In the battle for insurance customer loyalty, the best customer experience wins. Equipped with a powerful content management system (CMS) like Drupal, insurance web teams are prepared for a competitive landscape crowded with fast-on-their-feet insurtech startups and looming giants of tech, Amazon and Google. 

The Drupal 7 Versus 8 Debate: A Team Approach 

Drupal 9 is coming. With the release just under a year away, the time is now for insurers’ teams to resolve their internal CMS debate — remain on Drupal 7 or upgrade to Drupal 8?

Bridging the customer experience gap is no small feat. However, insurance business leaders, marketers and developers are tackling the challenge head on. They comprise the team of experience builders with seats at the table for decisions like a CMS upgrade. To forward growth, their technology decisions are prioritized by data security and cost control. Also topping the list of evaluation criteria is a capacity for continuous improvement and swift speed to market of applications and functionality. Business leaders, marketers and developers bring unique approaches to achieve these common goals. In this article, we’ll evaluate Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 through the lens of these three stakeholders.

Current Drupal 7 sites have captured a glimpse of why Drupal is a fit for insurance, but the real power lies within Drupal 8. Of course, the decision to upgrade requires thoughtful consideration and planning. It’s a significant undertaking, particularly for large sites. However, factoring in the robust features of Drupal 8 with the appealing innovation forecast for Drupal 9—and the simple upgrade path connecting the two—insurers are likely to find that the advantages of upgrading far exceed the disadvantages. 

Drupal 7 Versus Drupal 8 for Business Leaders

Business leaders’ roles and responsibilities revolve around improving operating efficiency and cutting expenses. A flexible technology stack is crucial to stay competitive, perhaps even opening doors to collaborate with emerging insurtech startups. 

Focusing on the bottom line, insurance business leaders are understandably concerned with forecasting migration costs. 

Gaining a Competitive Edge 

With Drupal 8, insurers can gain a foothold to gain, and keep, a competitive edge in the market. 

• Drupal 8 core offers many advantages, including improved performance and a better editorial and developer experience, to close the innovation loop.
• To support the leap from Drupal 7, Drupal 8 now includes a built-in user interface to streamline migrations and offers more support for multilingual migrations.
• More accessible web forms and other accessibility improvements in Drupal 8 serve to support legal compliance efforts and extend insurance offerings to the widest possible audience.

Benefits of Drupal 8 

Source: Mediacurrent

The many advancements in Drupal 8 core are reason enough to consider an upgrade, but contributed modules represent the best innovation in the Drupal ecosystem. The brilliant and globally spread Drupal community has shone a spotlight on Drupal 8. Drupal 7 simply hasn’t received the same level of enhancements and attention. Furthermore, passing on Drupal 8 now can also mean missing competitive advantages during the waiting time before Drupal 9. 

Looking ahead, moving to Drupal 8 now will make for an easier transition to Drupal 9. In the words of Frank Sinatra, “The best is yet to come...and won’t it be fine” (or should we say, nine?).   

Estimating Effort and Cost

Insurance business leaders are naturally concerned with total cost of ownership for their Drupal CMS. The migration roadmap is an important factor in that equation. 

Can you take your time to upgrade for Drupal 9? The answer is, technically, yes — but consider both migration and opportunity costs.  After clearing the jump from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8, expect future upgrades to Drupal 9 and onward will be significantly easier. 

Drupal 8 marked the beginning of a new continuous innovation model where advances in functionality are released rapidly on a six-month release cycle. Also, the Drupal 8 architecture is tuned so that a simplified upgrade path awaits to Drupal 9. This approach allows you to benefit from the innovation of Drupal 8 as Drupal 9 brews in the same codebase. 

Mediacurrent’s Drupal 9 Upgrade Guide can help prep your site for the move to Drupal 9. 

Drupal 7 Versus Drupal 8 for Marketers

Insurance marketers of all types, e.g., home, auto and life, view the customer experience as synonymous with digital experience. They have watched customer loyalty dwindle as the market has shifted online, where it’s never been easier to switch providers and shop online for quotes.

Earning Loyalty, Improving Customer Experience

Drupal 8’s appeal to marketers has grown significantly with major releases emphasizing ease of use and customer experience. Insurance organizations like MagMutual have embarked on the transition from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 to better serve marketing teams:

Our Drupal platform allows our team to adapt to that very quickly to change marketing strategies as we continue to grow and evolve with our customer base.

Sallie Graves, CIO, MagMutual

Catch up on our CIO Interview with MagMutual to see how the organization is bringing new engagement strategies to life on an adaptable platform.

The key to forging deep customer loyalty lies in improving the customer experience from start to finish. In evaluating a CMS platform, marketers need a solution to tighten the reins on data so that it can be applied to the customer experience. 

For Guardian Insurance, Drupal 8 was a savvy place to land. Read Guardian’s Drupal 8 case study to see how they built a data-informed customer experience to win millennial insurance shoppers. 

Our Drupal 8 platform will serve as a foundation as we scale and enhance our web and mobile experiences for customers.

Peggy Maher, SVP, direct to consumer at Guardian Life Insurance 

Drupal 8 and Modern MarTech Stack 

Insurance marketers on Drupal 7 have most likely been with the same platform for a few years. If that rings true for you, consider the strategic doors that an upgrade can open. Think big about your website as a business tool. 

Consider questions like:

• Does your conversion rate, bounce rate, site traffic and page load time indicate it’s time for a redesign?
• Do you have a solution for customer journey mapping? Can you see what works, what doesn’t and, most importantly, why to engage prospective and current customers?
• What usability improvements can help shape the customer experience?
• Are there any areas of your digital presence lacking in personalization?

Drupal 8 is built for easy integration with your current and future marketing toolkit. Connect marketing automation, email service providers, CRM and more with Drupal 8 as the foundation for your digital experience ecosystem.

Drupal 7 Versus Drupal 8 for Developers

Security 

Developers in the insurance space are tasked with managing the security implications for mountains of personal data and sensitive information. 

We mentioned previously that the developer community has been laser focused on innovation in Drupal 8 —this also applies to security. Major security flaws are first found—and first fixed—in Drupal 8. If that’s not reason enough to contemplate a move to Drupal 8, consider also the security implications of Drupal 7’s impending end of life where core maintainers check out of security duty.  Beware— your site’s data could become vulnerable to hacking and other exploits. 

A study from 2018 found 63% of hacked sites running Drupal had outdated versions when breached.  

Ahead of the Curve 

The Internet of Things (IoT), which includes smart home devices and new telematics solutions, gives insurers a new opportunity to learn from customers to serve them better. Beyond just a website, insurers need to meet customers on their screen of choice. Whether it’s mobile, wearables or smart home devices, screen time is all the time. Drupal 8 core is built with the elasticity to accommodate customers’ devices of today and tomorrow. 

For more considerations from a site builder’s perspective, read 10 Reasons Why You Should Start Your New Project in Drupal 8 on the Acquia Developers blog. 

Conclusion

For insurance providers, digital transformation is where customer experience meets Drupal 8 technology. With a highly proactive community behind the screens, the Drupal project is paving the runway for next-generation customer experiences. 

Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 converts like the State of Georgia and Pegasystems are but two examples of large, complex sites that saw significant gains from their migration. Acquia and Mediacurrent have proudly supported these organizations on their Drupal journey. Watch their migration stories here. 

Master Your Drupal 8 Upgrade With a Trusted Partner

The final crucial consideration on the road to adopting Drupal 8 is choosing a migration partner. As a leader in Drupal development, strategy and design, Mediacurrent has partnered with high-profile clients ranging from large enterprise businesses to education. Together with Acquia, our talent, tools and processes ensure a smooth and successful migration. Partnering with us will help you establish the personalized digital experiences that capture customer loyalty — leveraging flexible open source technology and with the lock-tight security the industry requires.