In the modern business world, data transfer is a pretty common and often necessary task. Rapidly developing technologies offer new possibilities, but also place additional requirements on those companies, that want to stay competitive and successful. Such is the case with customer relationship management systems, as well. A platform that was once efficient and helpful may quickly become outdated, subsequently rising the need to migrate all of the data to a more modern solution. However, a CRM switch is a dreaded task for many business owners, for the tool often stores thousands of valuable records, and losing them would be disastrous.
To ensure a safe switch and avoid any potential pitfalls, there is a need to prepare for the process carefully and establish the necessary activities ahead of time. So, here is a checklist of tasks to perform before launching your CRM migration project.
The very first thing advised to do is to verify the viability of the migration, as well as check the expenses and dangers connected with the move. This will help you to understand more clearly, what kind of provisions need to be made.
Estimate what kind of resources you’ll need for the outlined migration tasks and activities. Categorize the resources by project phase and make sure they are available when required.
It is crucial to make sure that all of the involved parties and understand their roles and responsibilities. Take the time to talk everything through and communicate the necessary information to the right people.
At this point, you are ready to start creating the approximate schedule of the transfer. According to statistics, more than a half of all migration projects go over time, so keep your plan flexible and realistic. Remember, this is not your final version, and most likely you will still make some adjustments to it along the way.
Particular attention has to be paid to security norms and requirements. Make sure you have all of the data access permissions necessary and all of the key stakeholders have granted their official approvals.
Automating various migration-related tasks can save you a considerable amount of time and effort. Some examples of the tools that may come in handy include reporting software, testing tools, migration services, etc.
It is quite common that the CRM data gets messy, as more and more of it is being added into the system. A successful migration is possible only on condition that you know where your data resides, how it’s structured and what parts of it require special attention.
A CRM switch is also a great possibility to bring your data back to an optimized state. A few typical examples of data cleaning are: parsing a comma separated values, removing special characters, taking care of empty strings, etc. Moreover, a well-structures database is much easier to transfer, which increases the chance that your migration will be straightforward and successful.
Once you have analyzed and optimized the data on your source platform, you can proceed to compare its architecture with that available on a target system. Think of any custom fields you have created, compare the entity names, and think how you want to approach the discovered differences.
If you have performed all the previous preparatory stages, you should now be aware of all the peculiarities of your project and the possible difficulties you may encounter. Based on the information you have gathered, refine your plan and work out the final project estimates.
Make sure that all of the database indexes, workflows and plugins are deactivated, before you launch your migration.
If you have the data lockup enabled, you won’t be able to export your records. Also, in case, you run an on-premise platform check the software itself, SQL server and RAM abilities for data export management.
It is recommended to perform a trial run as closely to the live environment as possible. Selecting a large enough data sample will help you identify possible roadblocks and errors.
Even though the CRM data migration process may seem complicated, in reality, it’s all about the proper organization and planning. Proper preparation is virtually a success guarantee for the whole undertaking. Take this checklist and modify it to fit the particular demands of your project.
Looking for reliable tools to simplify the migration process? Consider Trujay, a web-based service that will help you perform the data transion in an entirely automated manner.
That explains the migration process
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