Everything You Need to Know About Upgrading to Adobe Commerce 2.4

Adobe announced earlier this year that Adobe Commerce 2.3 (formerly Magento 2.3) will be reaching its end of life in September 2022. With more people shopping online than ever before, you can’t afford to have a dysfunctional ecommerce portal.

Let’s take a closer look at what this means, how to make sure your site remains functional, and what the benefits of upgrading are.

 

What does “end of life” mean?

While “end of life” doesn’t mean that your Adobe Commerce platform will stop working altogether, failing to upgrade puts your entire company at a much greater risk. 

According to Adobe’s lifecycle policy, Adobe will stop releasing security upgrades to Adobe Commerce 2.3 in September 2022. This leaves your entire Adobe Commerce platform vulnerable to bugs, viruses, and hackers. Fortunately, upgrading to Adobe Commerce 2.4 allows you to continue receiving the latest security upgrades and keeps your site secure.

 

Why do I need to upgrade my Adobe Commerce 2.3 site?

There are several benefits to upgrading your portal. 

  • Security
    • Security upgrades will no longer roll out to Adobe Commerce 2.3 or older. If your site security is weak, you could lose data, customers, and access to company information could be shared.
  • PCI Compliance
    • Payment card industry (PCI) compliance is important to ensure secure credit card transactions with your  clients. Adobe Commerce 2.3 will no longer reach minimum PCI compliance standards after its end of life. If you experience a security breach and are not PCI compliant, you risk incurring high fines.
  • Lower Total Cost of Ownership
    • Upgrading to Adobe Commerce 2.4 includes significant feature enhancements with hundreds of new improvements and multiple security enhancements. Both reduce risks and decrease cost of ownership and increase ROI.
  • Ability to Adapt
    • Since technology updates are made with the end customer in mind, upgrading to Adobe Commerce 2.4 will give you the tools and technology you need to adapt to their changing preferences. Make sure your team can respond to customer preferences and behaviors with ease and speed by using the latest version of Adobe Commerce.
  • ADA Compliance
    • Beginning in version 2.4.4, Adobe begins enforcing ADA compliance around WCAG 2.1. Most sites today are not compliant and expose your company to a liability. Upgrading allows you to become compliant and avoid a potential lawsuit.

When do I need to complete my Adobe Commerce upgrade?

The sooner, the better when it comes to upgrades. Upgrading from Adobe Commerce 2.3 to 2.4 is much easier and faster than upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2, but the exact timeline varies based on the complexity of your Adobe Commerce site(s).

Of course, you should make sure your upgrade is completed prior to Adobe Commerce 2.3’s end of life.

Going through an entire system upgrade can seem like a big undertaking. Our friends at Adobe have created an easy-to-use checklist to help you follow best practices.

 

What happens if I don’t upgrade from Adobe Commerce 2.3?

If you do not upgrade prior to September 2022, you will likely lose access to some of your favorite features on your website. Or, at worst, your platform will be inoperable completely.

Here are some of the losses Adobe has already disclosed:

  • Loss of Access to Marketplace Extensions
    • If your commerce portal is using any extensions, access to those programs may be revoked after September 2022. For some companies, this may mean your commerce store will lose functionality altogether.
  • Loss of Access to Adobe Support
    • Adobe will no longer service support tickets for platforms running on Adobe Commerce 2.3 or earlier. To get the continued support you need, your store will have to operate on Adobe Commerce 2.4 or newer.
  • Loss of Access to Development Documents
    • Most developers will troubleshoot any problems with technology by looking at the documents for the site. These documents will be removed in September 2022, making it harder to pinpoint the problem and build a solution.

Beyond the technical repercussions of not upgrading ahead of time, your company will likely also face an uphill battle addressing problems after Adobe Commerce 2.3 reaches its end of life. Chasing problems after they arise will cost your company time and money and take your team away from the other priorities they’ve been working on. Plus, depending on how long the issues persist, you may lose customers and your brand reputation may take a hit. 

 

What’s new in Adobe Commerce 2.4?

The latest version of Adobe Commerce (Adobe Commerce 2.4.3) includes many new enhancements to accommodate the growth of ecommerce. Some of the features you can look forward to include:

  • Improvements to the B2B Commerce experience for both the buyer and seller
  • Multiple security upgrades and fixes
  • Features created to improve international storefront experiences
  • New GraphQL APIs for headless commerce B2B implementations support
  • Media gallery optimization
  • Third -party file storage system integrations
  • Increased API performance enables easier storefront scalability
  • In-product guidance to accelerate the adoption timeline 
  • Accommodations for larger catalogs
  • A new Upgrade Compatibility Tool to guide you through your path to upgrades as they’re released

If you’re sold on the benefits of Adobe Commerce 2.4, but aren’t sure if your team has the time to carry out the upgrade, we can help! Our Avionos Operate Managed Services team has certified Adobe experts to help you upgrade seamlessly. Learn more and get in touch here.

Joe Harouni
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Joe Harouni

Joe is passionate about planning and delivering Commerce solutions that enable a better customer, sales and service experience for his clients. With over two decades of web and app-based solution experience and dozens of launches across multiple platforms and industries, Joe brings an experienced and practical perspective to any objective.

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