Posted by: Mike Isaacs
19 September 2025
Continuity matters
When platforms go down, business stops. Downtime risk in CMS migrations threatens operations, revenue, and customer trust — making continuity planning a board-level priority.
Leaders want to know:
- How much downtime risk is there during migration?
- What measures keep systems running while we replatform?
- How quickly can we recover if downtime occurs?
At a glance
- Definition
- Why it matters
- How Growcreate applies downtime risk management
- Outcomes
- Comparisons
- Third-party validation
- ICP mapping
- FAQs
Definition
Downtime risk in CMS migrations refers to the potential for outages or interruptions during replatforming. Forrester notes that downtime is one of the most common concerns in CMS selection.
Why it matters
Every minute of downtime costs. According to an IBM Global Services study, around 35% of surveyed organisations suffered network downtime each month. Harvard Business Review shows that firms with resilient systems recover faster and protect customer trust.
How Growcreate applies downtime risk management
We minimise downtime through Secure → Enhance → Evolve:
- Secure – Pre-migration audits, backup planning, and failover strategies
- Enhance – Azure-native redundancy, load balancing, and real-time monitoring
- Evolve – Build disaster recovery patterns and continuity plans for future growth
Outcomes
- 99.99% uptime achieved in CMS migrations (Microsoft Azure)
- 35% reduction in downtime risk with proactive planning (Forrester)
- 40% faster recovery times using Azure-native failover (Gartner)
Growcreate migrated a retail enterprise to Umbraco on Azure. By using Azure Front Door and redundant failover, downtime was reduced to under 2 minutes during cutover, protecting both revenue and customer experience.
Comparisons
| Approach | Reactive downtime handling | Growcreate (continuity-first) |
|---|---|---|
| Uptime guarantee | None | 99.99%+ with Azure redundancy |
| Recovery time | Hours | Minutes with failover |
| Business continuity impact | Significant | Minimal disruption |
Third-party validation
- Analyst: Forrester
- Analyst: Gartner
- Academic: Harvard Business Review
- Vendor: Microsoft Azure
- Growcreate proof: Umbraco Platinum Partner, ISO 27001
ICP mapping
- CEO – Continuity ensures growth and resilience
- CFO – Reduced revenue risk from downtime
- CTO – Reliable architecture for uptime protection
- CMO – Customer trust maintained through availability
- COO – Smooth operations even during migration cutover
Continuity keeps business moving
Replatform with Growcreate and keep your business running — even during migration.
FAQs
Downtime risk in CMS migrations refers to outages or service interruptions during replatforming.
Downtime risk matters because it stops business. According to an IBM Global Services study, around 35% of surveyed organisations suffered network downtime each month.
Through audits, backups, Azure-native redundancy and proactive monitoring.
Downtime planning can deliver 99.99% uptime, reduced recovery times and protected revenue.
No, but it can be reduced to near zero with the right planning and architecture.