Key takeaways
- Map business meaning, not just field names.
- Run at least one full test migration and reconcile counts.
- Freeze changes in the old CRM during cutover.
Why migrations go wrong
Data rarely disappears in a migration. Meaning does. A field called “Status” in Salesforce or Zoho may have carried three different uses over the years. Move it blindly and your new reports quietly mislead everyone.
A good migration plan treats data as a record of decisions your team made—and protects that context.
Audit before you map
Export a field-usage report from the source system. Note fill rates, picklist values and which teams depend on each field. Fields below a few percent fill rate are usually candidates for retirement, not migration.
- Objects and record counts
- Custom fields and fill rates
- Picklist values and inconsistencies
- Attachments, notes, emails and activities
- Integrations writing to the old system
Test, reconcile, repeat
Run a test migration into a sandbox or a filtered portion of your portal. Compare record counts, spot-check twenty records end to end and confirm associations between contacts, companies and deals survived.
Reconciliation is where trust is built. Share the results with the people who will use the data every day.
Plan the cutover like a launch
Pick a quiet window, freeze edits in the old system, run the final delta migration and switch integrations. Keep the old CRM read-only for a defined period so teams can verify history without creating new records there.
Then retire it. Running two systems indefinitely is how data drifts apart again.