Seamless Migration from Optimizely to Drupal 10
Founded in 1855, Samuel, Son & Co., Limited is a family-owned company with a comprehensive network of metal manufacturing, processing, and distribution divisions. With over 80 locations across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, Samuel is the largest family-owned processor and distributor of metal products and solutions in North America.
The Client
Samuel is a leading industrial products company with a strong commitment to both innovation and creating an exceptional workplace. Operating across Canada, the US, and Mexico, Samuel is strategically positioned to serve customers across North America, with a team of over 5,500 professionals contributing to the company’s $4B+ annual revenue. The company also drives positive change through its employee-led corporate giving program, Samuel Communities, which supports over 170 charitable organizations globally. With a focus on fostering long-term success for both its customers and team members, Samuel remains dedicated to innovation, excellence, and creating meaningful impact in the communities it serves.The Challenge
One of the major challenges faced during the project was the full platform migration from Optimizely to Drupal 10. Transitioning the entire site required careful planning to avoid the risk of data loss or compromising important information such as product catalogs and customer details. Additionally, the outdated design of the previous site posed another obstacle. It was essential to revamp the look and feel of the website to align with modern user expectations and ensure that it was mobile-friendly while maintaining the brand’s luxurious aesthetic. Another significant challenge involved the need for multilingual support. With Samuel, Son & Co. catering to a global audience, the website had to accommodate various languages to ensure accessibility for customers worldwide. Managing multisite functionality was also a key challenge, as the company required the ability to oversee 17 different websites from a single backend, with each site maintaining its own user roles and administrative sections. Finally, performance optimization was crucial to handle high traffic volumes without compromising site speed, and training the client’s internal team to manage the new platform independently after the migration was completed posed an additional challenge.
The Solution
To address the platform migration challenge, Dotsquares meticulously planned and executed the transition from Optimizely to Drupal 10, ensuring that no data, including product catalogs and customer information, was lost or compromised. For the design and user experience issue, Dotsquares collaborated closely with Samuel, Son & Co. to modernize the site, creating a visually appealing, mobile-friendly interface that not only enhanced the user experience but also reflected the brand’s luxurious identity. In response to the multilingual support challenge, Dotsquares integrated multilingual capabilities into the site, enabling it to cater to a global audience by supporting various languages. To meet the multisite requirement, the Drupal backend was configured to manage 17 different websites from a single panel, while also allowing each site to have unique user roles assigned to specific sections. For performance optimization, caching and CDN integration were implemented, improving load times even during high traffic periods. Finally, to empower the in-house team at Samuel, Son & Co., Dotsquares provided comprehensive training and documentation, ensuring that they could easily manage content, products, and orders using Drupal 10’s intuitive interface.
Our Approach to the Migration
Dotsquares has expertly migrated 17 websites for Samuel, Son & Co. from Optimizely to Drupal 10, creating a unified, modular, and scalable digital ecosystem. This full-scale transformation modernized backend architecture, enhanced frontend responsiveness, enabled multilingual support, and streamlined user training—revitalizing outdated systems with precision, not disruption. A seamless evolution toward future-ready digital operations. Discover how Dotsquares Migrates 17 Samuel, Son & Co. Sites to Drupal 10 with Unified Architecture- Read the full story in The Drop Times.
The Results
The migration from Optimizely to Drupal 10 resulted in a modernized infrastructure for Samuel, Son & Co., significantly improving site performance, scalability, and security. This transition has made the website more reliable, ensuring that it can handle future growth while maintaining high standards of protection against potential threats. Additionally, the new content management system (CMS) has streamlined operations, allowing the internal team to easily manage and update content. This improvement simplifies launching new product lines and updating existing collections, providing greater flexibility in maintaining the website. The introduction of multilingual capabilities has expanded the company's reach, making the site accessible to global audiences. With support for multiple languages, Samuel, Son & Co. now has the flexibility to enter new regions and improve its global accessibility. Furthermore, the website has been optimized for mobile responsiveness, delivering a seamless and consistent user experience across all devices, whether viewed on desktops, tablets, or smartphones. By migrating to Drupal 10, Samuel, Son & Co. has also secured long-term security and the benefits of community support. The platform ensures robust security measures and is backed by a large open-source community that continuously innovates and provides regular updates. These updates, along with ongoing security patches, will help protect the site from vulnerabilities and ensure the platform remains future-proof.
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