If you're currently using Kentico Xperience 13 or another legacy CMS, you’re probably weighing the risks and benefits of moving to a more modern solution.
Xperience by Kentico represents a significant evolution. Whereas Kentico 13 is a traditional CMS, Xperience by Kentico is a full Digital Experience Platform (DXP), meaning it:
- Unifies content, marketing, personalisation, and data tools in one platform
- Supports multichannel delivery, not just websites
- Includes AI-driven assistance, journey mapping, and scalable infrastructure
- Is easy for marketers to use for day-to-day tasks without developer input
In this blog, we explore the key features of the platform and the strategic value of upgrading your CMS, especially if you’re a Local Council with a website that’s reaching end-of-life.
Easy to manage in-house
Many DXPs promise flexibility but only add complexity. Xperience by Kentico flips the script with a modern, intuitive interface designed specifically for marketers. Built using React, the platform delivers speed, clarity, and ease of navigation, allowing marketing teams to get work done without wading through unnecessary tech hurdles.
With low-code tools, scalable content structures, and reusable content, marketers are empowered to move quickly and independently. Developers are not required for routine tasks like managing content, building landing pages, and tracking campaign performance. This reduces bottlenecks, cuts down on support requests, and puts website management in the hands of the marketing team.
Strategic benefits
- Faster turnaround times on campaigns and content updates
- Improved operational efficiency
- Easier onboarding and training for new team members
- Reduced ongoing agency costs as work can be done in-house
- Aligned with compliance, security and accessibility requirements
Data protection and regulatory compliance
Data protection and regulatory compliance are now central to digital risk management. Xperience by Kentico is developed with ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II compliance frameworks in place, offering strong controls for data access, protection, and privacy. It includes built-in Web Application Firewall (WAF) and DDoS mitigation (via Cloudflare), further securing the environment from external threats. In addition, the platform uses a role-based system to manage account permissions, allowing you to determine what specific users can and cannot do.
Xperience by Kentico’s architecture also supports adherence to various accessibility standards, including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Strategic benefits
- Enhanced organisational trust
- Regulatory alignment and increased compliance
- Reduced exposure to reputational and financial risk
Facilitates community engagement
With Xperience by Kentico, you can create easy-to-navigate and accessible digital experiences that drive user engagement. And not just that - the platform is equipped with built-in journey mapping, segmentation, and personalisation capabilities, allowing marketers to create nuanced and dynamic audience journeys based on real user behaviour.
In addition, Xperience’s centralised content and campaign management removes the friction of fragmented digital ecosystems. As a result, marketing teams can plan, create, personalise, and publish content for web, email, and other platforms from a single interface, ensuring consistency and brand alignment without duplication or manual rework.
Strategic benefits
- Built-in behaviour-based personalisation
- Unified planning and publishing across digital channels
- Reduced campaign silos and better collaboration
Doesn’t require upgrades and has no end-of-life
Traditional CMS platforms are typically tied to version-based releases, requiring large-scale upgrades every few years. If you’ve gone through this process, you’ll know that it’s often disruptive and costly.
Xperience by Kentico replaces this model with an evergreen approach, delivering incremental improvements through monthly updates. These updates include new features, performance enhancements, and security improvements.
While Xperience by Kentico’s all-in-one DXP functionality removes the need for a complicated tech stack, it’s still very easy to integrate with other platforms. From CRMs and booking systems to third-party apps, you can provide a customised digital experience by integrating with your preferred tools.
Strategic benefits
- Reduced technical debt
- Advanced integration capabilities
- Incremental improvements rather than disruptive version upgrades
Final thoughts
Choosing the right digital platform is about finding a solution that can grow with your business, reduce friction, and support innovation over time.
Xperience by Kentico is designed with strategic outcomes in mind. From operational efficiency to security and scalability, it aligns with the long-term goals of organisations looking to modernise without compromise.
At ALYKA, we’re experts in Kentico website development. We’re also an official Kentico partner agency with the following accreditations:
- Kentico Gold Partner
- Kentico Quality Expert
Get in touch to start planning your next move.