Revving Up Success: take it_ and MILES Mobility's Exciting Journey

• Headquarters: Berlin, Germany
• Technology Stack: Next.js, Storyblok

In this case study, we delve into the dynamic partnership between take it_ (opens in a new window), a Berlin-based web development agency, and MILES Mobility (opens in a new window), Germany's foremost car-sharing provider. take it_ brings its expertise in crafting Storyblok-based websites to the table and it addresses compliance concerns, enhances the editing experience and facilitates internationalization.
This case study highlights the successful migration to Storyblok and Next.js (from Gatsby), leading to significant performance improvements, reflected in the 100% Best Practices and 98% SEO (Lighthouse scores) results, as well as a 4 weeks timeline from start to launch.

Not all headless CMSs are built the same

Previous to migrating the website to Storyblok, MILES’s website was built on Contentful. While it mostly satisfied their basic needs, at the time* Contentful's servers were based in the US which posed a problem for MILES as an European company.
Additionally, they were facing several other challenges:

• GDPR Compliance: MILES Mobility's previous setup, which was based on Contentful and hosted in the US, posed a problem as it made the company non-compliant with GDPR and EU privacy laws. Data processing and storage in the US were not in line with the stringent European data protection regulations.
• Editing and Productivity: The previous system, which used Contentful and Gatsby, had limitations in terms of the speed of making and publishing edits. This impacted the productivity of the team and caused delays in updating the website content.
• Server Location: The fact that their servers were based in the US also implied potential performance and data protection issues. Hosting data in the US led to slower response times for European users and added complexity in data governance.

Storyblok's solutions for increased performance and productivity

By migrating to Storyblok, the agency addressed all of the above issues and enhanced MILES Mobility's web presence.

• GDPR Compliance: Storyblok offered a solution that allowed MILES Mobility to store and process data in a GDPR-compliant manner, as it offers EU data centers (and US at no additional cost).
• Enhanced Editing Experience: Storyblok provided a user-friendly editing experience through its Visual Editor. This allowed MILES Mobility's team to make and publish edits more efficiently, improving their overall content management process.
• Internationalization: Storyblok offered solutions for better internationalization of the website.
• Performance Improvement: The migration to Next.js and Storyblok improved the website's performance. This includes faster page load times, better responsiveness, and a smoother user experience.

Objectives and milestones

After the initial discussion, the first step was to analyze the code base and make decisions regarding what can be migrated, changed or completely rewritten. Mapping these decisions helped them in organizing the timeline and being ready for the go-live in 4 weeks.

As mentioned, the migration wasn’t just limited to Storyblok, the agency also made the decision to make the change from Gatsby to Next and to TypeScript.
After the go-live, the first improvements were quickly noticed. With Contentful and Gatsby, even with a staging server, changes took a while to be visible and impacted the productivity. Migrating to Next.js solved all that. Additionally, the Visual Editor of Storyblok, completely changed the editing process for the better.

The road forward

MILES and take it_ continue their collaboration with regular calls between the developers. Together they look for solutions and are implementing new features. On their list is integrating a new Image API into the website to improve page performance.

* Currently, Contentful offers EU data centers, but exclusively with Premium Plans and associated additional expenses. In contrast, Storyblok's default data center is in the EU, and we provide US data centers at no additional charge.