As business technology evolves rapidly, companies must migrate between different platforms to improve performance or efficient management. However, this process can be difficult and time-consuming due to the diverse applications and data involved.
However, with the right approach and processes, successful migration can save money, boost profits, and provide a strategic advantage in a competitive market.
Moving Between Platforms: A Growing Trend
Businesses are currently undergoing more platform migrations, including switching martech partners, than in previous years. The shift is due to a higher demand for innovative solutions and improved services, as well as businesses’ dissatisfaction with their current martech partners.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the trend, revealing the need to embrace innovative ways of working and highlighting the weaknesses of some martech partners that aren’t sophisticated enough to handle dynamic digital business landscapes.
The Challenges of Moving Platforms
The process of moving to a new platform can be daunting since it is not something that is taught in college. The difficulties involved in the migration process are numerous and complex, involving system integration, data migration, and application validation.
Moreover, considering the critical and sensitive data being processed, risking the loss or compromise of that data during migration is not an option. Therefore, organizations need to plan and follow best practices that ensure they can maximize the benefits of the new platform while minimizing risks and challenges.
Best Practices for a Successful Migration
1. Proper discovery and planning
The first phase of any migration process is to understand your organization’s entire operation thoroughly and map out a plan that ensures the new platform aligns with business objectives. This discovery phase involves identifying business processes, security protocols, data sources, and integrations.
During the planning phase, a comprehensive plan describing the migration will be created, including information on project scope, resource allocation, timelines, and budget. The plan’s accuracy and quality is crucial since it serves as a blueprint for the entire migration process.
2. Agreements and Negotiations
Migrating to a new platform also means adding to the martech partner’s workload. Therefore, it’s crucial to establish agreements and negotiate service-level expectations before migration to ensure that there is a shared understanding of roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
Without proper agreements and negotiations, the migration process can end up costing more than anticipated and failing to deliver the desired results.
3. Accuracy over speed
The migration process needs to focus primarily on accuracy, not speed. It can be tempting to rush the migration process in a bid to save time, but this can lead to detrimental outcomes, including data loss, lower quality data, or work that does not meet business objectives.
By putting accuracy and quality first, the successful implementation of the new platform can guarantee businesses the benefits they are looking for.
4. User acceptance testing
After migrating data, user acceptance testing is essential for the new application to detect errors and identify gaps that still need to be fixed. Users conducting the testing should be representatives from each stakeholder group. The testing helps to identify and fix any issues and ensures that the new platform is fully operational.
5. Don’t rush the process.
The migration process from RFP to pushing the “Go” button is complex and time-consuming, and it is important not to rush from planning to execution and beyond. Each stage of the migration process should be carefully reviewed, tested, and confirmed to ensure that the end result meets business objectives.
Migration between platforms can seem daunting, but with careful planning and a systematic approach, businesses can mitigate risks and reap the benefits of improved platforms. Understanding the organization’s operations globally, establishing agreements, prioritizing accuracy and user acceptance testing, and not rushing the process are crucial best practices that guarantee a successful migration. Therefore, businesses must plan and engage partners to ensure that they recognize the potential to innovate and drive future success.