The 4 risks of avoiding an e-commerce replatforming project

Today, having a modern e-commerce platform is essential for continued digital success. The digital channel continues to grow and, according to Frost & Sullivan, by next year B2B e-commerce sales will top $6.7 trillion. 

It seems the industry has reached a breaking point of sorts. Today, many B2B businesses are finding themselves with e-commerce platforms that are old and outdated. They’ve reached a crossroads where they need to make a decision: continue the course despite their current platform’s issues, or replatform, ensuring continued success into the future.

We’ve put together the top risks of avoiding an e-commerce replatforming project to help you make the case to replatform. 

Here are the 4 risks of avoiding an e-commerce replatforming project

Your tech debt could continue to grow

We define technology debt as the burden of keeping and maintaining old, outdated systems current. Out-dated, legacy e-commerce platforms often become expensive to maintain because patches and updates can be time-consuming, and sometimes aren’t even possible to implement. In some cases with monolithic software, like Magento, earlier versions are sunsetted or the software provider no longer supports that version. 

If you avoid the move off of these out-dated systems, you risk continuing to rack up tech debt.

Your customers could threaten to leave

Today, enterprise customers expect custom online ordering experiences with modern B2C like functionalities. Choosing to stick with an existing legacy system can make meeting these expectations challenging. If your platform makes it hard to respond to your customers’ unique needs, you’re risking their departure. 

Our customer, Diversified Food Service Supply, faced this challenge when they came to us. Their legacy system no longer supported their customers’ changing needs and when their customers threatened to leave, they knew they needed a better solution, and fast. With our headless, API-first technology, they were able to roll out custom applications quickly and keep their customers from leaving. 

You may not be able to complete the integrations you need

Digital transformation initiatives span across B2B businesses and it’s essential for business-critical systems like e-commerce, CRMs, and ERPs to work together and integrate. These integrations allow businesses to connect and aggregate supply, reduce system inefficiencies and take advantage of customer data. According to one study, 84% of companies claim integration challenges are slowing digital transformation progress. Avoiding replatforming could be avoiding the consolidation and connection of systems that you need in order to digitally transform successfully. 

You may not be able to scale as you want

If you still have monolithic technology, you may experience problems associated with scalability such as maintenance, hosting, support, and upgrades. As you grow, you may start to notice speed and performance issues, making your e-commerce experience unreliable. You might struggle to deliver the kind of experience your customers are looking for because you lack the ability to update or upgrade your legacy system. Avoiding a replatforming project runs the risk of not being able to scale as you want. 

Future-looking B2B businesses have the opportunity to determine what success looks like when it comes to digital transformation and e-commerce. Choosing to stick with out-dated, legacy e-commerce platforms runs the risk of keeping you from your digital transformation goals. 

Download the Ultimate Guide to Replatforming today!