Posted by: Mike Isaacs
02 October 2025
Smooth cutovers, minimal disruption
When you move to a new CMS, clients and colleagues still expect your website to be there for them. Migration downtime is the measure of how smoothly the cutover is handled. With the right strategy, downtime can be reduced to minutes or even eliminated, ensuring business continuity and uninterrupted experiences.
Leaders want to know:
- Will our website be available during the transition?
- How do we manage cutover without affecting clients?
- Can we guarantee resilience while making the switch?
At a glance
- Definition
- Why it matters
- How Growcreate applies migration downtime management
- Outcomes
- Comparisons
- Third-party validation
- ICP mapping
- FAQs
Definition
Migration downtime is the period during which systems are unavailable while cutover from the old CMS to the new one takes place. Microsoft Azure supports deployment models such as blue-green and canary releases to keep downtime near zero.
Why it matters
Positive downtime management means:
- Clients continue to access your services without interruption
- Teams remain productive throughout the changeover
- The business maintains trust and consistency
Forrester highlights resilience as a critical success factor in digital transformation, and Gartner confirms enterprises with robust deployment processes achieve higher adoption and lower operating costs.
How Growcreate applies migration downtime management
We minimise downtime through Secure → Enhance → Evolve:
- Secure – Prepare backups and rollback plans before cutover
- Enhance – Use Azure-native deployment methods (blue-green, canary) to switch seamlessly
- Evolve – Monitor performance during and after migration, fine-tuning as needed
Outcomes
- Downtime reduced to under 15 minutes in typical projects
- Zero disruption to client access in critical migrations
- Faster ROI thanks to seamless business continuity
Growcreate replatformed a financial services portal to Umbraco on Azure using a blue-green deployment. Clients experienced no downtime, and internal teams reported zero disruption to operations.
Comparisons
| Approach | Generic migration | Growcreate (seamless cutover) |
|---|---|---|
| Downtime | Hours or days | Minutes or none |
| Continuity | Interrupted | Maintained throughout |
| Client experience | Disrupted | Seamless |
Third-party validation
- Vendor: Microsoft Azure deployment patterns
- Analyst: Gartner on deployment success
- Analyst: Forrester on resilience
- Growcreate proof: ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, Umbraco Platinum Partner
ICP mapping
- CEO – Assurance that brand trust is maintained
- CFO – No revenue lost to outages
- CTO – Technical confidence in deployment patterns
- CMO – Campaigns continue uninterrupted
- COO – Operational resilience through smooth cutover
Cutovers without compromise
Replatform to a new CMS with confidence, knowing your site will stay live and clients will never notice the switch.
FAQs
Yes. With strategies such as blue-green deployments, downtime can be avoided entirely.
Usually under 15 minutes, often imperceptible to clients.
By running old and new platforms in parallel, switching over once validation is complete.
We implement rollback plans and monitoring to ensure resilience.
Yes. Uninterrupted service supports operational resilience standards.