2023 WP HCL Migration

How to Migrate from
HCL Commerce Cloud

to commercetools
commercetools.com
Table of Contents
How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools
Executive Summary �� 3

Introduction �� 4
HCL Commerce Cloud: Then and Now �� 5
When HCL stops serving you �� 6
commercetools: The Leader in Composability �� 8
commercetools Composable Commerce �� 8
Compose Your Commerce with commercetools �� 10
6 reasons to migrate to a composable commerce architecture �� 12
Composable commerce: A Modern eCommerce solution �� 14
Moving from Monolithic to Microservices ��15
Migrating Incrementally ��16
Migration Blueprint �� 17
Part 1: Project Management Best Practices ��18
Importance of the Project Manager ��18
Agile Migration Framework ��19
Part 2: Technical Migration Framework �� 20
Step 1: Discovery and gap analysis �� 20
Step 2: Build a migration roadmap ��21
Step 4: Customize your platform behavior ��24
Step 5: Complete your best-of-breed ecosystem ��24
Step 6: Integrate the user experience layer �� 25

Step 7: Test, deploy and improve continuously ��26
Customer Case Study �� 28
Kmart Migration from HCL to commercetools �� 28
Next Steps �� 30
Composable Resources ��31
About commercetools �� 32
Contact Us �� 32
How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 2

Executive Summary
"How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools" serves as a comprehensive
replatforming guide for developers, architects and their teams. In this white paper, we
emphasize a strategic project management approach that encompasses business process
evaluation, team reorganization and adherence to best practices.
Throughout the migration journey, we underscore the critical importance of rigorous testing,
vigilant monitoring and effective communication. We advocate for a phased approach that
leverages the strangler pattern, enabling the gradual and independent introduction of new
microservices. Our white paper also includes a real-world case study featuring a successful
transformation at Kmart, which achieved cost-effective retail evolution.
Lastly, organizations considering such a transformation are encouraged to seek guidance

from experts, learn from previous customer experiences, explore implementation partners,
and utilize the plethora of resources offered by commercetools, including white papers,
guides and blogs — so you'll be more than ready to embark on your migration journey toward
innovation and growth.

Introduction
In this white paper, we look specifically at two vendors on different ends of the spectrum.
On one side is HCL Commerce Cloud, which was prospected to be a potential eCommerce
software leader but has lost market relevance due to its lack of composability or plans to
transition to a more composable architecture. On the other side is commercetools, which
has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce
for the fourth consecutive year in 2023, and is also a leader in composable commerce as the
inventor of headless commerce and pioneer of MACH® technology.
At the core of commercetools' composable strategy is MACH-based architecture, which

combines microservices-based, API-first, cloud-natve and headles technologies, that
offers the flexibility and agility that modern businesses need. The core principles of MACH
empower organizations to break down monolithic systems into modular, independent
services. This approach enables businesses to build and deploy new functionalities quickly,
iterate rapidly and integrate best-of-breed solutions seamlessly.
The result is a flexible and future-proof technology stack that can adapt and scale as
business requirements and opportunities evolve without the constraints and limitations of
legacy platforms. As many organizations are actively looking to migrate to a composable,
MACH-based architecture powered by market-leading commercetools, we have created a
strategy to support the transition without disrupting daily business or jeopardizing operations.
This white paper is intended for digital commerce professionals currently using HCL
Commerce Cloud and considering commercetools as a replacement commerce solution.
You'll learn how to apply this transition safely, efficiently and, above all, business-sensibly.
commercetools has successfully guided numerous HCL Commerce Cloud customers
through the technical and organizational changes necessary to move seamlessly from
monolith to modern, composable commerce.

HCL Commerce Cloud: Then and Now
HCL Commerce Cloud, formerly IBM WebSphere Commerce, has a rich history dating back
to its foundation. HCL Commerce Cloud traces its origins back to the late 1990s when it was
initially developed by IBM as WebSphere Commerce. It emerged as a robust eCommerce
platform designed to help businesses establish their online presence and conduct
transactions in the burgeoning world of eCommerce. Throughout the 2000s, IBM continued
to enhance and expand WebSphere Commerce. It served a range of industries, including
retail and B2B.
In 2019, HCL Technologies acquired several IBM software products, including WebSphere
Commerce. Following the acquisition, the platform was rebranded as HCL Commerce. This
change marked a significant transition in the history of the product, with HCL Technologies
taking over its development, support and innovation. HCL Commerce Cloud made its first
appearance post-HCL Technologies acquisition in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital
Commerce in 2021, entering the space as a Niche player. Gartner praised the platform's
multiple cloud options and promotions engine.
However, Gartner also identified two key issues faced by HCL Commerce Cloud's customers:
1. The need to upgrade to each new version of the software.

2. A lack of composability.
In what appears to be a trend for HCL Commerce Cloud, these two key issues have persisted
in Gartner's analysis of the platform in the years following. In 2022 and 2023, HCL Commerce
Cloud was placed in the Challenger space, as Gartner again cited a lack of composability as
a core platform issue. Despite Gartner's report of increased modularity being on the roadmap
for HCL Commerce Cloud in 2021, the 2023 report states that the platform's current roadmap
does not include plans to modularize the platform (Gartner, 2023).
This substantial shift in the company's completeness of vision suggests that while HCL
Commerce Cloud stands as a challenger in the eCommerce industry, the platform's
continued lack of composability will prevent any further progress toward HCL Commerce
Cloud becoming an eCommerce leader.
So, the question for HCL Commerce Cloud customers is, to what extent does the platform
allow you to create your desired customer experiences without composability, the
number one key factor for a modern, successful eCommerce platform? What potential
benefits are you and your customers missing out on by not utilizing a trustworthy, cloud-
native commerce solution that allows for higher flexibility, versionless upgrades and quicker
release cycles?

Because HCL Commerce Cloud is a legacy platform, it is struggling to adapt to the changing
expectations of customers and what is evolving into a highly composable eCommerce
landscape. Monolithic platforms were built assuming predictable user behavior, fixed features
and the web as the primary channel. However, these assumptions are no longer accurate
in today's rapidly evolving market. Companies require the flexibility to rapidly experiment
and seamlessly integrate new technologies to continue to provide exceptional customer
experiences. Without a composable solution, this simply isn't possible.
When HCL stops serving you
HCL Technologies created HCL Commerce Cloud as an all-in-one solution, with each
component (frontend and backend) being heavily coupled and included out-of-the-box. Still
today, many brands rely on these legacy infrastructures because such systems have been
the paradigm for a long time. However, these outdated technologies have been experiencing
significant issues for many years, and they tend to worsen as time passes. Listed below are
the most pressing issues faced by companies currently using HCL Commerce Cloud:
• Lack of flexibility: Monolithic systems are, by definition, inflexible and difficult to

customize because they must be retested and redeployed in their entirety every time
a change or update is queued. HCL Commerce Cloud's lack of flexibility makes it
challenging and time-consuming for brands to tailor the platform to the specific needs of
their customers.
• Difficult to manage: Integrating with other relevant enterprise applications and data
sources usually leads to data silos and inefficiencies. Also, any upgrades, updates or
changes are incredibly complicated due to the tightly coupled nature of monolithic
platforms, which might translate into downtime and disruption to business operations,
inevitably impacting CX.
• Difficult to scale: HCL Commerce Cloud's legacy infrastructure, which relies on on-premise
or cloud-hosted IT, faces frequent capacity constraints. When confronted with volume
spikes, legacy systems like HCL might experience slowdowns, downtime or crashes.
• Difficult to innovate and adapt: With a monolithic platform such as HCL Commerce
Cloud, your developers are busy maintaining the system and fixing bugs. The platform
itself is hard to customize, extend and ship releases constantly. That rigidity means brands
can't quickly adapt to new market conditions or evolving consumer expectations.
• High costs: Legacy platforms cost more than licensing fees, extensions or integrations. It's
also about upgrades, maintenance and the (often hidden) cost of technical debt. If you're
keeping track of these costs in a multi-year journey, you'll notice that the actual total costs
of ownership (TCO) of the HCL Commerce Cloud platform are much higher than initially
expected.

HCL Commerce Cloud At a Glance
HCL Commerce Cloud, according to Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital

Commerce 2023:
• In the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce, HCL Commerce
Cloud is named as a Challenger
• Hybrid single-tenant and multitenant platform with single-tenant components

are managed by HCL Commerce Cloud or HCL Commerce Cloud clients.
• Customers are typically larger companies with annual GMV of over 250
Million USD in a diverse set of industries, with the most common being retail,
manufacturing and telecommunications. Its customer base is primarily in North
America and Europe, with fewer customers in Asia/Pacific and Latin America.
• Used by a few substantial companies generating more than 10 Billion USD

in annual GMV. Every release is benchmarked at 100K orders/hour; some
customers exceed that threshold.
• Gartner praises the functionality and bundled applications, scalability and

product discovery.
• Gartner warns of the disjointed business user experience, limited company

growth and lower composability.

commercetools: The Leader in
Composability
With composable commerce, multiple software components provide a cohesive customer
experience, enabling you to adapt to market shifts and customer needs. This best-of-breed
approach allows you to customize a tech stack that fits the requirements of your business.
The diagram below details the building blocks of a composable commerce solution:
Frontends, composable services and the commercetools Composable Commerce engine.
commercetools Composable Commerce Platform
commercetools Composable
Commerce
Our flagship product, commercetools Composable Commerce, comprises three core traits of
being cloud-native, component-based and tech-agnostic. Together, these elements deliver
enhanced flexibility, scalability and performance for your eCommerce platform, so you can adapt
and make changes easily and without risk. This enables you to deliver outstanding shopping
experiences that delight customers, driving conversion rates that deliver revenue growth.
commercetools Composable Commerce offers customizable commerce components like

cart, order, product catalog and promotions with maximum flexibility and agility. You can

further tailor your tech stack with composable-ready services from best-of-breed vendors
for CMS systems, search, shipping services and more.
commercetools Composable Commerce enables businesses to leverage best-of-breed

building blocks and combine them according to their unique requirements. With this,
companies can make captivating customer experiences, adapt to constant change, automate
time-consuming processes and innovate faster. Additionally, by investing in composable
commerce, businesses can boost revenue streams, reduce total costs of ownership (TCO),
expand to new geographies quickly and adopt new business models.
commercetools Composable Commerce + Frontend + Checkout
To additionally support your composable journey, you can tap into

commercetools Frontend, a frontend-as-a-service solution that cuts
down on implementation time for your digital storefronts. Similarly,
commercetools Checkout enables brands to reduce implementation
time and effort by 80% for the most critical part of the customer journey.
The commercetools product portfolio combines the essential elements
of successful eCommerce frameworks to create a commerce solution
that's right for your business.
commercetools' architecture leverages six additional principles for a cost-effective, flexible

and developer-friendly environment:
• Versionless: With software that's always up-to-date through automatic incremental

improvements, you don't need to worry about maintenance efforts or upgrades.
• Flexible data model: Tweak the data model according to your needs. Product types and
variants can be assigned to multiple categories, and there's no limit to custom product
attributes, which can be configured from the many different data types.
• Extensible: With serverless functions, you can modify, add and extend virtually any API
call commercetools has under its belt.
• Integration and connectivity: Connect your commerce platform with other enterprise
applications and systems via commercetools' pre-built connectors, streamlining
operations and improving data visibility and accuracy.
• Strong developer community: commercetools has a strong developer community and
offers extensive documentation, tutorials and resources for developers.
• Security: The entire infrastructure, development and processes take full advantage of
state-of-the-art cloud functionality, as well as being multi-tenant and running in certified
data centers at several locations in Europe, the US and APAC. commercetools also
complies with ISO/IEC 27001, TISAX and GDPR, among others.

Compose Your Commerce with
commercetools
The most significant difference between commercetools and HCL Commerce Cloud is the
composable-based philosophy behind it. Where HCL Commerce Cloud has a legacy-style
platform that's difficult to work around in practice, commercetools offers complete freedom
to build a unique, distinctive commerce environment. Enterprises with a complicated IT
landscape that want to grow with their digital commerce are looking for this degree of
control and flexibility. Only then can these businesses continue to meet the needs of their
customers, both today and in the future.
This philosophy is reflected in the following four MACH principles which combine the
following technologies:
1. Microservices: Specific business capabilities individually created and maintained by the

same team. Microservices can be deployed independently, resulting in faster updates and
quicker access to new features.
2. API-first: APIs are crucial in bridging data between users and applications. They provide
benefits like improved flexibility and choice, more efficient development and accelerated
time-to-market.
3. Cloud-native: Commerce is delivered through the SaaS model. The software is always
up-to-date and available on-demand. As a result, sudden traffic spikes are no longer a
problem, and scalability and stability are guaranteed.
4. Headless: By decoupling the frontend and backend, you can support the customer
journey in a fully omnichannel way. Traditional and digital touchpoints are merged into a
seamless, optimized customer experience.
For a visual comparison of the most notable features and differences between HCL
Commerce Cloud and commercetools, see the chart below:
HCL Commerce Cloud commercetools The practical difference
Documented lack of Complete composability More opportunities to

composability, no plans due to 100% API custom-build the brand
Customization
to make the platform coverage of both the experience
more modular. REST APIs and Graph QL.
Hybrid multi-tenant and Multi-tenant. Pure multi-tenant
single-tenant. maintenance is
Cloud performed automatically,
deployment so you always use the
latest version. No more
costly upgrades.

Customers must provide Scales linearly, commercetools
notice of planned peak clusters set up to guarantees a minimum
events and associated automatically scale SLA of 99.9% uptime,
metrics; otherwise, to meet any resource regardless of scale
performance might load — guaranteed SLA or traffic during peak
Scalability
degrade and SLAs no minimum of 99.99% events and without
longer apply. Additional uptime. incurring additional
fees are added when costs.
scalability metrics are
exceeded.
APIs are an afterthought Composable Commerce Composable Commerce
with no performance designed to be API- API is provided in six
guarantees. Site first; APIs load tested different Regions for
changes can impact at 10,000 calls/second maximum availability:
performance and with no performance North America (Google
functionality, with degradation. Cloud, Iowa), North
APIs
potential issues America (AWS, Ohio),
becoming noticeable Europe (Google Cloud,
during periods of Belgium), Europe (AWS,
high site traffic and Frankfurt), Australia
concurrent API call (Google Cloud, Sydney),
overload. and China (AWS, Ningxia)
Migration from previous Continuous integrations, Always uses the latest
to new versions is new features daily and version. Budgets focus
mandatory to use the changes don't modify on projects with an
Updates and
latest platform features. APIs. impact on the customer
upgrades
Older versions are experience. Downtime
unsupported. and "code-freeze" are no
longer an issue.
Disjointed business user All-inclusive, user- Business users can run
experience. Separate friendly business user commerce experiences
admin consoles for tooling (commercetools with an easy-to-use
Administration
common tasks. Merchant Center). interface without
depending on tech
teams.
Infrastructure capacity One-time annual fee You only pay for
and individual and offers third-party actual usage and
components are services on a pay- have no worries about
charged by usage, which as-you-use basis. performance — at any
Licensing
is limited by contract. The annual fee is capacity.
Exceeding these limits proportional to the
voids SLAs. revenue rate. SLA is
guaranteed 99.9%.

6 reasons to migrate to a composable commerce architecture
For retailers on a monolith like HCL Commerce Cloud, the following signs indicate a migration
is the best option:
1. You want a quicker time-to-market

While your developers may need only a few days of development time to integrate
innovation into the platform, with HCL Commerce Cloud, it takes another six to eight
weeks before production. The lengthened time to value is partly due to working in irregular
release cycles, outsourcing development and incorporating changes in the entire suite.
These issues often make it impossible to respond to short-term innovation, i.e., within the
same quarter.
With commercetools, update cycles belong to the past, so every change is released
and published instantly.
2. You need more stability and higher performance

The website goes down whenever it's too busy or a page takes up to five seconds to load.
And that has significant consequences for the conversion of the webshop, according to
Deloitte's Milliseconds make Millions report. Long load times can be frustrating for digital
commerce professionals watching their carefully designed campaigns achieve mediocre
results.
The multi-cloud setup of commercetools leverages the cloud solutions of Google

Cloud Platform (GCP) and Amazon Web Services (AWS), with support for Azure, to ensure
global coverage for its users, distributing load and processes across various data centers.
Because commercetools is cloud-native, it scales automatically to your needs with
maximum uptime.
3. You wish you had more flexibility for customizations

HCL Commerce Cloud works with a data layer on top of all modules that don't support
composable features, meaning you're stuck with all the complex modules you get despite
the extensibility. So, there's a lack of configurability, even for functionalities that seem very
simple to modify. As a retailer, you might be able to implement customizations, but that
makes the following update much more burdensome.
You accumulate technical debt that you must test with every update. Only when HCL
Commerce Cloud integrates the feature permanently does it expire. Each new adjustment
becomes increasingly strenuous, which entails a considerable loss of flexibility. As a result,
there's no presence on new channels and little experimentation occurs. The focus is,
instead, on keeping things up and running.
With MACH architecture, you're free of the endless mandatory modules that depend
on each other for proper use. Instead of migrating your platform with each new version

release, you continuously create the best customer experience — with building blocks you
can easily replace and apply the best-of-breed solution in every area.
4. There's no room for innovation

Updates of HCL Commerce Cloud don't go unnoticed: It's a complicated process
that requires immense planning. Though HCL Commerce Cloud provides excellent
documentation guidance for migration from each platform version to the newest version,
who wants to do that?
Upgrades lead to significant downtime for webshops, which businesses typically avoid at
all costs. As a result, companies that aim to be innovative and industry-leading must work
with expensive, outdated software until they can spend the time and resources to upgrade.
In the meantime, these companies risk falling behind with an outdated platform version
and are not privy to the newest feature releases.
commercetools doesn't have release cycles and updates, so users are always on the
latest version — with no downtime. Updates are published to the platform multiple times
daily without degrading performance, meaning you can now spend valuable time on
innovative, customer-focused projects instead of upgrades and maintenance.
5. User experience isn't a priority

HCL Commerce Cloud was designed to be an all-in-one solution with limited, structured
options that attempt to meet the needs of each business. This means companies are met
with pre-built, inflexible services that go unused or further slow down workflows.
Part of this issue stems from the business user interface, which isn't as intuitive as other
solutions and requires users to complete additional training to become familiar with
navigation and task execution within the platform. In HCL Commerce Cloud's business
user interface, common tasks are spread across different admin consoles, so creating a
new stylized page could take longer or require developer assistance and coding.
Using an API-first approach, commercetools can integrate with any commerce solution
users want or need. This allows the solution to focus on the user experience and
commercetools to provide the data. Working directly in commercetools is also possible
through our intuitive business user tooling, the commercetools Merchant Center.
User-centered business tooling: commercetools Merchant Center

With the Merchant Center, commercetools' user-friendly business tooling,
marketers and business users can run commerce experiences with an
easy-to-use interface without depending on tech teams. Not only can
you accelerate time-to-market when you create new promotions, manage
discounts and set up new sales outlets, but you can improve productivity
and take care of key commerce data from end to end.

6. You want a lower TCO
With a standard software solution like HCL Commerce Cloud, you pay for licenses,
installation, update costs and maintenance. You pay for all the functionalities in the
package, whether they're used in practice or not. You also pay for multiple application and
database nodes required to scale, increasing the overall cost and additional IT support
needed. If you exceed the scalability metrics you paid a fixed price for, HCL's SLA becomes
voided, performance becomes unstable and you'll have to pay the difference you incurred.
A composable approach does not require any updates, upgrades or hotfixes,

drastically reducing the cost of innovation. When you have ambitions (introduce a
subscription model, new transactional capabilities, acquire a new company that you need
to onboard, etc.), composable commerce very quickly becomes the cost-efficient option
from a TCO point of view. commercetools pricing and TCO is based on usage, i.e., you pay
for what you use.
Composable commerce: A Modern eCommerce solution
Digital commerce technology has evolved from rigid and slow-to-update legacy monolithic
applications to a flexible, scalable, agile architecture: composable commerce. It's a modular
development approach that allows companies to choose the components they need to
build and run outstanding shopping experiences. For a system to be considered genuinely
composable, its core traits should include cloud-native SaaS, independent components and
a tech-agnostic environment.
Cloud-Native SaaS Component-based Tech-Agnostic
Events
Functions
… anything
• Cloud-native SaaS: With applications created in the cloud, you can reduce maintenance
costs, enhance scalability and improve workflow collaboration. That way, brands are always
ready for big moments, boosting performance without limits and constantly responding to
a new influx of customers.
• Component-based: A composable system combines independent and interchangeable

components that can be added, swapped or dropped at any time. These components
work well together because they communicate via an API-first approach but are
essentially independent. This allows you to easily plug (or unplug) and play different
functionalities according to your business needs.

• Tech-agnostic: Your business isn't bound to any proprietary technology. Tech teams
can select, code, integrate, monitor and manage your applications without requiring new
programming languages, specific tech or certifications.
The build-and-buy approach is composability at its finest

With composable commerce, you can build what makes your business
unique, buy the components you don't want to build from scratch, like
catalogs or carts, and even extend and customize those "commodity"
features with tailored parameters. With a build-and-buy approach, your
business can mix third-party applications with those built in-house at
commercetools to achieve a fully customized tech stack that meets your
business needs.
Moving from Monolithic to

Microservices
Adding customizations to monolithic architectures is possible but difficult. Enterprises that
have deployed their commerce solution on HCL Commerce Cloud are likely making software
changes today via specific customization requests or version upgrades. In a monolith
platform like HCL Commerce Cloud, the frontend and backend are tightly coupled, meaning
any changes deeply impact the entire platform. The result: Risky, lengthy and resource-
intensive workflows that drain your pockets and your teams.
For HCL Commerce Cloud platform users, change equals time — lots of time. Sometimes, the
platform implementation might still be fresh despite possibly taking months or even years.
With this in mind, imagining the time and resources required to migrate from a monolithic
to microservices (from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools) architecture can seem
cumbersome.
Here's the good news: Moving from monolithic to microservices can be fast and incremental.
Unlike moving one monolith platform to another monolith platform (i.e., from HCL Commerce
Cloud to Shopify or Oracle Commerce), where an entire "lift and shift" process is executed,
moving from monolith to microservices can be completed in stages.

Migrating Incrementally
Imagine this: you're building a new house for you and your family to move into — in the
meantime, you're all living in a hotel, which is quite costly. Instead of waiting for the whole
house to be built, you'd like to move in when the home has enough features for your family to
live comfortably.
So, you prioritize the rooms that are built first, ensuring that core elements of the house
will be available when you need them: Kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms. Once these
components are built, you can move into the house, stop spending money on the hotel and
continue building the other rooms sequentially. The framework of this analogy is exactly how
we recommend migrating from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools — incrementally
until you can fully transition to the commercetools architecture.
Migrating from HCL Commerce Cloud will require you to break down the bulk of the platform
into single service components. Once the components are decoupled, a new microservice
capability can be introduced via commercetools and will replace the corresponding piece of
the HCL Commerce Cloud system.
This method is called the strangler pattern or an incremental approach. A concept designed
by Martin Fowler, the strangler pattern begins by introducing a new microservice built and
introduced entirely independent from the monolith. Eventually, the microservice takes over
the functionality initially delivered by the monolith. This method dramatically reduces risk
because the individual components are built and implemented separately, meaning that the
microservice only takes over the monolith components once they're deemed fully evolved
and stable.
Migration to microservices can be done swiftly but requires expertise. Working with a digital
advisory throughout all stages of migration ensures that the process is executed quickly and
accurately.
Strangler Pattern in Action
Order
Team A Service
CI/CD Pipeline for

each Microservice
Team B Pricing
Service
Title
Team C Service
CI/CD Pipeline for

each Microservice
Currency
Service
Team D

More than migrating from a monolith application to microservices, the strangler pattern
reduces complexity with an automated CI/CD (continuous integration and continuous delivery)
pipeline for each microservice. That way, it's possible to deliver business features faster.
To streamline the transition from monolith to microservices, follow three main steps:
1. Transform the application by creating new versions of existing services: Once the new
component is built, you can test it against the current legacy code.
2. Co-exist with the old application running alongside an ever-increasing number of
microservices. The legacy and the new components must be functional in parallel for
some time.
3. Eliminate the old components when the new services completely replace the old system.
Strangler Week 1 Strangler Week 5
New New New New New New

Service A Service B Service C Service A Service B Service C Service A Service B Service C
Service A Service B Service C
Old System Old System
commercetools' customers have repeatedly chosen an incremental migration approach to

migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools. This is because the microservices-
based, API-first nature of commercetools' composable approach enables the gradual
migration of components, which minimizes disruptions to operations and mitigates risks to the
best possible extent.
Migration Blueprint
At commercetools, we know there can be a learning curve with any new solution, and your
team will be introduced to many new concepts during the migration. Based on that, we've
provided project management and technical implementation best practices used by other
companies during their successful migration from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools.
It's important to remember that the migration process is more than just a rearrangement of
technology, especially when moving toward a new architecture based on composability and
microservices. Take this opportunity to:
• Evaluate business processes. Every process doesn't need to be recreated, especially

if most of them were dictated by the HCL platform. This is an excellent opportunity to
rethink business processes and remove bottlenecks and workarounds.

• Review your people organization. With migrating to a microservices-based architecture,
consider reorganizing horizontal teams — such as frontend specialists, backend
developers and data scientists — in a cross-functional and vertical way. Here's why it's
important and how to achieve it.
Part 1: Project Management Best Practices
Achieving a successful digital transformation demands more than just replatforming to a

composable solution. It also requires a fundamental change in the organization's approach
to the project, the people involved and how the two mesh together. After all, transformation
aims to enable experimentation, adaptability and innovation across every discipline. This
need for agility is especially critical in eCommerce and is driving a massive migration from
older-generation commerce to a more modern approach. Organizations that have moved
from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools have realized that managing their migration
project requires a new direction — think ecosystem vs. monolith or flexibility vs. rigid rules.
Here, we've defined the best practices developed by certified Project Managers (PM) who
have successfully implemented commercetools. It includes case studies from successful
customers and an easy-to-follow project management framework.
Importance of the Project Manager
Your migration project's success hinges on having an experienced PM who can manage the
project and focus on staffing the project team with the proper resources. The PM should
insist on the following as minimum requirements for beginning the migration project:
1. The appropriate team members document business processes as part of requirement

preparation.
2. Subject Matter Experts based on the existing systems and business processes are
assigned to the project team.
3. Business Owners/Decision Makers for business process changes needed as a part of the
project team are in each meeting.
4. Business Owners/Decision Makers have "pre-meetings" with the technical team to ensure
internal priorities are aligned.
5. Stakeholders throughout the business from all key areas are engaged to ensure you have
all the supporting pieces needed to succeed.
6. Scrums are held to ensure cross-team collaboration.
7. If training is needed, it's identified at the beginning of the project and proper training
resources are secured for customer team members.

Additional requirements for consideration:
• An Architecture Review Board

• A Scrum of Scrums to support the multiple internal teams, as well as system integrators
and other vendors involved
• Steering committee meetings held regularly to provide guidance and input to the project
team
Agile Migration Framework
commercetools has found over numerous implementations that a modified Agile approach
has been the most successful strategy to migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to
commercetools. While we won't prescribe a specific framework and practice that make up a
modified Agile process, we've found that a reduced Waterfall-like discovery is a key initiation
step in the project.
The following sections illuminate how the modified Agile framework comprises processes
focused on improving the quality of the "code" and gathering user feedback, framed by an
iterative mapping like pure Agile. Our modified framework also borrows from the Waterfall
framework, which is more structured. Our framework consists of six phases:
Define the project at a broad level, gather stakeholders, create a project charter or
project initiation documentation, and decide which process model helps to focus
on the business priorities. The work area is divided into modules and performed in
sprints that last one to three weeks each.
Account for business process changes that require training and decision-making
if the team needs to be better aligned to meet customer expectations. Adapting
the project to accommodate required training can eliminate the need for added
staff and strengthen the current development team's skillset.
In the execution phase, project deliverables are developed, tested and deployed.
This phase can be broken down into iterative cycles, where a strangler pattern
or incremental approach would be implemented. aThere are short, specific time
goals for the delivery of the sprint and regular and monitored accountability called
Timeboxing:
• Design
• Build
• Test
• Deploy

This phase happens concurrently with the Execute phase. The PM measures
project progression and performance, and reports on status. Monitoring is done
24/7 using dashboards and automated alerts. The operations team does off-hours
support. Scrum methodology is a best practice in Agile to focus on business
opportunities.
The team is released, and a final recap meeting is conducted with all major
stakeholders. Lessons learned will be thoroughly reviewed, and all project
documentation should be archived. Monitor, Close and Run will need to be
completed by the client and commercetools unless one PM is retained during the
project lifecycle.
Convert the team to an Agile team that continues to monitor the solution.
Continue to hold regular project meetings so every key stakeholder is aligned on
the project deliverables.
Part 2: Technical Migration Framework
There's no set-in-stone definition of what a platform migration means in the commerce

space. For most people, the ideal outcome would be a "like-for-like" solution, meaning
everything possible in the old solution would also be possible in the new solution, plus all the
benefits of the new solution. Unfortunately, this isn't always practical because of the inflexible
nature of the services provided by the original solution, HCL Commerce Cloud in this case.
We suggest dividing an existing project into business domains and transferring the
functionality and data out of HCL Commerce Cloud over to a best-of-breed infrastructure
with commercetools at its core. We also suggest a phased migration to disturb operations as
little as possible and mitigate any risks. The steps below outline the process of completing
the technical migration.
Step 1: Discovery and gap analysis
Start by assessing the state of your current digital ecosystem, including the frontend user
experience, backend functionality and third-party systems. Remember: Planning a migration
offers the perfect chance to eliminate overhead and aim for a streamlined solution. Take this
opportunity to think creatively, designing a tailored solution for the unique needs of your
business.
First, ensure your analysis focuses on the business value every step of the way, including:
• Audit and eliminate feature bloat. Create a list of all processes, features and use cases,
and find out what features are unused (or underused) that can be cut from the solution
altogether.

• Gap assessment. Determine gaps and determine what's 100% critical and/or urgent.
• Prioritize. Set priorities and edge cases, and decide what can be migrated immediately
and what can wait — or dropped.
• Compare features. Hold your prioritized list against the features provided by
commercetools. Identify the items where you can achieve your "ideal" state with the
components we offer as standard. What's left are your "gaps," so you'll need to decide how
to address each individually. You have three options:
- Out-of-the-box: The desired feature is a standard commercetools feature that can be
configured and customized to your specifications.
- Third-party: Some features and domains are out of the commercetools scope, such as
CMS or DXP. In these cases, you'll need to integrate third-party services. This is where
our partner ecosystem becomes an incredible resource you can tap into.
- Customizations and extensions: These functions and processes are unique to your
business and must be custom-coded. Your developers can code these components, or
you can outsource to partners with the expertise to build for you.
• Define your migration method and starting point. Based on your analysis, determine
the best route for your team to start a replatforming project and how this will be
accomplished. We recommend using the strangler or incremental migration pattern.
Step 2: Build a migration roadmap
After completing the discovery phase and envisioning the desired state of your business,
the next crucial step is to craft a comprehensive plan and roadmap to bring this vision to
life. Chart a strategic course toward your desired future, considering the steps required to
bridge the gap between the present and the desired state. We recommend applying an
incremental innovation strategy, a gradual and iterative improvement or advancement of
existing products to enhance efficiency and functionality and/or address business issues.
These are the three top areas as a baseline for your roadmap (not necessarily in this order):
• Data migration and modeling: This step is an opportunity to reassess and redesign
your business setup, discarding what doesn't add value and creating a flexible
environment that supports your goals now and in the future. After considering the specific
circumstances and business goals, start planning the migration of your critical data from
other systems to the commercetools platform.
• Best-of-breed ecosystem: Include all the custom extensions that need to be built or
integrated via third-party services.
• UI/UX: Because commercetools Composable Commerce is a headless backend solution,
you can connect your choice's frontend(s) and build customized customer experiences.

Step 3: Data migration and modeling
Whether your migration starts with your product catalog/PIM, checkout or an alternative
route, migrating your data comes first. Follow three steps:
1. Identify the data you intend to migrate. Primary data types include product order and
customer data. It also encompasses category taxonomy, graphical and multimedia, and
marketing content that builds out the customer experience.
2. Clean up your data before loading it into a new system. Make sure that the data you
don't need is discarded.
3. Export/import. Export product data from your monolithic platform and import it into
commercetools leveraging an out-of-the-box framework, such as Import API and Java-
sync, or build a custom migration process.
A GUI application to run command-line process: ImpEx

ImpEx is a user interface application for several IMPort and EXport tools so that
you can import and export details related to products, categories, etc., from one
project to another. Check the ImpEx tutorial and all import and export options.
If you start by migrating your product catalog data and related functionality to
commercetools, perform a one-time export of your enriched data (baseline data from source
ERP, PIM, etc., plus business user enrichments for eCommerce) using Dataflow and get a CSV
file to import it into commercetools.
Changing the data model

commercetools is based on a schemaless database logic, allowing for real-time updates
to its structure, so you can change the data model in real-time using the Merchant Center
or directly on the API level. When beginning a project, consider which aspects of your
products will map to Product Types, Products, Product Attributes and Product Variants. How
you choose to define your products has an effect on store performance, load time, ease of
product management, etc.
Here's the terminology used by commercetools for each item (note that there are two types
of data modeling — product data modeling and general commerce data modeling):
Product Data Modeling
Carries a specific type of information, such as "product" and "order." Each

Entity
object is described by its attributes.
Describes how the product is set up, for example, whether it has a variant or
Product Type
not.

A virtual "umbrella" product that presents information to the customer
Product
("T-shirt"). It's not a buyable item, but its variants are.
Variant The actual product a customer can buy ("T-shirt white size L").
Attribute A product property, such as "material" or "color."
Attribute Value The value is given by the property, such as "L" or "blue."
Attribute Set A collection of attributes suited to describe a specific product.
color: blue
size: L
SKU: TS876
color: Yellow
Sellable
size: M variants
Product SKU: TS635
An abstract sellable
Example - T-Shirt
color: Orange
size: M
SKU: TS622
Product Type
Product template
Example - Clothing color: blue

color size: L
• enum SKU: PTB111
• combination unique
Sellable
required size variants
size
• enum
Product color: gray
• combination unique required An abstract sellable size: L
Example - Pants SKU: PTR222
Main concepts in commercetools data modeling
You can assign a Type as a data record when you want it to be of a specific
subtype. For example, you could define a T-shirt product subtype that
captures the size (S/M/L/XL) and a jeans product subtype that captures the
Types inseam/waist size. You could create a generic product, a T-shirt product,
or a jeans product. You can apply this concept to other objects, including
categories, customers,
orders, etc. See how.
Extend existing objects when you don't want to create subtypes. You can add
Custom Fields
any supported types of fields to existing objects. See how.
Arbitrary JSON-formatted records that are persisted indefinitely. They can
be identified by a key or an ID and nested using the container attribute.
Custom Objects
Attributes of a custom object can reference other objects in commercetools,
like an order or customer profile. See how.

Step 4: Customize your platform behavior
With the API-based solution by commercetools, you can extend your APIs to behave
according to your specifications. Consider these two main approaches:
• API extensions: Inject additional logic into the server-side processing. Let's say you need
to validate the maximum quantity of an item a customer can purchase or inventory in
an OMS (order management system) before an order is placed. Both of these cases are
handled with API extensions.
• Microservices: Write a microservice wrapper on top of your APIs. If you want to provide
an API response in a specific format, expose new endpoints with a wrapper, which makes
a single call to commercetools or multiple calls if complex datasets are needed. You can
also combine the response of commercetools with another system.
Here's a visual guide to the common approaches to extensions:
Extend Data Model Microservices: Events (Subscriptions): Functions (API Extensions):

UI Extensions
(Fields & State) Inherently synchronous Inherently asynchronous Inherently synchronous
NAME
AWS SNS / Google Azure AWS Lambda Google Cloud Azure Cloud
DESCRIPTION
SQS Queues PubSub Queue Functions Functions Functions
3 ATTRIBUTES NEW ATTRIBUTE
NUMBER INSEAM
Boolean
NUMBER WAIST
Text
TEXT COLOR
Enum
Examples:
Number
Money Custom Custom
Date Order Submitted, Customer
Time Code registered, Product published Code
DateTime
Set
Reference Type
Custom apps: Merchant Center functionality extensions

While our composable commerce offers a robust selection of tools, you
can extend and/or customize some of its functionality. With the Merchant
Center, marketers and business users can alter workflows, modify
editors, embed integrations/customizations, and more to run commerce
experiences smoothly.
Step 5: Complete your best-of-breed ecosystem
After migrating the data and your first applications to a composable architecture, you can start
completing your best-of-breed ecosystem. In a composable environment, you're not locked in
with any particular vendor, so you can choose what services best match your needs.

As part of Step 1 in this guide, you should have defined and prioritized all custom extensions
you need to build or buy to create a cohesive commerce infrastructure. This might include
(but isn't limited to) an ERP system, Order Management, Sales Tax, Payments, Personalization,
CMS, Content Delivery Network (CDN), Search and Merchandising.
Integrations and platform enhancements can be tackled one at a time when using the
strangler pattern. Integrations can remain within the legacy system until the business is
ready to port a given third-party system (or connect a new provider) to the new platform;
for example, this could be timed to the ending of a current contract or renewal deadline.
Remember: With a microservices-based and API-first approach, you can integrate the
components you need, whether they're built in-house, sourced from best-of-breed vendors
or a mix of both.
System integration with eventing architecture

Nearly all of our customers have at least one system they need to integrate
on the backend, such as receiving product data from a PIM or sending
orders to an OMS. Our solution's eventing architecture makes integrations
with commercetools more lightweight and loosely coupled. Also, our
Subscription feature allows you to “subscribe” to events within the solution
that may need to be communicated to other systems.
Step 6: Integrate the user experience layer
Integrating the user experience layer (frontend) is generally the most time-consuming
part of the migration. Because you’re moving toward a microservices-based, composable
architecture, a frontend solution decoupled from monolithic stacks is the logical next step.
While commercetools offers a Frontend as a Service (FaaS) product, consider all the options
to make the best choice for your organization:
FEaaS
Suite Approach commercetools Custom
Frontend as a
DXP Frontend Frontend
Service
Time-to-market 3 months 4-6 months 4-6 months 6-9 months
Technical skills
Low Medium Medium High
required
Doesn’t require a CMS.
Robust features
CMS Basic CMS The website can be Robust CMS
(personalization, CMS
capabilities capabilities. managed directly even capabilities.
and advanced merch).
by non-technical users.
Composable
No Yes Yes Yes
stack

Why commercetools Frontend?
commercetools Frontend offers a significant advantage through its seamless
integration and communication between the frontend and backend systems.
However, when constructing a headless commerce architecture, it is essential to
consider integrations between the frontend and backend and other tools such
as search, personalization, marketing analytics, CMS and more, depending on the
platform's complexity.
With commercetools Composable Commerce and Frontend, you can sync and
orchestrate the data exchange between multiple frontends and backends without
missing a beat. commercetools Frontend offers:
• An integrated developer-friendly toolset, including a robust code editor,

debugging tools and automated testing frameworks, enabling tech teams to
accelerate time to market.
• An intuitive low-code interface (Frontend Studio) enables business users
(content, data quality and catalog managers) to manage and optimize sites.
This includes a site builder, page editor, live preview, SEO tools, media content,
templates and internationalization settings.
• Powered by Netlify, the highly performant Edge network, and hosted on the
Google Cloud. Combined with PWA (Progressive Web Apps) delivery — you
have a lightning-fast solution that is responsive across any device and optimized
for auto-scaling.
• Easy management of multiple storefronts and brands from a single data model.
Without using the commercetools Frontend, developers would need to build integrations
from scratch and maintain and scale them. However, given the typically limited availability of
development resources, leveraging existing integrations already available in commercetools
Frontend, such as Google Tag Manager and a headless CMS is more efficient.
You have the ultimate freedom and flexibility to choose one or a combination of the
frontend approaches. For an up-to-date list of frontend and CMS vendors with productized
integrations to commercetools, explore our Integration Marketplace.
Step 7: Test, deploy and improve continuously
Testing is a crucial step you should take while moving the pieces of your commerce
infrastructure from a monolith to a composable setup to identify compatibility issues and
ensure data integrity. This way, you can avoid system crashes or data loss, prevent errors or
corruption of data, and refine overall system performance, and reduce downtime.

For testing to become an integral part of your process, you can follow these four steps:
1. Develop a testing plan outlining what components will be tested, how testing will be
performed, and what metrics will be used to measure success.
2. Use testing tools such as load testing software, performance monitoring, etc.
3. Test constantly to ensure everything works without issues — or anticipate problems before
they become a blocker.
4. Record and analyze the results of each test, identifying any areas of concern or future
improvements.
Once each component is deployed, performance and user monitoring, as well as analytics,
kick in. In a nutshell, you should keep track of performance metrics such as page load
time, server response time and transaction processing time to identify areas that could be
optimized. Also, with real-time monitoring tools, you can identify issues at once, like system
crashes or slow page load times. In addition, analyze data like customer behavior, product
performance and sales data to identify trends and patterns that could be used to optimize
performance.
After your migration, keeping open and continuous communication with customers is key.
Constant customer interactions will help you stay on top of expectations and demands so
your innovations can cater to the people who matter the most in the coming years.

Customer Case Study
Digital transformation requires more than a technical transformation to cloud-native solutions;
it requires a shift in organizational mindset. The following pages examine a case study of a
successful migration from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools. We include relevant
project details and best practices for project management, change management and project
delivery.
Kmart Migration from HCL to commercetools
This case study examines Kmart's journey in

transforming its retail operations, focusing
on the migration project's objectives,
delivery approach, governance and change
management. It highlights key takeaways and
learnings from Kmart employees involved in the
transformation experience.
Factors for Project Success

At the close of the migration project, Kmart completed all project objectives with minimal
delays. The company's achievement can be credited to their significant investment in
analysis and technical assessments, which clarified project requirements and the best
project management approach before implementation.
Key takeaways include:

1. Comprehensive analysis and technical evaluation were key for project success.
2. Simultaneous organizational changes (technical, people and operations) were
manageable when approached with careful planning.
Project Delivery
Kmart's project delivery approach revealed several significant insights. The company initially
underestimated the effort required for test automation but soon recognized the need for
technical frontend specialization and leadership to perform these tests. Because of this,
Kmart established an Agile Chapter to further support this capability. Collaborating with
consulting partners also proved successful, provided they had effective onboarding and
knowledge transfer processes.

1. Accurate estimation of effort, especially in areas like test automation, is essential.
2. Building technical expertise within the team is vital.
3. Scaling teams should be done incrementally, with strong team members seeding new
squads.
4. Involvement of Agile coaching during scaling can be beneficial.
5. Cross-functional teams enable autonomy and effectiveness.
Governance Approach
Kmart's governance approach highlighted the importance of careful discovery and analysis
to determine what must be done before embarking on a project, spending nearly a year in
the discovery and planning phase. Extensive technical spikes, a type of user story used to
identify and evaluate options and reduce the risk of choosing a technical approach, were
instrumental in determining project feasibility and workflow sustainability. Convincing internal
stakeholders to embrace changes, like adopting the MACH/composable approach, required
clear communication of the product vision.

1. Thorough discovery and analysis work is essential.
2. Early conversations around necessary changes can prevent rework later.
3. Effective communication of the product vision is critical.
Change Management Approach

Kmart's change management approach involved engaging stakeholders that would undergo
operational changes early and consistently through showcases and sprint reviews. Scaling
internal teams was most successful when done incrementally with a flat organizational
structure. Cultural fit weighed more heavily than technical competence when hiring new
team members.
Key Takeaways:
1. Involving stakeholders early in the change process makes the shift more manageable.
2. Incremental scaling with a focus on cultural fit is most effective.
3. Documentation and real-time communication support successful change management.
Kmart's retail transformation journey offers valuable project management, delivery,

governance and change management lessons. The company's project experience migrating
from HCL to commercetools demonstrates the importance of thorough analysis, careful
planning, effective communication and incremental internal scaling when undertaking a
large-scale eCommerce platform migration project.
Result of migrating off of HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools:

• Reduced technology infrastructure costs by 70% as part of the process.
• Integrated specialized search and merchandising capabilities.

Next Steps
In this migration guide, we demonstrated how organizations can transition from a legacy
commerce platform like HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools. Companies making this
digital transformation can leverage the benefits of building and buying components to craft
unique customer experiences. If this approach is right for your business, here’s how to get
started:
1. Reach out to our expert team and tell us about your business and your project so we can
advise on the next steps. Alternatively, explore our network of implementation partners
who can help to plan your replatforming project.
2. Explore our customer stories to learn how other companies tackled migration to
commercetools and their results. Get inspired with metrics that facilitate internal buy-in by
speaking the language of your business leaders. For instance:
- Fashion brand, Express, handled 3x the traffic on Black Friday without a hitch and
added five significant capabilities to their digital experience in three months.
- Automaker, Audi, implemented in-car commerce across 1 million vehicles in 30 markets.
- Electronics manufacturer, Bang & Olufsen, increased the D2C conversion rate by 60%.
- Denmark’s largest retailer, Sailing Group, reduced operating costs by 75%.
- Department store, Kmart, reduced technology infrastructure costs by 70%
3. Create your minimum viable product (MVP) or proof of concept (POC) with
commercetools free 60-day trial.

Composable Resources
If you’d like to learn more about composable commerce, we've organized a collection of
available resources. To see all the commercetools and composable commerce resources,
check out the commercetools Resources page at https://commercetools.com/resources.
White papers and guides
• How to Compose Your Commerce in 2023

• The Omnichannel Playbook: Leveraging Composable Commerce for Omnichannel
Experiences
• Microservices Architecture for Modern Commerce
• The Composable Commerce Migration Guide for B2B
• Buy AND Build: A Blueprint For a Composable Commerce World
• commercetools – Composable Commerce, Reference Architecture
• The Composable Commerce Cheat Sheet
• From Monolithic Platforms to Modern, Composable Commerce
Blogs
• Building a composable tech stack for B2C commerce: A comprehensive guide

• Breaking up the monolith: Why microservices matter in modern commerce
• How reusing composable commerce technologies maximizes the value of your technology
investment
• What is composable commerce and why does it matter? Your questions answered
• MACH® architecture unveiled: Powering modern digital commerce experiences
• Key statistics from the CIO survey: The state of retail eCommerce in 2023
• Unlocking Success: Top 5 tips for a seamless commercetools implementation project
• HOW TO know if your company is a good candidate for composable commerce? Here’s a
checklist

About commercetools
commercetools founded the headless commerce concept, and is the industry-leading
composable commerce platform enabling brands to adapt and lead evolutions in digital
commerce. commercetools provides its customers with the agility and tools needed to
innovate and iterate on the fly, merge on and off-line channels, take advantage of new
markets, drive new and higher revenue-generating opportunities, and future-proof their
eCommerce business — without incurring technical and operational risks.
Today, commercetools is trusted by some of the world's most iconic brands including Audi,
Danone, Eurorail, NBCUniversal, Sephora and Volkswagen Group and many more. To learn
more, visit commercetools.com.
More information at commercetools.com.
Contact Us
Europe - HQ Americas
commercetools GmbH commercetools, Inc.
Adams-Lehmann-Str. 44 324 Blackwell, Suite 120
80797 Munich, Germany Durham, NC 27701
Tel. +49 (89) 99 82 996-0 Tel. +1 212-220-3809
info@commercetools.com mail@commercetools.com
Munich - Berlin - Jena - Cologne - Amsterdam - Zurich - London - Valencia - Durham NC - Melbourne - Singapore - Shanghai
©2023 commercetools GmbH - All rights reserved

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How to Migrate from

HCL Commerce Cloud

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 2

Lastly, organizations considering such a transformation are encouraged to seek guidance

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 3

At the core of commercetools' composable strategy is MACH-based architecture, which

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 4

1. The need to upgrade to each new version of the software.

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 5

When HCL stops serving you

• Lack of flexibility: Monolithic systems are, by definition, inflexible and difficult to

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 6

HCL Commerce Cloud, according to Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital

• Hybrid single-tenant and multitenant platform with single-tenant components

• Used by a few substantial companies generating more than 10 Billion USD

• Gartner praises the functionality and bundled applications, scalability and

• Gartner warns of the disjointed business user experience, limited company

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 7

commercetools Composable Commerce Platform

commercetools Composable Commerce offers customizable commerce components like

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 8

commercetools Composable Commerce enables businesses to leverage best-of-breed

commercetools Composable Commerce + Frontend + Checkout

To additionally support your composable journey, you can tap into

commercetools' architecture leverages six additional principles for a cost-effective, flexible

• Versionless: With software that's always up-to-date through automatic incremental

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 9

1. Microservices: Specific business capabilities individually created and maintained by the

HCL Commerce Cloud commercetools The practical difference

Documented lack of Complete composability More opportunities to

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 10

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 11

1. You want a quicker time-to-market

2. You need more stability and higher performance

The multi-cloud setup of commercetools leverages the cloud solutions of Google

3. You wish you had more flexibility for customizations

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 12

4. There's no room for innovation

5. User experience isn't a priority

User-centered business tooling: commercetools Merchant Center

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 13

A composable approach does not require any updates, upgrades or hotfixes,

Composable commerce: A Modern eCommerce solution

Cloud-Native SaaS Component-based Tech-Agnostic

• Component-based: A composable system combines independent and interchangeable

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 14

The build-and-buy approach is composability at its finest

Moving from Monolithic to

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 15

Strangler Pattern in Action

CI/CD Pipeline for

CI/CD Pipeline for

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 16

Strangler Week 1 Strangler Week 5

New New New New New New

Old System Old System

commercetools' customers have repeatedly chosen an incremental migration approach to

• Evaluate business processes. Every process doesn't need to be recreated, especially

How to Migrate from HCL Commerce Cloud to commercetools 17

Part 1: Project Management Best Practices

Achieving a successful digital transformation demands more than just replatforming to a

Importance of the Project Manager

1. The appropriate team members document business processes as part of requirement