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Migration guide

Planning a CRM migration? Move what you use today.

Every CRM implementation accumulates fields, reports and flows over the years. What needs to move is not the history but the part still in use today. This guide draws on our founder's experience across more than 200 Salesforce projects. Salesforce is a trademark of Salesforce, Inc. This page is not produced or endorsed by Salesforce, Inc.

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Timing first: the right moment to move is your renewal date

We put this first because it is where most companies lose money: moving in the middle of a live CRM contract means paying for two systems at once.

So plan the migration around your renewal date and start early. After the discovery call we give you a date, not a range, but if you only start that conversation a few weeks before renewal, you will either rush it or pay for another year.

Steps

How do you plan a CRM migration?

  1. 1

    1. Work out what is actually being used

    List your standard and custom objects, fields and reports, and note against each whether it has been used in the last 90 days. Over the years some of those fields stop being filled in; only this list shows which ones. The decision about what moves follows from that list.

  2. 2

    2. Inventory the automations

    Write down what your automations actually do. These don't migrate; they get rebuilt, but you need to know what they do first. This is usually where you discover some of them are no longer needed.

  3. 3

    3. Map the integrations

    Every system connected to your current CRM: ERP, accounting, marketing tool, phone system, is its own line item. Which ones are still needed in the new system, and which are no longer used at all?

  4. 4

    4. Export the data

    Accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, activities and attachments. Don't forget files and attachments; you need to export them while your account is still open, because what access you have after the contract closes is set by your own contract.

  5. 5

    5. Define a parallel-running period

    Rather than running two systems side by side indefinitely, it works better to set a cut-over date and leave the old system read-only: when data goes into two places at once, it becomes unclear which record is current. We have seen this in our own projects.

What you won't move

A migration is the best opportunity you'll get to drop accumulated weight. What usually shouldn't move:

  • Unused custom fields. A field carried over “in case we need it” stays empty in the new system too.
  • Reports nobody opens. You don't migrate a report, you migrate a need. Asking “what question are we trying to answer” and rebuilding it is faster.
  • Old campaigns and duplicate records. Migrating the cleanup is the same as postponing the cleanup.
  • Automations that stopped working. Don't rebuild flows that were set up years ago and have since broken.

For historical data you want to keep, exporting and archiving it is usually better than migrating it: it stays out of daily use.

FAQ

About CRM migration

Can all our data be exported from our current CRM?
We check this together in the discovery call. Records in your standard and custom objects are exported as CSV files; attachments and files are a separate item, and their migration is planned separately. What gets migrated is decided and written down in the discovery call.
What happens to our custom code and custom screens?
Code doesn't migrate. We work out what it does and rebuild the same need in the new system, either through configuration or over the API. This is the most variable part of a migration; the scope is worked out in discovery and put in writing.
Our team is used to our current CRM. How does the transition go for them?
There is an adjustment period, and we plan for it. Training is built around your own stages, fields and reports, so your team learns Rapitek CRM on its own data.
Does selling stop during the migration?
No. Your current CRM is used up to the cut-over date; after cut-over the old system is left read-only. What matters is keeping the period of entering data in two systems short.
How long does it take?
After the discovery call, we give you a date, not a range. The timeline is driven by automation and integration scope; we work both out together in discovery.

Let's look at your implementation together.

We'll work out which objects and automations you actually use. Then we open your 7-day trial account; no credit card required.

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