Customer relationship management (CRM) software is an essential tool for conducting business in today’s world. By offering an easy to use the platform that gives a complete overview of consumer interactions, sales teams are better equipped to guide leads through the customer journey for desirable outcomes. But what happens when you need to transition to a new, more efficient software program? To ensure your CRM migration to be fast and simple, you’ll need to follow these tips.
Prep the Team
CRM data migration will impact employees across a wide range of departments. As such, the sooner you inform your staff about the upcoming change, the better. This will give you time to provide training about how the new system differs from the old program. Even more importantly, it will give you more time to help your staff “buy in” to the changes so they’ll be ready to embrace the new system.
Many employees will likely have key roles in the data migration itself. Making an early announcement and sharing as much information as possible will ensure that everyone knows what their responsibilities are.
Back Up Your Data
Data transfers can be time-consuming and tricky. You don’t want a single error to cause you to lose years of records. Before you begin the data migration, make sure you have backed up all important files. This way, if something were to go wrong, it would only be a temporary setback, rather than a major debacle.
Another way to avoid major mishaps is to perform smaller test migrations prior to the final data transfer. These tests will help you identify and correct any issues before the big migration.
Clean Up Your Data
You’ll likely need to prep data for inclusion in the new CRM software. Make sure everything from history records and emails to special file attachments has been properly labelled and categorized so it will get to the right place. Take the time to eliminate duplicate records or to delete old, unneeded files. This will speed up the actual data migration and make your new CRM software easier to navigate.
Due to the time-consuming nature of this step, it is often recommended that businesses partner with a company that specializes in data migration to help clean up their files.
Conclusion
By following these guidelines, you’ll be able to transfer all your data to a new CRM program without any trouble. Perhaps even more importantly, you’ll make it easier for your entire team to adapt to this new software so they can deliver stronger sales results than ever before.
