How to migrate to a new CRM: checklist and steps

To migrate to a new CRM, work through five steps: clean and export your data, map the fields, import into a test environment, reconcile against the original, and only then go live with the whole team. Treat the switch as a project with a firm cut-over date, not a side task.

Updated: June 2026

A CRM switch rarely fails because of the technology. It fails because of poor data and weak preparation. According to research by Johnny Grow (2025), around 55 percent of CRM projects fall short of their original objectives. The good news: the most common causes are predictable, and a structured migration process gets you safely to the finish line.

Why switch to a new CRM at all?

A switch pays off when your old system creates more work than it removes: cluttered screens, expensive licences, poor data quality or no Swiss hosting option. Migration is never an end in itself; it should measurably save time and make your pipeline more transparent.

In Switzerland, around half of all businesses use a CRM according to the federal SME portal (kmu.admin.ch, 2025), and new adoption keeps rising. People who switch usually want one of three things: lower cost, simpler handling or data sovereignty in Switzerland.

• Cost: Per-seat pricing adds up fast, especially as teams grow.
• Usability: A CRM nobody uses is expensive and useless at the same time.
• Compliance: Swiss hosting and data-protection alignment are now a must for many SMEs.

If you are still weighing up what a CRM should actually do, our piece What is a CRM is a good starting point.

When is the right time to migrate?

The right time falls outside your peak season and after the current quarter has closed. Never migrate in the middle of an important sales push, because during the switch your team needs to focus on the data, not on parallel large projects.

Good triggers are an expiring licence contract, team growth or a reorganisation. Bad timing means year-end close, trade-fair season or holiday periods when half the team is away.

Plan a realistic timeline

For an SME with clean data, a migration is achievable in one to three weeks. With lots of legacy data, custom fields and integrations, it quickly stretches to several weeks. Industry surveys consistently show that most migration projects overrun their planned timeline, usually because data cleanup was underestimated.

Which data should actually come along?

Only the data you actively use should come along: current contacts, open and recently won deals, live activities and relevant notes. Dead records, duplicates and ancient entries do not belong in the new system; at most they belong in an archive.

A migration is the perfect chance for a spring clean. Bad data costs twice: as effort during the move, and afterwards as lost trust in the system. So set clear rules for what gets carried over.

How to keep data clean for the long run is also covered in our guide to clean CRM data.

How does the migration work, step by step?

The migration runs in five clear steps, each with a defined outcome. Stick to the order: skip the test run and you risk exactly the data errors that cost the most to fix later.

1. Clean and export. Outcome: a clean CSV or Excel export with no duplicates and a documented field structure.
2. Map the fields. Outcome: a mapping table that assigns every old field to a new one (or deliberately drops it).
3. Run a test import. Outcome: a successful trial import of a sample of 50 to 100 records into a test environment.
4. Reconcile and correct. Outcome: a checklist confirming that counts, fields and relationships are all correct.
5. Go live and train. Outcome: from the cut-over date, the team works exclusively in the new system.

Steps 1 to 2: export and mapping

Export one file per object: contacts, companies, deals, activities. For each field, note the type (text, date, choice) and whether it is mandatory. During mapping you decide for every field: keep, rename or drop.

Steps 3 to 4: test import and reconciliation

Import only a small sample first. Then check three things: does the record count match? Are accented characters and special symbols intact? Do the links between contact, company and deal survive? Only when everything checks out do you run the full import.

Step 5: go live

Set a hard cut-over date. From that day, the old system is read-only and all new entries are created in the new CRM. Running both in parallel for weeks only leaves you with two half-maintained systems.

Which fields matter most when mapping?

When mapping, the inconspicuous fields matter most: date formats, choice lists, phone numbers and relationships between objects. This is exactly where most silent errors creep in, the kind that only surface weeks later when a report looks wrong.

• Date formats: Watch for DD.MM.YYYY versus MM/DD/YYYY, or appointments will shift.
• Choice lists: Create the new options in advance, or values land in free text.
• Relationships: Contact-to-company-to-deal links must survive cleanly via IDs.
• Mandatory fields: If a new field is required, legacy records need a default value.

What does a CRM migration actually cost?

The cost has three parts: the new licence, the one-off migration effort and your internal time. For an SME with clean data, the migration is often doable in-house within a few days; for complex legacy systems, external help pays off.

Worked example: a team of 5

Take a team of five people moving from a per-seat tool to Advanzo Plus. Billed annually, the licence costs CHF 21.00 per user per month, so CHF 105.00 a month for the whole team. For the migration itself we budget around three internal working days: data cleanup, mapping and the test run.

For comparison: with a per-seat tool at USD 39 per month (Pipedrive Growth, pipedrive.com/en/pricing, 2026), the same team pays around USD 195 a month. You will find an honest side-by-side in our CRM pricing models explained.

How do you avoid the most common migration mistakes?

You avoid the most common mistakes by starting small, testing everything and setting a firm cut-over date. Most mishaps stem not from ill will but from haste and skipped checks under time pressure.

• No test import: Always check a sample first; never import everything straight away.
• No backup: Keep the original export unchanged until the new system is up and running.
• Too much at once: A few clean fields beat a hundred half-maintained ones.
• Team left behind: Without training, people quietly revert to the old solution.

For more on the pitfalls, see our list of 7 CRM rollout mistakes.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a CRM migration take for an SME?
With clean data and no complex integrations, a migration is realistically doable in one to three weeks. The biggest time sink is almost always the data cleanup, not the import itself. So build in plenty of buffer for tidying up your legacy records.

Will I lose data during the migration?
Not with a clean approach. The original export stays unchanged, and a test import with reconciliation catches errors before go-live. Data loss almost always happens where the test run was skipped or no backup was kept beforehand.

Do I really have to carry over all my legacy data?
No, and you should not. Carry over only active contacts and open or recently won deals. Old lost deals and inactive contacts belong in a separate archive, so the new system stays clear, fast and pleasant to use.

Do I need external help for the migration?
Not necessarily. An SME with manageable data usually handles the migration itself, especially with a CRM that makes imports easy. External help pays off when you have many custom fields, complex integrations or very large volumes of data.

What happens to our existing integrations?
Integrations such as mail, calendar or accounting need to be reconnected in the new system. Before switching, check which interfaces you genuinely need, and test them right after go-live, because broken integrations are among the most common migration problems.

Should we run the old and new systems in parallel for a while?
Better not for long. Brief read-only access to the old system makes sense, but true parallel running leaves you with two half-maintained datasets. Set a clear cut-over date after which all new entries are created only in the new CRM.

Your migration checklist

This checklist takes you from the first export to go-live. Work through it in order and tick each item off only once it is genuinely done.

• Cut-over date and project owner set
• Legacy data cleaned: duplicates removed, dead records archived
• Export created per object (contacts, companies, deals, activities)
• Original export backed up and stored unchanged
• Mapping table created: every field assigned or dropped
• Choice lists and mandatory fields prepared in the new system
• Test import with a sample run and checked
• Counts, fields, special characters and relationships reconciled
• Full import completed and finally verified
• Integrations (mail, calendar, accounting) reconnected and tested
• Team trained, old system set to read-only

You can start this roadmap today: get going for free at advanzo.app, no credit card needed, and import your first contacts into a test environment. Within half an hour you will see whether the migration is as simple as it should be.