Building and managing multiple websites within an enterprise can get really complex, really fast. Slower website builds, higher operational overheads and the lack of scalability, visibility, and control are just some of the challenges.
What enterprises need is a way to streamline and bring order to this chaos. They need to bring standardization, optimal processes, and centralized governance, without impacting the operational autonomy of the different sites.
Enter multisite architecture.
A multisite architecture essentially involves running different websites on a single codebase. The sites share a set of common resources and standardized elements, while still retaining the independence to manage certain other aspects. The deployment is usually in the form of a centralized platform that offers all the shared resources, defining and maintaining a superset of functionality that provides great efficiencies.
This basic rearrangement with a multisite architecture delivers some major benefits:
Simplified content management: Easy and seamless editorial workflows are one of the highlights of a multisite architecture. Content created once can be shared across all sites and independent editorial teams can choose to publish it on their sites with a few clicks. Editorial teams are also in sync as they get timely notifications for any changes introduced in the content, without having to collaborate over multiple channels.
Ensure Brand Consistency: Independent website teams often build websites that look and operate differently, sometimes missing the mark on a consistent brand experience. But because multisite gives you a standard set of modules and themes, or a basic site template to replicate, the user experience across different brand websites can be kept consistent.
Easy Maintenance: A common site architecture allows the organizations to add new modules, and update or replace existing modules. With a unified multisite platform, visibility, access, and control of your sites remain streamlined. Easy maintenance ultimately leads to better site experiences for your audience.
Upgrade Only Once: Multisite is particularly useful for managing the code since each upgrade needs to be done only once. This saves a lot of time particularly if the number of websites is in double digits.
There are several scenarios wherein brands manage multiple websites, and would greatly benefit from a unified platform architecture to manage them. Here's a look at why a multisite architecture is what is needed in these cases:
While the benefits are distinct, multisite may not be the right solution for every enterprise with multiple websites. Here are a few things to consider, to help you know when a multisite architecture is not for you:
Opting for multisite is a big decision and hence has to be taken after careful consideration. You can evaluate your business scenario to understand how multisite can be beneficial, or if your operational specifics are not suited to a multisite architecture. We hope the above information helps you take that call.
Once you have made that decision, you can go on to decide if Drupal is the right choice for your multisite, and how to build an effective multisite architecture.
Srijan teams have worked with several global enterprises to deliver multisite architecture with the Drupal multisite solution. We understand the business and technological nuances involved in a large-scale multisite setup and have the expertise to help you successfully navigate the discovery, development, and deployment phases of the project.
Planning to opt for multisite but still have doubts? Join the webinar, where Brian Hibbert, CIO, ICTSI, talks about how they adopted a multisite architecture and the benefits it has delivered.