Change your Magento development partner — no downtime, no risk
Your Magento online store works, but the partner no longer meets expectations? Deadlines drag on, security updates are missed, communication falters, your partner doesn’t seem to care how well your business is actually doing, or there are other issues. You know something has to change — but you’re afraid that changing partners will stop the store and you’ll lose sales.
We can help if cooperation with an existing developer has hit a dead end. We can guarantee almost complete absence of downtime when taking over the online store.
When is it time to change your Magento development partner?
Changing partners is not a decision that should be the first option on the table when cooperation is faltering. A change of partner does not mean that the previous developer or you have done something wrong, at least. If you recognize more than two of the signs below, it’s time to act — before technical debt and security risks become business critical.
Unstable team
Permitted developments are regularly completed late and without good reason. Campaigns remain unlaunched, planned functions are delayed, and you have to constantly adapt your business plans to the partner’s capabilities — not the other way around.
The topic is relevant if your e-business is successful and grows faster than the development partner can keep up.
Communication is slow and incomplete
Information requests remain unanswered for days and are not good for gaining insight into the system’s operations. You don’t have a clear contact person and you don’t know what’s really going on with your project.
No technical support — problems remain unresolved
Critical errors remain uncorrected, there are no SLAs (service level agreements), and the partner only reacts when you sound the alarm. The store can be down for hours before anyone responds. There is no emergency team.
Security is not taken seriously
Your online store runs on an old Magento version. The company does not respond quickly and seriously enough to new security updates. Every month that passes on an outdated version increases the technical debt.
Partner has no Magento experience
The development partner has not actually completed any Magento online store before. All solutions are offered, the online store is only one of them and they do not know basic things.
Your partner doesn’t understand your business
Focusing on the “preparation” of the online store, and after the store is completed, they want to “get rid of the relationship”. The partner does not offer strategic consulting or growth solutions.
Lack of transparency and overview: hourly work bills come without a detailed explanation. There is no project management process and you cannot see the status of developments.
If any of them seem familiar and the problems have not been resolved within a reasonable time, you might consider changing your partner.
What happens if you delay the change of partner
Increased load is a positive problem, and it still happens when marketing advances faster than technology can catch up.
The longer you wait, the greater the risks:
- Security risks are increasing every month. Magento versions without security updates are open to hackers. Customers will not forgive if you have ignored the security risks and the partner has promised “we’ll fix it one day”.
- Technical debt is getting more expensive every week. The developer must know the business goals of the online store and help decide when and what to do. Temporary fixes are piling up. Later, solving the same problem will be 3-5 times more expensive than now.
- Competitors will overtake you. Such a situation usually emerges only after a long time, and then the time and investments to introduce changes are very high. A slow, technically slow and unsecured online store will lose positions in Google.
- Integrations stop working. The team must be ready to manually check information unexpectedly during a busy campaign period. Any integration that stops working means lost sales and manual work.
Partner change is a manageable process
Partner exchange with the freeware platform is possible. You also have to consider additional costs and some risks that are manageable.
It’s important to do this as a controlled process where you audit the situation, collect accesses, prepare environments and transition during low traffic times.
How does the transfer of the online store to Lumav administration work?
Depending on the time criticality, the size of the online store, the availability of documentation and the investment capacity, we adjust the process. We have taken over and are ready to take over the online store also in a so-called quick method, where a business customer’s security incident has occurred.
The takeover process is structured in such a way that risks are managed, critical functionalities are tested, and the customer always has an overview of what stage the takeover is at the moment.
Typical timeline: 1 week for minor and 8 weeks for major takeovers. Very large and complex systems may take longer.
Step 1: Free initial consultation (30 min)
Let’s talk through your current situation: what works, what doesn’t, what are your business goals and investment capacity. We appreciate the need for a change of partner.
- Mapping the current situation
- Understanding business needs and goals
- Clarification of key technical challenges, plus key modules and major developments
- In addition, an offer to exchange a partner. We decide the volume based on the complexity of the online store
Step 2: Signing a cooperation agreement
We conclude a cooperation agreement, introduce the teams and activate the maintenance package so that critical topics are also covered during the transition.
Step 3: Online store audit
A quick overview of the current situation of the online store. The audit can also be ordered separately and independently.
- Mini-analysis/check of the main functionalities of the online store, whether the documentation and data correspond to reality
- Superficial code quality analysis
- Security audit — have security updates been implemented?
- Performance measurement
- Extensions review — which modules are in use?
- Control of integrations
- Copyright Mini-Analysis. Which solutions belong to you, which to a third party
Step 4: Audit results and action plan
We will review the current situation of the online store and whether anything is different than originally thought. We provide recommendations and an action plan, or to a lesser extent drafting.
Step 5: Transfer accesses and documentation or send online store
For a smooth transition, we need:
- Server and hosting access (SSH, FTP)
- Code Repository (Git)
- Admin panel users
- API keys and integration information (payments, couriers, ERP)
- Existing documentation (if any)
We will give you an exact checklist and if there is anything else you need from the old developer. Cooperation with the old developer often continues and usually things are actually fine. Important: you are the owner of the online store — you do not need the consent of your old partner.
Step 6: Adopting the code and environment
We make a copy of the live environment into the development environment. Testers check all critical functions: the order process, payments, delivery, and how integrations work. We fix issues before anything changes in real time.
If the customer wants Lumav hosting and monitoring, we will set up a server environment.
We will carry out the transition during low traffic times. We turn on monitoring, activate a DevOps service pack, and provide 24/7 support for crashes after the transition.
What does Lumav offer when changing partners?
Magento specialists
We are an officially certified partner of Adobe and the first Magento partner in Estonia. We stay up to date with Magento trends so you can apply them to your business.
Certified developers
Certified developers — i.e. a clear system of substitutions has been established. Your project does not have to wait and you are never dependent on one developer.
Optimized processes
We keep the team as thin as possible and let you know if there is a price difference with an offer. Result: the budget is balanced and it is not spent on admin activities.
Becoming part of the Lumav module base
Lumav customers have access to our own developed Magento modules, the development cost of which we have divided between the customers, and with additional customers, these costs will decrease even more.
Some modules in which we have invested ourselves are also available to customers of other developers.
DevOps maintenance packages with clear SLAs
After the change of partner, it is important that the online store is under constant maintenance. Lumav offers three DevOps maintenance packages.
In most cases, we respond as soon as possible, but DevOps 1 and 2 customers are at the front of the queue.
Knowledge of the Baltic and Scandinavian markets
We know the specificities of local integrations:
- Payments: Montonio, Maksekeskus…
- Couriers: Omniva, SmartPOST, DPD, Venipak…
- ERP systems: Erply, Buum, MS Dynamics, Directo…
- see the integrations page
- PIM systems: Akeneo, InRiver…
The result: your online store works mainly in the Estonian and Baltic markets without problems — local integrations are our daily routine.
Customer data must be secure
Experience in working with large online stores. We promise that the customer data of the online store is safely in the hands of our team.
Frequently asked questions about switching Magento partners
Does a change of Magento partner cause the online store to be down?
We plan the transition to be seamless. We first make a copy to the staging environment, the testers check all the functions, and only then we carry out the transition in real time and push back if there are problems.
How long does it take to switch Magento partners?
2-8 weeks depending on the complexity of the online store. For very large and complex systems, longer.
Does the old partner have to agree to the exchange?
In the case of a free-to-use platform, you do not have to, if you have not adopted developer-licensed services, modules, etc. During the audit, we review all modules and extensions in use, including whether any of them are license-based. We inform the customer if additional services have been used.
Will all data and customer information remain?
Yes, all data — customers, orders, products and history — will remain the same. The change of partner does not affect the contents of the database.
Does Lumav offer a response guarantee?
In most cases, we respond as soon as possible, but DevOps 1 and 2 customers are at the front of the queue. All packages include off-duty emergency response.
If and when do we need to upgrade to a new version of Magento?
After the audit, we will give a recommendation. Read more about version explanations here.
Does the change of partner also include the development of new functionality?
If any development is critical, we can include it in the first live if possible. We can add the remaining developments as a separate project after the takeover.
How is data security ensured when changing partners?
We use secure SFTP and SSH connections. The development environment is password protected and VPN protected. All access goes through our internal security procedure. We take GDPR requirements seriously and our team is trained in data security.
Didn’t find an answer to your question? Write to us and we will reply as soon as possible.
Start with a free consultation — contact us
If a change of partner has become inevitable, Lumav helps you to do it in a controlled manner, without downtime and minimizing business risks.
