From a legacy in-house CMS to a modern publishing stack

A major European B2B media group operating several media brands generating millions of visits per month, supported by thousands of contributors, and managing 1,500,000+ articles and assets had reached a breaking point with its digital infrastructure. Behind the scenes, the organisation relied on an aging proprietary CMS powering 2 key sites, a system that had become too rigid to support modern workflows, modular design, or the real-time data integrations the business required.

Internally, the situation had become unsustainable for several key reasons:

• A legacy CMS that accumulated years of technical debt, impossible to evolve without significant investment
• Limited editorial workflows no modular design, slow content production, reliance on developers for basic changes that modern CMS platforms handle seamlessly
• Fragmented datasets: critical business information (legal announcements, tenders, jurisprudence) stored outside the CMS, disconnected from editorial workflows and creating operational inefficiencies
• Millions of visits each month depending on an architecture that could no longer keep up with user experiences expectations
• Constant maintenance costs eating into budgets while limiting innovation and growth potential
• Poor scalability preventing the organization from adapting to changing market demands and audience needs

To keep its brands competitive and operations sustainable, the company needed a full CMS migration to a Modern Publishing Stack, one capable of supporting journalists, integrating regulated data, and scaling for the next decade. This migration process required careful planning to ensure the new CMS would address all current limitations while providing room for future growth.

The factors driving this CMS migration included the need for better user experiences, improved site performance, enhanced security features, and the ability to integrate with modern CMS platforms that support headless CMS architectures. These factors are common across many businesses undergoing similar digital transformations.

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The code.store approach

The CMS migration project was delivered through a structured, high-performance methodology that ensured success at every step of the migration process:

1. A hybrid architecture that combines the best of both worlds

The new CMS solution leveraged multiple modern CMS platforms and technologies:

• Arc XP CMS for editorial operations, providing a robust content management system foundation
• Directus for structured data management, acting as a headless CMS for complex datasets
• ReactJS front-end with Atomic Design system ensuring consistent user experiences
• Native integrations & microservices (Piano, Pool, GAM, Didomi, Mailjet…) extending the new CMS capabilities

This hybrid approach demonstrates how modern CMS migration can combine traditional CMS functionality with headless CMS benefits, creating a flexible and powerful content management ecosystem.

2. Agile implementation

The migration process followed agile principles to ensure continuous improvement:

• Continuous validation throughout each step of the CMS migration
• Parallel design, data mapping, and development to accelerate the migration process
• No editorial workflow interruption, maintaining business operations during the transition to the new CMS
• Full transparency and weekly sprint reviews to track migration process progress

3. Build–operate–transfer

This approach ensured long-term success beyond the initial CMS migration:

• Systems developed by code.store teams with deep expertise in modern CMS platforms
• Daily imports and API links built for long-term autonomy, reducing dependency on external support
• Comprehensive training for internal DSI and editorial teams on the new CMS functionality

4. A zero-bug, zero-downtime delivery

A custom ETL pipeline ensured flawless execution of the CMS migration:

• Clean transformation of all historical articles during the migration process
• Complete metadata remapping (authors, sections, tags) ensuring data integrity in the new CMS
• Smooth import into Arc XP CMS and Directus without any data loss
• Zero production downtime throughout the entire migration process

This meticulous approach to CMS migration demonstrates how proper planning and execution can eliminate common risks associated with moving to a new CMS platform.

CMS development and implementation results

In just 12 months, the company achieved a transformation that would normally require multiple years, showcasing the efficiency of a well-planned CMS migration:

Key Outcomes

The CMS migration delivered exceptional results across all key metrics:

• Zero downtime during the entire migration process, maintaining business continuity
• 1.5M+ articles migrated cleanly with validated taxonomy and preserved SEO value
• Faster editorial workflows thanks to Arc XP's modern interface and improved user experiences
• A unified, scalable architecture maintained internally, reducing long-term maintenance costs
• Consistent cross-brand design via reusable components across the new CMS platform
• Daily automated data feeds powering dynamic front-end experiences and real-time content updates

These outcomes demonstrate how successful CMS migration can deliver immediate benefits while establishing a foundation for future growth.

Integrations and Ecosystem

The new CMS seamlessly integrates with essential business tools:

• Piano for subscription and audience management
• Pool for content syndication
• Google Ad Manager for revenue optimization
• Didomi for privacy compliance
• Mailjet for email marketing automation
• Real-time API connections enabling headless CMS functionality

A future-proof Modern Publishing Stack now supports the company's growth ambitions, demonstrating how modern CMS platforms can serve as the central hub for complex digital ecosystems.

Key benefits

Today, the organisation benefits from a publishing infrastructure fully aligned with its business objectives, showcasing the transformative power of strategic CMS migration:

• A unified Arc XP CMS powering multiple brands with consistent workflows and user experiences
• A real-time data ecosystem for regulated information, enabled by headless CMS architecture
• A scalable, cloud-based architecture built for speed and performance optimization
• Improved SEO & performance across all websites, addressing previous SEO impact concerns
• Editorial autonomy with no reliance on developers for routine content management tasks
• Cross-platform publishing thanks to modular components and modern CMS capabilities

The company has successfully entered a new cycle of digital growth, powered by modern content management that addresses every limitation of their previous current CMS setup.

This transformation illustrates how the right CMS migration strategy can unlock new possibilities for businesses, improving everything from daily operations to long-term strategic capabilities.

Download the full case study

The CMS migration case study illustrates how a legacy architecture can be transformed into a Modern Publishing Stack capable of supporting millions of monthly visitors, complex datasets, and evolving editorial needs. This comprehensive example provides valuable insights for any organisation considering their own migration process.

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FAQ

What is a Content Management System (CMS)?

A Content Management System is a software platform used to create, manage, and publish digital content. It enables teams to collaborate on workflows, manage assets, and deliver content across multiple channels. Modern CMS platforms offer advanced features like headless CMS capabilities, API-first architecture, and seamless integrations with third-party tools.

What does CMS stand for?

CMS stands for Content Management System, the backbone of digital publishing infrastructures. Understanding what CMS migration means is essential for businesses looking to upgrade their content management capabilities.

What is a Modern Publishing Stack?

A Modern Publishing Stack combines a CMS (like Arc XP CMS), a headless data layer, cloud-native services, and modern front-end frameworks to deliver scalable content experiences. This approach often involves CMS migration from legacy systems to new CMS platforms that support modern architectures.

Why choose Arc XP CMS for enterprise publishers?

Arc XP CMS offers a powerful mix of newsroom-ready workflows, multi-site capabilities, API connectivity, and cloud scalability — ideal for large editorial organisations. This new CMS platform addresses many limitations that drive businesses to consider CMS migration from their current CMS.

What is a CMS migration?

CMS migration is the process of transferring content, templates, datasets, metadata, and workflows from an existing current CMS to a new platform such as Arc XP CMS. The migration process requires careful planning to ensure successful transition while preserving SEO value and maintaining business operations.

How do companies integrate external datasets into a CMS?

Through dedicated data layers like Directus, which store, clean, and expose structured data via real-time APIs — exactly as implemented in this project. This headless CMS approach allows for flexible data management while maintaining the benefits of a traditional content management system.

Why Directus? Modern data management layer

Directus was selected as the structured data layer to support the new CMS architecture:

• Store and normalise external datasets (legal, tenders, jurisprudence) separately from the main CMS
• Provide API-first connectivity to the front-end, enabling headless CMS functionality
• Automate daily imports and updates, reducing manual work
• Enable long-term maintainability by internal teams without external dependencies

Together, Arc XP CMS + Directus formed the foundation of a Modern Publishing Stack, demonstrating how successful CMS migration can combine multiple platforms to create a comprehensive solution that addresses all business needs while providing room for future growth and innovation.