Use this as a working list. Each step has an owner and a sign-off before the next begins.
Before you move anything
- Write the reason. The business outcome the move must deliver, and the date it matters by.
- Name the owners. One executive sponsor, one project lead, and a data owner for each market.
- Inventory the old system. Objects, fields, record counts, workflows, integrations, reports and users.
- Decide what not to move. Stale records, unused fields and retired processes stay behind or go to an archive.
- Check data protection. Legal basis and consent for each market, and where the new platform hosts data.
Design the new platform
- Agree definitions. Lifecycle stages, deal stages and required fields, signed off by marketing, sales and service.
- Map every field. Old field, new property, type, allowed values and transformation rule.
- Map associations. How contacts, companies, deals, tickets and custom records link, so history keeps its context.
- Map users and access. Teams, permissions and record owners by market.
- Rebuild, do not copy. List each workflow and report, then rebuild only those still needed, in the new platform's way.
Prepare the data
- Deduplicate. One record per company and contact, across markets and old systems.
- Standardise. Countries, phone formats, currencies, industries and picklist values.
- Keep source IDs. Store the old system's record ID on every migrated record, so you can trace and fix.
Test before cutover
- Trial migration. Load a sample, then a full copy, into a test environment.
- Reconcile. Record counts, totals such as open pipeline value, and spot checks of history on key accounts.
- User testing. Each team runs its real daily tasks and signs off.
- Test integrations. ERP, website forms, messaging channels and billing, end to end.
Cut over
- Freeze the old system. Read-only from an agreed time, so nothing is lost in between.
- Final load and delta. Move the last changes, reconcile again, then switch integrations.
- Train by role. Short sessions on the tasks each person does, in their language.
- Support the first weeks. A named contact and a daily issue list.
After go-live
- Watch adoption. Logins, records updated and deals moved, by team and market.
- Check data quality. Duplicates, missing fields and stale owners, weekly at first.
- Keep the archive. Retain the old export for as long as policy requires, then retire the old system.
- Then add AI. Agents only after the data is clean and the process is agreed.
Moving to HubSpot from a specific platform? See Salesforce, Zoho, Dynamics or Pipedrive.
