With every implementation which Logan Consulting executes, the topic of legacy data migration into the customer’s new CRM application is discussed. I find that more times than not, people desire to migrate all of their legacy data regardless of its value in fear of losing some critical historical information which resided in the application(s) which they are retiring. I’d like to suggest that you take a more tactical approach when deciding which historical data to migrate prior to going live.

Time Marches On
One strategy I’d highly recommend is to establish a time fence where you think the information is valuable and useful, going back a certain number of months. Many of our customers find that data which is over two years old is of little strategic value moving forward. What is the point of keeping extremely old sales history if it provides no insight into future buying trends? Of course this will also depend on the products and services your company sells and service contracts may require additional considerations. Most of our customers decide not to migrate records which are over two years old because the data provides no additional benefit for future sales cycles.

The Concept of Decay
When discussions concerning Contacts and their associated data (phone numbers, Emails, addresses, etc.) arise, it’s important to remember that a certain percentage of this information naturally becomes inaccurate. As each month passes, people’s personal information changes based upon a host of factors, including: hire status (are they still with the company?), change in address, change in various phone numbers, changes in job titles and responsibilities within the company. Much of this is simply the logical flow of business but the trick is keeping the records current in CRM. In the event that you’re considering migrating legacy contact records which are old, you need to ask yourself if it’s even worth the effort to load these records into your future CRM. Many companies choose to make dials into Contacts PRIOR to loading them into their new CRM application to determine if the individual is still with the company and if so, to update their information to be current. This of course requires human labor, time, and money to clean lists.

What Types of Records are Compelling?
Many companies try and load every bit of data ever collected, just because they have this information. A better approach is to list of the various record types which are stored in your legacy applications, and even define the fields found in each record type. This exercise should open your eyes to where key statistical or strategic information lies, and plan to migrate this information accordingly. Once again, the idea is to weed out the noise and only keep that information which provides value for cultivating your business and extending relationships.

Complicating the Search
The more legacy data you add into your new application, the harder it will be to locate the current, most recent information within CRM. Imagine if you had 2,000 current, actively purchasing customers but you decided to load 5,000 former customers in your migration effort. You will have just greatly increased the difficultly of searching for records within your CRM application. In addition, you have increased the time in will take for your CRM applications to load and display actions. In our example, loading the page “All Accounts” now requires calling 7,000 records versus the much smaller active customers you wish to get to faster. Loading data further clouds searches/reporting unless steps are taken to sort the data by last purchase or time fences as well.

How these Decisions Affect Timeline & Budget
The equation is simple…the more legacy data you wish to migrate, the longer it will take to clean, de-duplicate, massage, and map this information into your new application. All of these actions require manpower and that manpower has a cost and time requirements associated with it. Many times when people chose to bring every historical data element into their new system, they spend a great deal of money and manpower to accomplish this with limited business return. Don’t fall into this trap and execute a structured, investigative approach when deciding which legacy data to keep.

Summary
Load the proper, compelling data into your future CRM application while keeping a copy of your entire legacy data set for reference when deep historical research is necessary and remember these tips:

• Establish a time fence
• Understand which data has decayed and if it still brings value
• Inventory each record type and each field within each record type to identify critical data
• Don’t bring over all data just because you can….increases database for no business value
• Understand the monetary and resource costs of your legacy data migration efforts