Sitecore Audit - Biztechnosys Infotech Pvt Ltd

It’s a fact that legacy CMSs aren’t going to help you disrupt your competition in the era of omnichannel digital experiences. However, investing in a modern DXP like Sitecore without the proper guidance might end up doing more harm than good because, when improperly implemented, content management systems like Sitecore might end up underperforming. To avoid that, you not only need to have a well-thought-out strategy; you need a robust, working solution that integrates every piece of the puzzle. It doesn’t matter how carefully you designed your website; poor execution can lead to downtime and missed opportunities. However, while many Sitecore Partners offer audits to help reduce the chances of a shoddy implementation, not all audits are created equal, and you can get an incorrect diagnosis that leaves your website in an even more delicate position.

At Biztechnosys, we make sure that your Sitecore implementation works the way it should. That’s why we created a technical audit for Sitecore that gives CIOs and senior IT professionals an in-depth analysis of their current implementation and a roadmap for how to improve it. Let’s dive deep into what makes an excellent Sitecore technical audit.

What Is a Sitecore Audit?

In a nutshell, a Sitecore audit is a process that combines automated tools with qualitative analysis and human experience to produce recommendations that can help improve your Sitecore implementation. In our case, our audit includes a document with technical and architectural recommendations as well as best practices. The Sitecore technical audit consists of a review of your website and its network architecture that looks for flaws and areas of improvement as well as the authoring and publishing process and any third-party apps that you might be using. At this point, you might be asking yourself.

Why I need a technical audit for Sitecore?

Like cars and almost everything in the world, websites and apps eventually show signs of age and start failing. That’s part of its lifecycle, and it can’t be entirely avoided. But you can learn how to spot the signs and get ready for some maintenance if necessary. Here are some signs that your implementation needs a technical audit:

May be YOU DECIDED TO SWITCH TO A DIFFERENT IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER

Maybe you hired Agency X, a Sitecore Platinum Partner, but for some reasons, things didn’t really work out, and they didn’t do the stellar job they had promised. If that’s the case, you need to know the problems with your site before turning to another partner. What did the previous agency do wrong? How can you fix it? And what are the next steps to move on from your previous partner?

NO UPDATE IN A LONG TIME

In this case, a Sitecore audit is like a visit to the doctor. A technical audit should be part of your maintenance and upgrade strategy if you want to maximize the benefits of your Sitecore implementation. In our experience, we recommend performing a Sitecore audit every couple of years or when you start to feel that your implementation doesn’t run as smoothly as it once did.

NOT LEVERAGING SITECORE’S FULL CAPABILITIES

If you decided to use Sitecore, it’s because you want to leverage 100% of its capabilities. However, chances are that it hasn’t happened yet, which is why a Sitecore technical audit can help pinpoint the reasons why you haven’t leveraged your implementation to the fullest. A technical audit uncovers whether your implementation was built to leverage the functionalities you need and gauge the level of effort required to implement it.

Benefits Of a Sitecore Audit

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t see technical audits as something evil. They’re part of a proper implementation process, and without one, you might end up lost.

Also, technical audits are an excellent way for you to strike up a conversation with your Sitecore Partner and present a good starting point. A technical audit makes sure that your partner:

Gets a clear picture of your current implementation,
Is ready to support your particular case and doesn’t try one-size-fits-all fixes,
Can give you informed facts about what needs to be done in your implementation.

How Biztechnosys Carries Out a Sitecore Technical Audit

A good technical audit starts with listening. Our process begins with hearing from every stakeholder to understand what the issues are with the site and implementation. That way, we understand how to properly focus the technical audit on the areas that can move your needle, starting with an interview by Biztechnosys’s team which results in a document with the state of your current Sitecore implementation.

The overall process we follow for a technical audit is:

Understand the challenge
Conduct automated analysis
Apply qualitative analysis
Consolidate findings
Recommendations and next steps

Biztechnosys takes a comprehensive approach to the audit, checking the following four areas:

Sitecore

Configuration
Item Structure
Templates
Layouts / CSHTML
Modules
Caching
Helix
Search
xDB
Under-utilized Features

Processes

Development Environments
Code Release

.NET Project & C#

Code Complexity
Dependencies
Security / Vulnerabilities

We check over a hundred different elements that fall into the following five categories:

Performance
Scalability
Availability
Security
Best Practices

After we’ve completed the Sitecore Technical Audit, we include detailed action items for the development to start right away and improve your website. Also, we create management presentations that the C-suite can use to explain the current state of your implementation and the recommendations about what to do next.

All in all, if you suspect that your Sitecore implementation isn’t running optimally, an audit is the best and quickest way to improve your Sitecore Implementation.