Breaking free from ancient tech to create digital independence

The Challenge: When 15-Year-Old Tech Meets Modern Demands

An organization serving more than 112,500 customers faced a critical digital challenge.

Their tech had become a barrier to serving their community effectively.

They were struggling with:

• Outdated tech: A 15-year-old content management system (CMS) severely limiting their ability to adapt and grow.
• Agency and dev reliance: Multiple external agencies and developers were required for basic updates, creating costly delays and budget drains.
• Fragmented systems: Various platforms running on different systems, including Oracle, Drupal, and WordPress, creating "a spaghetti mess".
• Disjointed experiences: Substandard search capabilities and inconsistent interfaces frustrating both users and staff.
• Limited digital capabilities: Minimal data collection and personalization options restricting their ability to serve customers effectively.
• Design inflexibility: Creative limitations preventing the team from implementing modern, user-friendly designs.

The Solution: From Dev Delays to Digital Independence

Following a Request for Proposal (RFP) process, the organization chose to work with Squiz.

This decision marked a shift from a basic CMS to Squiz’s comprehensive digital experience platform that could support their entire digital ecosystem.

Squiz offered them:

• A SaaS platform: A cloud-based system with enhanced functionality and automatic updates.
• Integrated tools: Content management and search capabilities in one platform.
• User-centric design: Intuitive interfaces for both staff and end users.
• Advanced features: Built-in data collection and personalization capabilities.
• Flexible architecture: Ability to integrate across multiple channels and systems.
• Security guarantee: Regular, automatic security updates removing the burden from internal teams.

The Outcomes: Less Bounce, More Engagement

The transformation delivered remarkable results across multiple areas:

Site performance improvements:

• Website visits increased by 16.6% in the 6 months following implementation
• Bounce rates dropped from 56.36% to 34.7%
• Search usage doubled after launch
• Contact center calls decreased significantly
• Time spent on web pages increased, indicating better engagement

Organizational achievements:

• The organization won Website of the Year at a notable sector-specific awards ceremony
• Eliminated reliance (and money spent) on external developers for routine updates
• Improved staff satisfaction and retention through better tools
• Reduced project delivery times from months to weeks
• Enhanced customer engagement across digital channels

How did they make it happen? The 5-step process

Step 1: Selecting the Most Relevant Partner

The organization kicked off the process with an evaluation of potential solutions.

Faced with the limitations of their legacy platform, they conducted a closed RFP process, evaluating three different options for their digital transformation.

They selected Squiz DXP based on several critical factors:

• Future-ready vision: The platform's roadmap and vision aligned perfectly with their goal of moving to an enterprise-level platform that could be used across the entire organization.
• Modern SaaS platform: Enhanced functionality for data collection and personalization
• Content discovery: Improved tools to help users find what they need more efficiently
• User-friendly interface: Intuitive systems that would streamline processes for the entire team
• Cost benefits: Potential for improved cost maintainability and flexibility
• Scalability: The ability to adapt to changing needs across the organization

Step 2: Discovery That Mattered

The team invested significant time in understanding their current state and future needs through a Squiz-guided discovery process.

Squiz approaches discovery through a structured yet collaborative methodology, combining both product and technical exploration.

Through guided discussions and collaborative exercises, Squiz helps organizations refine their initial concepts, often stripping away unnecessary features to focus on core functionality that delivers real value.

This approach helps transform abstract ideas into concrete, actionable plans while maintaining focus on genuine user and business needs.

The outcome of the discovery process includes a clear articulation of project goals, a realistic assessment of constraints and opportunities, and a staged implementation plan that balances ambition with practical limitations.

For this organization, this phase included:

• Discovery workshops: Deep-dive sessions to map existing processes and pain points
• User research: Extensive interviews with end users and staff
• Technical assessment: Detailed audit of existing systems and integrations
• Content audit: Review of current content structure and governance
• Stakeholder engagement: Workshops with key departments to understand specific needs
• Design planning: Development of wireframes and visual direction

Step 3: Fresh Start Strategy

Rather than attempting to migrate content from their old CMS and work around difficult legacy constraints, the team opted for a complete site rebuild to ensure a clean, future-proof foundation.

They chose to build the new site from the ground up with a new, robust architecture, starting with core Squiz Content Management and Search capabilities.

This approach helped them move away from their previous "spaghetti mess" of multiple platforms to a more unified solution.

The rebuild process involved:

• Fresh architecture: Building new, robust infrastructure from scratch
• Core capabilities: Implementing essential content management and search functions first
• Clean start: Avoiding the complications of legacy system constraints
• Future-proofing: Creating a foundation for advanced features

Step 4: Co-Build Approach

Working closely with Squiz, the team implemented a co-build strategy that provided best practice guidance and helped them maximize the platform's capabilities at every stage.

This collaborative approach proved particularly successful with the CX team (formerly the web team), enabling knowledge sharing across the organization.

The system's ease of use, combined with the collaborative process, allowed team members to quickly become self-sufficient – even those from non-technical backgrounds.

For example, one team member, who was previously a librarian, was able to progress from basic page updates to creating entirely new pages and conducting project testing independently.

Key highlights of the collaborative approach included:

• Knowledge transfer: Regular training sessions and documentation
• Team empowerment: Enabling staff to handle everything from content updates to project testing independently
• Best practice implementation: Guidance on platform optimization
• Skill development: Comprehensive training for content editors and developers
• Cultural transformation: Shifting from vendor dependency to internal capability

Step 5: Quick Wins First

The team took a methodical approach, tackling projects one step at a time. Their journey included:

• Main website transformation, which went on to win awards
• Development of a campaign site
• Rebuild of a services site
• Payment gateway service implementation

The user consultation project site, which previously required 2-3 months and external developers to build, was completed in-house in just one month and received more submissions in its first week than the entire previous month-long consultation.

Similarly, the services website was transformed from an outdated system to a fresh, functional platform with custom components that non-technical staff could easily update.

The team continues to expand their capabilities, recently beginning to use advanced forms to replace PDF documents, with plans to explore conditional forms and other features.

This incremental approach has enabled:

• Rapid site updates: reducing build times from months to weeks
• Enhanced user insights: better understanding of habits and preferences
• Personalization opportunities: ability to tailor experiences for users

This digital transformation journey has delivered measurable success across multiple fronts. The organization has seen significant improvements in user engagement, with website visits up by 16.6% and bounce rates dropping from 56.36% to 34.7%.

Their work was also recognized with a Website of the Year award at a notable sector-specific awards ceremony.

From tech fatigue to digital independence: A team's journey to self-sufficiency

This transformation has fundamentally changed how one lean team operates.

Instead of relying on external vendors for basic updates, they now build and manage sites in-house, dramatically reducing development time from months to weeks. The user consultation site exemplifies this shift – what once took 2-3 months with external developers was completed in-house in just one month, achieving more public submissions in its first week than the previous month-long consultation period.

But perhaps most importantly, this isn't the end of their journey. The team is already exploring more advanced features of the platform, beginning to use advanced forms to replace PDF documents and looking at ways to further enhance their digital services.

As one team member noted about the Squiz DXP, "It's about ease of use and having flexible frameworks so improvement can be made quickly. You don't want long development cycles you want to be able to slowly mold the technology till it's optimal. It's about being able to make continuous improvements or grow with advances elsewhere in technology."

This transformation has given them not just a modern platform, but the foundation and capabilities to continue evolving their digital services well into the future.

Want to see how other organizations are tackling similar challenges? Download the field-tested blueprint that's helped actual enterprise marketing teams cut development dependencies, while accelerating campaign velocity → “The Website Transformation Playbook”.