
Composable DXPs like Optimizely invert that equation. With modular services, open APIs, and cloud-native design, every investment accelerates experimentation and growth instead of preserving the past.
The Velocity Gap
Modern, cloud-native platforms enable continuous deployment and elastic scalability — both essential for AI-driven, real-time experience delivery. Sitecore, by contrast, often demands months-long upgrade cycles and costly “lift-and-shift” efforts just to stay supported. While modern teams ship and test weekly, legacy teams are still planning their next update.
Independent Validation of Drift
Industry analysts echo what we see in the field. Real Story Group’s “Sitecore’s Leadership Turmoil and the High Cost of Reinvention Theater” cites repeated executive turnover — Steve Tzikakis, Dave O’Flanagan, Eric Stine — each introducing new narratives without delivering cohesive outcomes. The report notes “confusion, partner fatigue, and mounting skepticism among enterprise buyers,” with many customers “stranded between legacy entanglements and a sprawling new architecture.”
Once a perennial Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant, Sitecore now sits in the Visionary quadrant — a reflection of these headwinds. Transformation doesn’t have to be a leap of faith; with the right roadmap and composable foundation, enterprises can evolve incrementally — reducing risk, regaining speed, and building toward an AI-ready future.
Building for the AI-Driven Digital Economy
The era of all-in-one suites is over. Growth now depends on how quickly organizations can learn, adapt, and deliver — not how tightly they control their stack. Legacy platforms built for governance and stability are now barriers to speed.
Modern leaders are choosing architectures that treat adaptability as a growth strategy. Many are turning to Optimizely not just as a tool, but as a framework for scaling creativity, experimentation, and intelligence in tandem.
Operational Agility at Scale
Optimizely’s unified data layer connects content, commerce, and behavioral insights so teams can respond to customers in real time. Decisions are powered by live intelligence rather than static dashboards — turning marketing from a planning exercise into a continuous feedback loop.
Built on a cloud-native foundation, Optimizely empowers teams to test, iterate, and launch without friction. What once required weeks of coordination can now happen in days. With the right strategy and governance, experimentation becomes habitual, agility becomes predictable, and innovation becomes measurable.
Experimentation as a Growth Practice
In an AI economy, optimization isn’t a project — it’s a discipline. Optimizely’s native experimentation tools make testing part of everyday delivery, while embedded intelligence turns performance data into actionable recommendations. Each release becomes a learning moment that compounds over time.
The Real Trade-Off
No platform is perfect, but the trade-off — modern composability, predictable SaaS economics, and freedom from upgrade cycles — is one most enterprises welcome. The greater risk lies in inertia.
Even with renewal incentives, the opportunity cost of staying on a legacy platform — lost velocity, slower experimentation, constrained innovation — is far higher than any short-term savings. The organizations winning today are those modernizing not for preference, but for performance.
Turning Modernization into Momentum
Modernization isn’t just a technology upgrade — it’s an evolution in how teams learn and deliver. Organizations that redirect technical savings into innovation — streamlining workflows, accelerating experimentation, and personalizing experiences with AI — turn migration into measurable momentum.
At Nansen, we help enterprises move with confidence through three principles of experience-led growth:
- Reinvest in innovation, not maintenance. Optimizely’s First Year Free program removes upfront friction. Nansen helps redirect that budget toward improving customer journeys, automating workflows, and driving measurable growth loops.
- Accelerate learning through AI. The Opal Innovation Program gives early access to AI features that automate insights and optimize decisions. We help teams operationalize those capabilities to shorten the path from concept to conversion.
- Transition with confidence. Nansen’s frameworks and delivery accelerators minimize migration risk, ensuring a smooth evolution into a composable DXP that continuously adapts to your business.
By reframing modernization as a cycle of reinvestment and learning — not a one-time cost — enterprises achieve faster ROI and sustained competitive advantage through continuous, experience-led growth.
The Strategic Choice Ahead
The real trade-off isn’t between comfort and change — it’s between velocity and irrelevance.
Lag with systems built for yesterday’s model.
Lead with an AI-ready, composable platform built for continuous innovation.
Nansen helps enterprises move faster, smarter, and with measurable impact. Let’s identify where legacy is holding you back. Request a strategic assessment.
