It is easy to want to push back a data migration project within your company.
It is a lot of work, and that work costs money as well, with additional risk for the entire business. Thus, many companies might reasonably think that they should kick the can down the road on such projects. However, doing so can have devastating consequences.
Here are some reasons why a delayed or failed migration project can be a problem:
Loss of Trust
Imagine you are a sales manager trying to sell products. You log in to the store’s database and find missing or incorrect information about the products. What would your reaction be? You may quickly lose faith in the data migration project, and that is understandable. Therefore, a loss of trust is the first symptom of a failed or delayed migration that is likely to emerge.
Increased Costs
Any delays in a data migration lead to increased costs all across the board. Unfortunately, between 30% and 83% of data migration projects encounter delays during implementation.
When projects get behind like this, it means paying out extra labour hours to consultants, IT professionals, and other staff. The ROI on the project takes a significant hit when there are project overruns like this.
Loss of Patience Among Leadership
The leadership at any company understands that specific projects take time. However, they also expect to see results from the projects they fund. When they do not see results manifest, they can quickly lose patience and ultimately get fed up with the whole project. This may even cause them to cancel the entire data migration project. They would then lose all the resources they invested in it.
These are not things to be messed around with. The ROI of a data migration project should be one of its key selling points, and delays or other issues can significantly undermine this advantage.
Best Practices for Getting the Job Done Right
Now that you’ve seen how data migration projects can go off the rails and get delayed, what are some of the best practices to get the job done right?
Here are some practical steps to make that a reality for you:
Don’t Assume That It Is Only a Technical Project
A Data Migration project is far more than a technical project. The migration project must take into consideration the overall system’s architecture, where the system will fit in, the existing/future data flows, and ensure the data is compatible with the defined business processes.
Define the Scope of the Project and What Success Looks Like
Determine right from the start what success for your data migration project looks like and what the project’s scope will be. You need concrete goals to aim for that you know for certain will be measurable and attainable for your team.
Review and Clean Up Legacy Data Before Migration
Not every single piece of data needs to be migrated over into your new system. If there are certain pieces of data that are outdated and no longer of use to you, then you should clear them out before attempting to complete the migration. After all, you don’t want to bog down your databases for no reason, and removing that data from the system will make the migration project flow a little more smoothly.
Run Test Migrations Before Doing the Real Thing
Don’t forget to run some test migrations of your data before moving forward with the real migration of your data. Doing so allows you to test how that migration will likely play out, but it will enable you to do so in a controlled environment.
This can make it easier to avoid upsetting the apple cart and to see where any flaws in your migration design are before going forward. Ensure functional tests are included for the migrated data to validate that the business process runs with it.
These best practices have proven helpful for plenty of companies that have done this type of work in the past. You should tap into these practices whenever possible to help your own data migration process move through a bit more seamlessly.
Our Approach to Data Migration
Here at Stellaxius, we have a tried-and-true formula for derisking the data migration process for moving data into the Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud. We make this work for you by helping with the following:
Data Quality and Management First and Foremost
The top priority for us is to ensure that your data quality is of the highest calibre and that the data is properly managed at all times for you. We want to ensure that you meet your compliance needs while also providing you with the access that you require to the data that you have worked so hard to gather.
Risk-Minded Planning
Every aspect of our project considers risk. We want to ensure you don’t lose your peace of mind during your data migration. By minimising your risk, you can feel better about how this whole process plays out.
Testing and Verification
Finally, before we launch the actual data migration, we run plenty of tests to identify potential snags in the system. We only move forward with the final migration project once we are entirely confident that there are not going to be any major hiccups in the process.
If you have been waiting to launch your data migration, we hope you will contact us at Stellaxius to help you build the confidence you need to complete this project. Our best practices will keep you safe and allow your business to move forward.
I am a Data Architect, Salesforce Data Architect, designing and governing data architecture, storage, and integration to enable retail execution, trade promotion management (TPM), and B2B/B2C commerce at scale.