Rescue & Optimization

Rescue and optimization of Adobe implementations (Commerce, AEM, AEP)

Not every Adobe Experience Cloud implementation ends well. Slow catalogs, abandoning checkouts, broken ERP integrations, badly modeled AEM, AEP bought and underused, teams that lost confidence in the original vendor. When that happens, there's a structured path back to a healthy production state — technical audit, honest plan with investment tiers, sprint execution and knowledge transfer. It's one of WolfSellers' most mature practices: we see these cases every week across LATAM and resolve them without having to throw everything away.

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When it applies

When do you need a rescue?

There are clear signs that an Adobe project is in trouble and needs formal intervention — not point patches. If three or more of these are present in your operation, an audit is worth it:

Persistent red Core Web Vitals (LCP > 4s, INP > 500ms) with no improvement after optimizations
Atypically high checkout abandonment (>75% on B2C) or intermittent bugs in payment / MSI / OXXO
Releases taking hours, requiring maintenance windows or breaking unrelated features
Zero automated tests, manual QA on every release, no functional CI/CD
Monolithic custom modules without documentation from a team no longer around
Broken ERP / OMS / PIM integration: out-of-sync inventory, lost orders, sync via CSV
Obsolete stack: Magento 1, Magento Open Source 2.3.x without upgrades, PHP out of support
AEM with chaotic hierarchy, no governance, badly modeled multi-site or duplicated templates
AEP bought but underused — no proper XDM schemas, no actionable segments
Original vendor no longer responding promptly or relationship broken over costs

3 service tiers

How we work: Audit, Rescue Engagement or Managed Optimization

We productize the service in three tiers with clear deliverables and timelines, depending on the level of intervention your operation needs:

Quick Audit (2-3 weeks, fixed fee): 20-point technical diagnostic + executive report with recommendation prioritized by impact / risk / cost. Ideal when you need clarity before committing significant budget.
Rescue Engagement (3-9 months, bi-weekly sprints): the full rescue plan — initial stabilization + structural refactor + introduction of tests, CI/CD and observability + knowledge transfer to the internal team. Applies to Commerce, AEM and AEP.
Managed Optimization (continuous, monthly with SLA): for clients who prefer not to rebuild an internal team. 24/7 operations, incremental sprint-based improvements, proactive monitoring, SLAs on uptime and response times. Ideal post-rescue or as a permanent model.

The audit

Technical audit — 20 points across 6 dimensions

Before proposing any structural plan we run a 2-3 week audit. It covers six critical dimensions and produces an executive report plus a prioritized technical plan:

Performance: actual Core Web Vitals (CrUX + Lighthouse), slow queries, FPC hit rate, CDN / edge config
Code and architecture: custom module inventory, code smells, test coverage, Magento anti-patterns
Integrations: ERP, OMS, PIM, payment gateways, sync mode, resilience, custom APIs
Operations: deploy pipeline, observability, runbooks, incident response
Security and compliance: unpatched CVEs, PCI-DSS, LFPDPPP (Mexico), admin hardening
Business: real funnel metrics, pending roadmap, current TCO vs alternatives

Decision

Refactor, rescue, replatform or greenfield — how we decide

The decision comes out of the audit by crossing two axes: percentage of toxic code and state of the base architecture. We're honest about when each path applies:

Focused refactor (2-4 months, low risk): <30% toxic code, healthy base, internal team exists — fix specific module without touching the rest
Full Rescue Engagement (4-8 months, medium risk): 30-60% toxic code, recoverable base — deep refactor + tests + CI/CD + new operating model
Replatforming (6-12 months, medium-high risk): >60% toxic code, obsolete stack (Magento 1, M2 legacy) — migration to modern Adobe Commerce preserving SEO and data
Greenfield (9-18 months, high risk): last resort — business model changed or legacy exceeds the cost of starting clean

Process

The 5 phases of a Rescue Engagement

When we define that a project requires full intervention, the typical plan has five phases with visible deliverables every two weeks:

Phase 1 — Discovery & audit (2-3 weeks): the 20 points above + stakeholder interviews + business case. Deliverable: report + recommendation + firm estimate.
Phase 2 — Stabilization + quick wins (4-6 weeks): put out critical fires (checkout bugs, broken integrations, critical performance). Restore client team confidence. Basic CI/CD + staging + monitoring.
Phase 3 — Structural plan + architecture (2-4 weeks): define target architecture (optimized monolith vs composable headless vs new middleware). Validate with stakeholders.
Phase 4 — Sprint execution (3-9 months): 2-week sprints with visible deliverable. Each sprint pays down critical debt and adds capability. Tests + weekly / daily releases + consolidated observability.
Phase 5 — Knowledge transfer + governance (4-8 weeks): living documentation, training for the client team, governance definition, continuous support model. The client team is left with operational autonomy.

Typical mistakes

Patterns we see repeat across LATAM

Recurring mistakes in Adobe projects across Mexico and the region are rarely purely technical — they're cultural. Teams that didn't invest in testing, vendors that charged for features but not governance, decisions made without deep understanding of Adobe Commerce / AEM / AEP. The most common ones:

Poorly modeled CFDI: SAT integration as a checkout afterthought instead of modeling RFC and tax regime from the customer model
OMS without optimistic locking on multi-channel stock — systematic overselling when online + physical store cross
OXXO / SPEI integrated without ERP reconciliation — confirmed payments that don't appear in the accounting system
MSI promotions hardcoded by bank instead of data-driven — every change requires a developer
Live Search without a re-indexing schedule — search returns discontinued products
Badly modeled AEM: chaotic hierarchy, no DAM governance, duplicated templates that break brand consistency
Underused AEP: badly built XDM schemas, no actionable segments, no real channel activation
Poorly executed SEO migration during replatforming — old URLs return 404, no 301 redirects, Google positions drop 60-80% within weeks

SLAs

Commitments and SLAs in Managed Optimization

For clients on the continuous model (post-rescue or as a permanent operation), the typical commitments:

Uptime ≥ 99.9% on transactional store with active 24/7 monitoring
P1 incident response time: < 15 minutes during business hours, < 30 outside
P1 resolution: < 4 hours on service desk + war-room when needed
Automated releases with rollback in < 5 minutes
Monthly SLA-compliance report + improvement proposal
Quarterly optimization roadmap validated with stakeholders
Direct access to Adobe-certified specialists (no generic helpdesk)

Frequently asked questions

How quickly can a technical audit start?

Once the scope is signed, we start within 1-2 weeks. The audit itself takes an additional 2-3 weeks. For critical cases with active revenue impact (broken checkout, critical performance, ERP integration losing orders) we can start a stabilization intervention in 48-72 hours in parallel with the formal audit.

How much does a Quick Audit cost?

The Quick Audit has a fixed fee based on agreed scope. We offer a first discovery call at no cost (45-60 min) to scope it: catalog size, Adobe products involved (Commerce / AEM / AEP), number of integrations and required depth. For single-product implementations without complex integrations, Quick Audits land in the low six-figure MXN range. For multi-product, multi-country or multi-brand enterprise stacks, it scales. In every case we deliver an actionable executive report + technical plan prioritized by impact, risk and cost.

Do you replace the current partner or can you work in parallel?

Both models work. In most cases the client engages us after splitting with the previous partner, and we take the project end-to-end with their internal team. In other cases we work in parallel as a technical second opinion or as a specialized squad on a specific module while the main partner keeps operating. We define the model in discovery based on the political and operational context.

What happens with the client's internal team during a rescue?

The internal team is central to the rescue, not marginal. Phase 5 (knowledge transfer) is designed explicitly so your team is able to operate autonomously at the end of the engagement. We document live, do pair programming, define governance (code review, standards, ADRs) and leave operational runbooks. We stay as on-demand backup or as Managed Optimization, depending on the model the client prefers.

Do you guarantee results? Are there penalties if they're not met?

On the Quick Audit, we guarantee the deliverable: report + prioritized technical plan in 2-3 weeks with the agreed depth. On Rescue Engagement, we commit to verifiable technical milestones per sprint (not business outcomes we don't directly control — we agree those as shared KPIs). On Managed Optimization we do sign operational SLAs (uptime, response and resolution times) with contractual penalties if not met. We discuss it in each proposal.

Can you rescue AEM or AEP implementations, not just Adobe Commerce?

Yes. The practice covers the full Adobe Experience Cloud stack: Adobe Commerce (B2C and B2B), AEM Sites, AEM Assets (DAM), Adobe Experience Platform, Real-Time CDP, Adobe Target, Journey Optimizer and Marketo Engage. We have certified specialists on each product. For AEM, typical problems are governance + hierarchy + DAM; for AEP, they're XDM schemas + identity resolution + activation. Same methodology, different tooling per product.

Want to discuss your project?

We'll assess your case at no cost and propose a concrete path forward.

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Rescue and optimization of Adobe implementations (Commerce, AEM, AEP)

When do you need a rescue?

How we work: Audit, Rescue Engagement or Managed Optimization

Technical audit — 20 points across 6 dimensions

Refactor, rescue, replatform or greenfield — how we decide

The 5 phases of a Rescue Engagement

Patterns we see repeat across LATAM

Commitments and SLAs in Managed Optimization

Frequently asked questions

Related services

Migration to Adobe Commerce

Support & maintenance

Adobe Commerce

Consulting

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