Western Reserve Group

Overview

Western Reserve Group (WRG) engaged InGen in September 2020 to address an urgent modernization need: their public website was operating on Sitefinity 3.17, far behind current supported versions. The primary objective was to upgrade the platform to Sitefinity 13 while preserving business continuity and improving day-to-day usability for internal teams.

InGen executed a clean installation and data migration approach, and—alongside the upgrade—delivered a design "facelift" that improved the experience for agents, customers, and WRG staff.

The Challenge

WRG's site was running on a significantly outdated Sitefinity version (3.17), creating risk and operational drag:

Key challenges included:

• Upgrading across a large version gap without treating it as a simple in-place migration
• Preserving and migrating existing site content and data reliably
• Reducing internal lag and performance issues affecting WRG employees
• Modernizing the user experience without forcing a full redesign or disrupting familiarity
• Delivering within a tight timeline (completed by year-end)

The Solution

We approached the project as a platform modernization, not a standard upgrade. Because of the version jump, we installed a fresh, current Sitefinity environment and migrated WRG's site data into it.

Clean Sitefinity Installation + Data Migration

Rather than attempting a direct migration across many major versions, InGen performed a clean installation of Sitefinity on WRG's servers and migrated the website data into the new environment. This reduced upgrade risk and created a stable foundation aligned to Sitefinity 13.

UX "Facelift" Modernization

During delivery, InGen's UI/UX team recommended a targeted "facelift"—not a full redesign—to modernize WRG's look and feel. WRG adopted the approach, and the update resolved usability issues and visual inconsistencies that were limiting the experience for agents and customers.

Modern Web Framework + Performance Improvements

InGen moved the site onto a modern web framework and updated the user-facing experience. The combined modernization reduced lag and enabled WRG teams to work more efficiently in the CMS and related workflows.

Solution Benefits

The modernization delivered practical benefits for WRG:

• Platform risk reduction — A supported, modern Sitefinity version replaced an outdated legacy installation.
• Higher operational efficiency — Reduced lag and improved usability for internal site operations.
• Modernized experience without disruption — A facelift improved the experience without forcing a complete redesign.
• Stronger foundation for continued modernization — The upgrade created a base for additional initiatives and improvements.

Results

The Sitefinity modernization was completed by the end of 2020, providing WRG with a current, stable CMS platform and a refreshed experience for users and internal teams. Following delivery, WRG expanded engagement with InGen for additional modernization work, including an intranet initiative.