Tag Archives: Migrating
Atlanta Business Circulators Finds Sweet Success Migrating Off of QuickBooks
Posted by Barney Beal, Content Director
When marketing consultant Robert Lee bought an established mail fulfillment house last year, he was really buying the company’s customer base. What he definitely was not buying was their antiquated financial system.
Not long after his ultra-small Lexis Direct Marketing purchased not-quite-as-small Atlanta Business Circulators of Marietta, Ga., Lee (no relation to the famous Civil War general) realized that the desktop QuickBooks deployment ABC was relying on was no longer going to cut it.
He envisioned creating a one-stop shop for customers’ direct mail campaign needs, from concept and design through delivery and fulfillment, but ABC’s existing financial system just wasn’t going to deliver the flexibility and visibility Lee needed to make his vision a reality.
He immediately moved the newly combined company onto QuickBooks online in order to modernize just a bit, and to put data in his hands when on the go. While this solved some issues, the lack of customizability still held the company back.
“We were kind of stuck in QuickBooks Online’s way of doing things, which was fine on the accounting side, but for production management, it was just absolutely ineffective,” Lee said.
NetSuite was already on Lee’s radar, and he ended up comparing it to a direct mail fulfillment-specific ERP system that offered a lot of needed functionality, but wasn’t as customizable as NetSuite, and was built for a larger company. Ultimately, Lee went with NetSuite, tapping the SuiteSuccess methodology to help ensure a smooth deployment.
Technology That Works How the Customer Needs
Not only was NetSuite up within a few months; NetSuite Professional Services consultants also worked closely with Lee and his small team, ensuring that any questions got answered. One specific piece of help they provided was in customizing ABC’s item fulfillment process. Since the company didn’t need functionality that supported picking and packing of items, they were able to tweak the pick and pack buttons to mark work orders as being completed by the data and production departments.
“This makes it very simple for me to be able to go in and say, ‘Where are these jobs?’ if a customer calls and what’s to know what’s going on,” Lee said.
Lee described the implementation as simple and smooth, although it was made simpler by the fact that ABC had no integration needs during deployment. But Lee did have one regret: He wishes he’d invested more in training from NetSuite consultants, in large part because of the ease with which small business workers fall into their old habits.
One integration Lee would like to pursue down the line is to add a payment processing tool that plays nice with NetSuite. As of now, the company is continuing to work with a payment processor that’s priced right, but integration isn’t an option.
In the meantime, Lee is focused on a five-year plan that NetSuite makes possible, namely building a small outside sales team that will help to build the company’s brand across a larger portion of the state of Georgia. NetSuite will allow that sales team to build better customer data, and will also enable better collaboration on estimates, and improved visibility into the pipeline.
That future capability, Lee, said, is more important than what NetSuite has already delivered to the business.
“I didn’t necessarily need something that made us better today,” he said. “I needed something that we could grow into.”
A System For the Future That’s Paying Off Now
Not that he isn’t enjoying today. Not only does he have that improved visibility and flexibility, but Lee is also benefitting from the ability to customize any transaction he needs to support and to capture the information needed for any particular job or estimate.
Once ABC delivers on its five-year plan by establishing the sales force, Lee said the second five years will focus on more advanced functionality for managing growth, such as the ability to better track costs and inventory. Eventually, he foresees NetSuite supporting a growth-by-acquisition strategy that could enable ABC to gain a foothold in other states.
And then there’s what Lee said is perhaps the greatest peace of mind NetSuite provides: its ability to insulate ABC from the impact of any future economic recession. He believes having NetSuite in place better positions ABC to survive a 12- to 18-month dip in the business.
“I’m confident that we have everything we need right in front of us so that we can actually forecast enough to be able right-size ourselves through any kind of economic downturn,” said Lee. “It will at least allow us to understand the impact of what we’re facing just by virtue of the fact that we can see those trends.”
by NetSuite filed under
Migrating Integration Apps to the Cloud
Cloud initiatives are no longer just a competitive edge for business but instead, a standard expectation. By combining cloud initiatives with existing infrastructure, businesses can modernize their IT systems, improve the pace of innovation and speeding agility, increase developer productivity, and reduce cost. All of these contribute to operational excellence. The combination of cloud initiatives and existing infrastructure creates an environment in which a business can grow and innovate smoothly so that they remain both relevant and competitive in their industry.
An important step in the journey to the cloud is migrating integration apps. In order to do so you must consider and learn what a cloud-native approach entails. This includes understanding options for adoption including re-hosting, re-factoring, or re-architecting on-prem apps as well as, what cloud technologies other organizations are utilizing and where they are on their cloud journey. Once you understand these important parts of a cloud journey, you can begin to evaluate potential challenges and potential approaches to addressing them.
If you’re ready to learn all this, and more, register today for our webinar! We have multiple times available as well as a recording after the live event.
We look forward to seeing you and are ready to help you through your cloud journey!
Why migrating to hybrid Office 365 makes sense
Fully moving to cloud-based solutions is challenging. Most companies house legacy data and applications that may…
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not be easy to move to the cloud. Others, though an increasingly smaller number, may have concerns about data privacy in the cloud. And others are just not yet ready to migrate, given their volume of data or customization requirements.
As a result, many firms opt for a “hybrid” approach, meaning they split services and/or software between their on-premises data center and a cloud provider. In other words, the organization isn’t moving an entire software or service to the cloud; they will continue to run some portion of it on-premises just as before.
In cases where companies choose a hybrid configuration for their applications, hybrid Office 365 is an option, and it’s important to understand what that means for your implementation.
What does “hybrid” mean for Office 365?
Office 365 is not one product, but a suite of applications. You’ll need to configure the products individually for their specific hybrid configuration, and there are varying options for hybrid Office 365 setups depending on the product.
Microsoft describes most of the original Office 365 products as “hybrid-compatible,” including Exchange, Skype for Business (originally Lync), SharePoint, and OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive). These products started their lives as on-premises products. As a result, they’ll be the basis for your hybrid implementation.
Every implementation starts with Active Directory (AD). When you consider Office 365, AD may not leap to mind, but this directory service is critical to all Office 365 deployments. You can connect on-premises AD to Azure AD in two ways: AD Connect (synchronization) or AD Federation Services.
For situations in which you want to maintain AD primarily on-premises, you can use AD Connect, which allows you to “synchronize” identities between Azure AD and on-premises systems. This synchronization can be done with or without storing your passwords within your tenant, but it allows for single sign-on like capability.
Firms can achieve a true hybrid configuration by implementing AD Federation Services. This configuration allows your on-premises and Office 365 tenants to share identities and take advantage of integration with Office 365 services, as well as integration with services from Box, Dropbox, Slack and others.
Exchange is compatible with a hybrid Office 365 setup. It has a distributed architecture and can be configured to live across your on-premises data center and Office 365. When integrating with Office 365, you can take advantage of this architecture by splitting workloads between an on-premises implementation and the Office 365 tenant. For example, for any given mailbox population, you can house a portion on Office 365 and a portion on-premises. This scenario works well when you’re migrating from on-premises to Office 365, but it also works well as you’re testing the service for use in your organization.
SharePoint’s hybrid setup is slightly more complex. SharePoint farms cannot live in two places; instead, you’ll need to have distinct SharePoint farms. Each farm should be designated to handle specific collaboration workloads. For example, your on-premises SharePoint environment may cater specifically to your intranet or more secure content. Your Office 365-based SharePoint environment may focus on external collaborative scenarios, especially where third-party collaborators are involved. In this way, each farm is dedicated to a specific purpose, and it’s clear to users where to go for specific capabilities. This is true just below the surface, as well, where certain features will automatically operate from one farm or another. A quick reference for hybrid SharePoint implementations can be found on Microsoft’s support site.
The one partial exception to workload splitting is hybrid SharePoint search. Challenges that arise from the disconnect between SharePoint sites can be mitigated using search. SharePoint can use the on-premises farm to crawl content and then replicate the index to Office 365. This can help overcome the content source challenges in the Office 365 search configuration and create a unified set of results across both farms. This also helps to unify metadata applications across content within sites, regardless of where they’re sourced.
The last product that supports some form of hybrid implementation is Skype for Business (formerly Lync). Somewhat like Exchange, Skype for Business supports users in both environments. The difference between Exchange and Skype for Business is the distinct functionality. In essence, Skype for Business is an instant messaging platform and a telephony platform. When considering a hybrid solution, your initial decision is about where users will “live.” Firms can move users from on-premises to their Office 365 tenant and back again. This allows organizations to choose when users can take advantage of basic Skype for Business capabilities. But if firms also use Skype for Business for telephony, there are other considerations.
Telephony is a feature that has been included for a long time. However, as Microsoft refines this functionality, the hybrid telephony approach has come to require more planning. In short, if an organization moves users to Skype for Business in hybrid Office 365, it needs to consider whether telephony is included.
Cloud or on-premises only products
Like many software as a service offerings, Office 365 does have some products that don’t have an on-premises equivalent. Products like Sway, Yammer, Bookings, Flow and PowerApps are available online only. These apps were initially “born” in the Office 365 suite and Microsoft has not released an on-premises equivalent. However, this begs the question — what about hybrid solutions?
The short answer, for some of the services in Office 365, is that there isn’t a hybrid option. These products will live exclusively in an organization’s tenant. It’s up to the firm how to use (or not use) these applications for collaboration and communication needs. This may create confusion across a firm’s user population; however, using common domain names and mobile apps should mitigate this issue.
Key considerations
Many products within the Office 365 suite are hybrid compatible. The foundational products, like Exchange, AD, SharePoint and Skype for Business, can all integrate with their on-premises equivalents. However, each requires a slightly different approach. It’s critical to effectively plan what you will run and how you will run it in a hybrid environment.
However, as Microsoft has improved Office 365, hybrid configurations have become more challenging. There are Office 365 services that are online only. These services are and will be compelling to users. It’s critical for firms to develop an approach to getting value from these tools. Good governance and adoption principles will be the key to success.
Migrating SQL Server to Microsoft Azure SQL Database as a service
While there is some understandable reluctance to move resource-intensive and latency-sensitive databases to cloud…
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platforms such as Microsoft Azure SQL Database, there are good reasons why outsourcing to the cloud makes sense for many applications.
Microsoft Azure SQL Database provides a SQL Server-based, multi-tenant database as a service in the Azure cloud, removing IT hardware and server management tasks from your data center.
Microsoft Azure SQL Database grows up
Azure SQL Database, until recently, suffered from compatibility limitations that acted as hurdles to implementation. But, as of June 2016, new databases created on Azure SQL Database V12 now have their compatibility level start at 130, which matches Microsoft SQL Server 2016, according to the Microsoft Azure blog.
Azure platform as a service (PaaS) allows you to dynamically resize your databases and increases their scalability. In addition, Azure SQL Database provides automatic administration and data protection. With Azure SQL Database, Microsoft provides all of the infrastructure support, security and software updates, as well as automatic backups and disaster recovery failover.
Moving SQL Server to Microsoft Azure SQL Database
If you’re looking to move your on-premises SQL Server databases to Microsoft’s PaaS, the process essentially requires you to first create an Azure SQL Database using the Azure Portal and then test if your current database is compatible with Azure SQL Database. You need to fix any compatibility issues you might find before performing the migration.
There are a number of ways to test if your database is compatible with Azure SQL Database. One of the easiest ways is to use the Export Data-tier Application function in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). Since this option is built directly into SSMS, start by opening SSMS and navigating to your source database with Object Explorer. Then, right-click on the source database and select Tasks from the pop-up menu. Next, under Tasks, select Export Data-tier Application (as shown in Figure 1).
Figure 1. Testing Azure SQL Database compatibility using the Export Data-tier Application Wizard
This will open the Export Data-tier Application wizard. Click Next on the introduction dialog to display the export settings dialog. You will have the option to save the BACPAC file to either the local disk or to Microsoft Azure. To check compatibility, it’s best to select the save to local disk option. Since you are only performing a compatibility test, it’s more efficient to skip actually exporting the data. To do that, click on the Advanced tab and then clear all of the checkboxes (as shown in Figure 2).
Figure 2. Validating database using the Export Data-tier Application Wizard
Click Next, then click Finish on the Summary dialog. The wizard will then perform a number of compatibility checks. A red X will appear to indicate any errors that must be fixed before migration. To get more information on an error, click on the link in the Results column. If there are no errors, all of the tests will display green checkmarks (as shown in Figure 3). This indicates that there are no compatibility issues and that you can safely move forward with your SQL database migration.
Figure 3. Successful database validation using the Export Data-tier Application Wizard
After you perform the compatibility tests, click the Close button to exit the Export Data-tier Application wizard and then proceed with the database migration.
Migrating databases with SQL Server Migration Wizard
There are several methods available that you can use to migrate your on-premises database to Azure SQL Database. The most direct method is probably to use the Deploy Database to Microsoft Azure SQL Database wizard option from SSMS, which migrates a compatible SQL Server database directly to Azure SQL Database.
To begin the migration, open SSMS and use Object Explorer to navigate to the database you want to migrate. Then, right-click the database and select Tasks. Next, click Deploy Database to Microsoft Azure SQL Database (as shown in Figure 4).
Figure 4. Using the Deploy Database to Microsoft Azure SQL Database wizard
This will start the Deploy Database to Microsoft Azure SQL Database wizard. Click through the introduction screen to display the Deployment Settings dialog. The database name will be displayed under New database name and the Temporary file name will specify the local directory and file to use for the temporary BACPAC file. Clicking the Connect button displays the Connect to Server dialog (as shown in Figure 5).
Figure 5. Deploy Database Connect to Server dialog
To connect, you first need to know the server name for the Azure SQL Database and its login information. If this is the first time you’ve used the database, the login information is the same as what you entered when you created the Azure SQL Database.
To find the server name, open your Azure portal, log in and click the SQL Database’s blade to display your existing Azure SQL Database deployments (as shown in Figure 6).
Figure 6. Using the Azure Portal to find your Azure SQL Database name
Select the Overview link to display your Azure SQL Database server connection name. If you click on the Server name link, you can copy it to the clipboard and paste it into the Connect to Server dialog.
Before you can connect to the server from your client system, you will probably need to set up an Azure SQL Database firewall rule. The firewall works by creating exceptions for one or more client IP addresses, allowing these addresses to have access to the Azure SQL Database server. After you create the firewall, complete the Deployment Settings dialog by filling it with your Azure SQL Database settings (as shown in Figure 7).
Figure 7. The completed Deployment Settings
Click Next to display the Summary dialog and then click Finish to begin the database migration process. The actual migration will take a variable amount of time depending on the size of the database and the activity level of your system. You can see the completed dialog in Figure 8.
Figure 8. The Azure SQL Database migration
Post-SQL database migration
After the migration is complete, you can manage the Azure SQL Database using standard SQL Server management tools, such as SSMS. In Figure 9, you can see SSMS 2016 managing the migrated Azure SQL Database. To connect to the Azure SQL Database instance from SSMS, use the same connection information from the earlier migration connection in Figure 5.
Figure 9. Managing Azure SQL Database with SSMS
Migrating to CRM Online – Tips and Tricks – Ignite 2016
Here are the 15 tips that we shared as part of our Migrating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online interactive discussion at Ignite 2016.
We wanted to share them in a blog article to those who attended (to reduce the need for notes), for those who could not attend, and help reduce our own need for more PowerPoint slides. For those in attendance, feel free to ask any questions during the last 45-60 minutes of our session, or come find is in the hallways at Ignite. For those of you who couldn’t attend please feel free to leave a comment and we’ll do our best to reply in a timely manner.
1. Review new features and functionality
· Review what new features are available that you can leverage in the latest CRM Online version and use this information to build a business case to migrate or update to the next version
· What customizations can be retired in favor of out of the box configurations
i. Example: Retiring certain JavaScript in favor of Business Rules
· What’s New: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/what-s-new.aspx
· What’s new for Administrators and Customizers: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn531078.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
· CRM Roadmap: http://crmroadmap.dynamics.com
2. Data Migration Strategy
· What data and features actually needs to move to CRM Online
· Data Loader for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
· Other options include: Dedicated ETL tools (multiple platforms), SSIS adapters, and usage of .NET libraries such as the PFE Core Library or just the CRM SDK assemblies
· Article: Migrate Your Existing Data to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
3. ISV Solutions
· Review current ISV solutions and confirm whether they are still needed when moving to CRM Online and look at the dependencies required for the solution. Contact the specific ISV’s to confirm their solution works with the latest CRM Online version.
4. Federation with Active Directory
· A benefit of CRM being part of office 365 is the shared identity configuration, therefore CRM can support capabilities in Azure AD such as:
· Conditional Access – https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt750484.aspx
· Azure AD Connect (formerly DirSync) https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/active-directory-aadconnect
5. Integrations: Review current and planned – common approaches include:
· Logic Apps can now be notified by CRM Online and may talk back into CRM Online: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/connectors-create-api-crmonline/
· Service Bus Integration:
i. Previous version of service bus limited (CRM 5.0 – 8.0)
ii. Updated service bus starting CRM 2016 Update 1 (CRM 8.1 and higher) https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg334766.aspx
· Other tools including ISV online hosted integrations
6. Outlook Client Integration
· Consider your current Outlook integration and if the CRM App for Outlook will work for your organization.
· CRM App for Outlook vs. CRM Outlook client
· CRM App for Outlook User’s Guide: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm-customer-center/crm-app-for-outlook-user-s-guide-lightweight-app.aspx
· Install CRM for Outlook: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh699760.aspx
7. Email Options
· Review and consider if you want to use Server Side Sync or CRM Email Router. It’s strongly recommended that you use Server Side Sync, but if you are not using Exchange, then you will have to use the CRM Email Router or the CRM Outlook client as an email routing option.
· Set up server-side synchronization of email, appointments, contacts, and tasks
i. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn531109.aspx
· Install CRM Email Router: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh699800.aspx
8. Reporting Strategy
· SQL Reports against the transactional database are not possible with Dynamics CRM Online. Existing SSRS reports should be updated to use FetchXML
· PowerBI This is also a perfect opportunity to look at self-service BI options like PowerBI
· Synchronizing data to an enterprise data warehouse
· Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Reporting Considerations: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn792525.aspx
9. Mobility Solutions
· Review your current mobility solutions or requirements for mobility with CRM Online.
· There is an app for CRM for Tablets & CRM for Phones available on Windows, Apple and Android
· Mobile customization tips:
i. Same form is now used for web, tablet and phone
ii. Custom javascript will work as expected
· CRM for Phones and Tablets User’s Guide
· Setup CRM for phones and CRM for Tablets
i. https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn531128.aspx
· Customize CRM for phones and tablets
i. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn531159.aspx
10. CRM Online Updates
· Customer Driven Updates (CDU)
i. Review the information in the Updates page in the CRM Online Administration Center (https://portal.office.com > Admin centers > CRM > Updates tab) to find out what instances are ready to update, and the schedule.
ii. Approve the update. If you do not approve the update, Microsoft will not apply the update.
· Weekly service updates are applied to your CRM Online organizations and communications are sent out to CRM Administrators with details.
· Manage Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Updates
i. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn308237.aspx
11. Sandbox vs. Production organizations
· There are two different types of organizations in CRM Online. Production organizations are meant for production deployments and most organizations will only have 1 or 2 production instances. Sandbox organizations are used for development purposes and customers commonly have 1 or more sandbox organizations.
· Sandbox organizations offer additional management features such as Reset, Admin Mode and Delete.
· All organizations are on the same hardware and treated as Production organizations
· Manage CRM Online instances
i. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn659833.aspx
12. CRM Online Backup & Restore functionality
· CRM 2016 Update 1+ allows for on demand backup\restore from admin center
i. On demand backup\restore
ii. Available for 3 days
iii. Does not count against your storage limits
· https://technet.microsoft.com/library/mt748060.aspx
13. CRM Administrators & Office 365 Global Admins
· CRM Administrators can manage organizations in the CRM Admin Center
· CRM Administrators will receive CRM notifications and communications
· CRM Global Administrators need to provision new organizations and approve User emails.
· CRM Administrators are still needed with CRM Online. You are not going to lose your administration job!
i. Administering CRM 2016
1. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn531101.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
· Engaging the CRM Online Support Team
i. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/dynamics-online-support.aspx
14. Organization Insights (Preview feature)
· View metrics about your instance with Organization Insights dashboard
i. Active Users, Specific Operations, Total Page Requests, etc.
· Available in CRM 2016 Update 1 and beyond
· https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt703628.aspx
15. WebAPI and OAuth Support / Deprecation of SOAP
· If you authenticate with the CRM SDK .NET libraries: CALL TO ACTION: Update to the latest SDK libraries (8.0 or higher)
· If you authenticate with CRM via your own, you should migrate SOON over to using ADAL which will use oAuth.
· WebApi will be the endpoint of choice going forward
i. CRM 2011 wcf/soap service has been declared deprecated – no, it’s not going to disappear in the near term but it’s a signal to all developers to start migrating
ii. If you use the .NET SDK libraries you can keep using these, these will eventually start to use the WebApi under the covers – no need to write a custom http client
We really enjoy hearing all of the success stories about how you are leveraging Dynamics 365 products to accelerate and grow your business success! We also enjoy hearing about any challenges you are having with your deployment and how we can help make it successful.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you at Ignite 2016!
Shawn Dieken & Sean McNellis
Follow the conversation:
@sdieken
@pfedynamics | http://www.pfedynamics.com
The 5 Biggest Mistakes Businesses Make When Migrating CRMs
Akin to your child’s graduation or wedding, when your small business innovates and improves their business by migrating to a better CRM, it is a momentous occasion. The possibilities enabled by the new system are mouth watering and exciting.
However, in all the excitement to get moved over, there are some simple things that can get overlooked. These things can cause great problems down the road and cause you to doubt your choice, or worse, give up and stay with your old system (which you KNOW doesn’t work for you anymore).
When I started at Infusionsoft back in 2011, I helped over 200 new customers get started on their new CRM. Through working with all those different businesses, I found some common missteps that are easy to proactively avoid.
If you are considering moving your business to a new CRM, here are five things you really need to be aware of before you pull the trigger and start migrating.
#1 – Underestimating the work involved
Think back to the last time you moved house; it was a sizable effort, no?
From the initial decision to move, to finding a new place to live, to packing, to actually moving and finally unpacking, it is a VERY complex and involved process.
Migrating to a new CRM has the same level of complexity and should be treated as such. You are digitally moving, which means you need to plan thoroughly and execute as expected.
This means your CRM migration is going to take time. Potentially a lot of time depending on how many different “rooms” you have to “pack” (spreadsheets, other digital systems, paper systems, etc.) and “unpack”.
Make sure you give yourself plenty of lead time for the move, especially if you aren’t the most tech savvy because there will be time spent learning.
If you have a team to help with the migration, it will still take time. Possibly more time because you also have to plan the training for different roles and to make the necessary reporting adjustments.
The point is, give yourself enough time and plan for MORE time than you expected. As with moving your physical home, unexpected things will crop up. Give yourself a buffer to handles these as they occur.
Conversely, if you rush through a CRM migration, you might end up causing more harm than good. Which is no bueno.
#2 – Implementing before defining
While this is particularly true for automation, moving over ANY process into a new CRM requires a thorough understanding of what is being done right now, today.
Too often, a new CRM user will start building out their “processes” before sitting down and mapping out what those processes are in the first place. Then, as they get deeper down the rabbit hole they realize they forgot something, or that they have creating something that conflicts with or complicates another process.
Here is an example: A new CRM user creates a “Contact Us” web form that creates a task for some sales rep to follow up when the form is submitted. Then, as they are building out their sales pipeline, they realize this “Contact Us” mechanism doesn’t put those leads into the sales pipeline which means their reps will now have TWO places to track leads.
A classic example of putting the cart before the horse.
When migrating to a CRM, the best thing you can do is sit down in front of a big piece of paper or a whiteboard and map out all existing processes and workflows for you current system. How do you currently collect new leads and what happens to them? How does your sales process work? What happens with fulfillment once a lead converts into a customer?
As a success coach, this was often where the reality of how complex a CRM migration would sink in. You REALLY have to get granular with every detail of your current process. For most small businesses, these are loosely defined and shared tribally as new employees join the team.
You have to be able to explicitly say, “When a new lead comes in we do A. Then, the next step is to do B” and so on.
Until you’ve got your core processes figured out very clearly, implementing anything in your new CRM is like target practice wearing a blindfold; it probably won’t work as well as you’d hoped.
#3 – Hammering nails with a Screwdriver
There is a bit of wisdom out there that states, “When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail”. The lesson being conveyed is to use the right tool for the job at hand.
Often, when switching to a new CRM, there is new functionality you can leverage. It is highly beneficial to understand these new functions. Sometimes, using a particular function properly will greatly improve a currently inefficient process.
For example, let’s look at the idea of lead scoring. Lead scoring is a marketing/sales tactic that awards a certain amount of points for different actions (opting into your newsletter, downloading a lead magnet, etc.). The theory is that those with more points should be contacted first as they are the most engaged.
Does your new CRM have lead scoring? If so, learn how to properly use it. While you can probably find other ways to do it, in doing so you are effectively hammering a nail with a screwdriver.
Do your best to use the native functionality of your new CRM as it was designed. This is where the existing user community is handy. Make friends with people that are already using the CRM to which you plan to migrate. Chances are they’ve run into the same questions (and answers) that you have right now.
#4 – Not maximizing lead/customer segmentation
This notion piggybacks off the previous one. When you are using the native functionality of your new CRM as it is expected, there are often opportunities to improve your existing process.
In most cases creating better, more intentional experiences for your leads and customers is a big opportunity. One of the big dreams a CRM enables is the ability to deliberately create meaningful relationships and leave a clear digital paper trail.
When migrating over your current processes, look for opportunities to further target your messaging and actions. Do you have a newsletter opt-in? Maybe you can segment out your leads from customers upon opt-in and deliver a different welcome email depending on who they are.
If you have multiple products/services, are you tracking which specific offers a lead is qualified for or do you lump everyone into the same bucket and leave manual notes for their product interests?
Hopefully, once you’ve mapped out your current processes, you’ll see opportunities to leverage your new CRM for powerful segmentation. After all, the more relevant and timely your messages are, the more effective they should be!
#5 – Dipping one toe in the water
Out of all the hiccups listed above, this is BY FAR the biggest dream killer. If you make all four of the mistakes above, you can still find success. However, if you handle all four of those and still drop the ball on this one, your failure is effectively guaranteed.
You HAVE to commit to a complete migration and daily habitual use of a new CRM.
Think of the moving analogy earlier. You don’t pack up and move, but then still sleep at your old place. That doesn’t work. It makes no sense.
However, when migrating to a new CRM, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people build their new processes and start to use them while still clinging onto their old system. Its such a burden and causes unneccessary stress.
Think of it this way: Imagine you have an old car that you want to replace. So you go to the dealership and buy a new car. Then, you keep your feet on the pedals of your old car and lean out the window and try to steer the new one.
You’d probably rip yourself in half or at least cause some serious injuries.
Don’t do this when you migrate to a new CRM. Either commit to diving in headfirst and migrating then using the new system daily, or don’t even consider it.
Will it be scary? Yes.
Will there be a bumpy transition period? Maybe, but you can minimize that.
Will it be worth the effort? Absolutely!
Now, if you are considering moving to a new CRM and still have some hesitations around fully adopting the new system, have I got the perfect resource for you!
Its called the “The Small Business Field Guide to Accelerating CRM Adoption: Infographic and Checklist”
In it, you’ll learn different tactics and strategies to ensure that you and your team can migrate over to a new CRM with minimal headaches.
You can get this guide here.
So what do you think? Did I miss anything someone needs to consider when migrating CRMs? Let me know in the comments!
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Migrating Email Body with Line Breaks
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Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows users to send emails directly out of CRM itself. Those emails can absolutely be transferred over when migrating from a legacy system to Dynamics CRM. However, sometimes during a migration, if the body of the email in your legacy system is in plain text, the formatting is lost in the migration because CRM expects an HTML format. In today’s blog, we will discuss a few things to consider when migrating an email body during a data migration from legacy systems to Dynamics CRM.
Problem:
When the body of an email is in plain text, you lose its formatting after a migration because CRM is expecting an HTML format. By utilizing direct mapping, the email body gets imported into CRM without line breaks. Technically, at the CRM database level, the data will have line breaks. However, when presented in the CRM interface as shown below, all line breaks will be lost.
Solution:
By embedding the body in <PRE> </PRE> tags (which are used to define preformatted data), you are able to migrate the email data without losing the line breaks. As you can see in the image below, your email body is now formatted correctly.
This is how the source query would look:
SELECT ‘<PRE>’ + [emailBody] + ‘</PRE>’ FROM [toCRMEmail]
Another solution that will also work is to replace SQL Char(13) and Char(10) with <BR> tags, however, using <PRE> tags ensures that you won’t have to worry about any other formatting issues and performance issues that may arise.
That’s all for today! Remember that if you run into issues with this or any other CRM functionalities, you can always open a support request with PowerObjects. Thanks for stopping by our blog today!
Happy CRM’ing!