GoldMine and ACT are two legacy customer relationship management (CRM) systems that have a substantial fanbase in the CRM space. Over the years other CRM products have surpassed them. However, many ACT and GoldMine users remained loyal to these systems because they had a lot of data stored in them, were familiar with the interface, and they still served their purpose. Switching to a new CRM system has its downsides, like the cost of data migration and learning a new system, especially for those who prefer not to use web-based applications.
Despite their fanbase many ACT and GoldMine users are unwilling to accept that these systems have fallen behind in technology and lack important features. Firms want a CRM that integrates well with other applications and offers more features. For these and other reasons, many businesses are migrating to Zoho CRM, a leading CRM product that meets their needs better.
Why Migrate to Zoho CRM?
- Enhanced Features: Zoho CRM offers a comprehensive suite of tools for sales, marketing, customer support, artificial intelligence-powered assistant, analytics, and more. It provides a unified platform, allowing businesses to streamline their operations and improve collaboration among teams.
- Cloud-Based Accessibility: Zoho CRM is a cloud-based solution, enabling users to access critical data and perform tasks from anywhere with an internet connection. This accessibility fosters remote work capabilities and improves overall productivity.
- Scalability: As businesses grow, their CRM requirements evolve too. Zoho CRM is highly scalable, accommodating the needs of small businesses to large enterprises without compromising performance.
- Integration Capabilities: Zoho CRM seamlessly integrates with various third-party applications, making it easy to consolidate data and automate workflows, further streamlining business processes.
- And many more!
Challenges of Migrating from ACT and GoldMine to Zoho CRM
1. Table structure, fields, and labels are different: Migrating from ACT and Goldmine to Zoho CRM presents several challenges due to differences in table structures, field types, and labels. The mapping process becomes exceptionally tricky as these variations need to be carefully managed.
2. Associating Accounts/Contacts record IDs with table data: Ensuring the correct association of record IDs between Table Rows and corresponding Account Numbers of Companies or Contacts is crucial. Failing to do so may result in mismatches in the data within the history table or Calendar table, leading to potential issues in the Zoho records.
3. Migrating the data: The migration process becomes more manageable when dealing with address book and flat fields, such as company names, first and last names, phone records, city, state, zip, and country. However, complications arise when rows of data are associated with a single record, requiring expertise in importing the data accurately.
Migrating from GoldMine or ACT to Zoho CRM
1. Data Assessment and Cleanup
Before initiating the migration, perform a thorough evaluation of the data in your current CRM systems. Identify duplicate entries, outdated information, and other irrelevant data.
Conduct a thorough assessment of the data that truly needs to be migrated, and identify data that can be omitted. This step will enable a more streamlined and efficient migration, reducing potential complications and costs associated with transferring unnecessary information.
2. Data Export from GoldMine CRM and ACT!
Most CRM platforms offer data export functionalities. In GoldMine CRM and ACT, export your data into a standardized format, such as CSV (Comma Separated Values), which is compatible with Zoho CRM. (Example: Companies.csv, Contacts.csv, History.csv, Opportunities.csv, etc.)
It often becomes necessary to use backend tools to obtain the data rather than ACT’s or GoldMine’s native export capabilities.
3. Setting up Zoho CRM
Create a Zoho CRM account and configure your organization’s settings, including user roles, permissions, and custom fields to match your business requirements.
4. Data Import to Zoho CRM
Using Zoho CRM’s import tool, upload the CSV file containing your data from GoldMine CRM and ACT. Map the fields correctly to ensure that the information is accurately transferred to Zoho CRM.
5. Data Mapping
Zoho CRM automatically reads the files and maps the data to the correct modules and fields. However, there are some important things you must keep in mind to ensure you don’t lose your data when moving from ACT or GoldMine to Zoho CRM.
As an example:
When mapping data, make sure Companies must have a company name and Contacts must have a last name.
In GoldMine CRM, there are three phone fields labeled Phone1, Phone2, and Phone3, but Zoho has phone fields: Phone, Mobile, Other, etc. This mapping can be tricky.
A GoldMine company/contact record holds both a company’s information and a person’s details. Zoho CRM holds Company and Contact data in completely separate modules.
Following are the modules that will be migrated from Act! CRM to Zoho CRM.
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- Company
- Contacts
- Case
- Opportunity
- Users
- Tasks
- Notes
- History Information
- Meetings
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Mapping data from GoldMine/ACT to Zoho may sound fairly straightforward, but there are several pitfalls to watch out for. But don’t worry! Seek out a Zoho expert to help you.
6. Configuration and Customization
Recreate any field customizations, workflows, and automation rules that were present in your previous CRM system. Utilize Zoho CRM’s customization options to tailor the platform to suit your business needs.
7. Data Backup
Before starting the data migration process, make sure you have a copy of your original ACT/GoldMine data in case you need to compare or access any data later on.
8. Stop Using Your Previous System
After successfully migrating your data from ACT or GoldMine to Zoho CRM, it is essential to refrain from entering any new data into your previous system. Any data added to ACT or GoldMine after the transition will not be moved to Zoho CRM as the data transfer has already been completed. To ensure the accuracy and completeness of your data, it’s best to exclusively use Zoho CRM for all new data entries and updates moving forward.
9. Go Live
Once you are confident that Zoho CRM is functioning correctly and your team is comfortable with the new system, officially switch to Zoho CRM from GoldMine CRM or ACT.
Conclusion
Migrating from ACT or GoldMine to Zoho CRM can be a significant undertaking. It requires a lot of effort and time. There should be noticeable benefits and advantages to make this switch worth it. Your organization needs to carefully assess whether the benefits offered by Zoho CRM outweigh the expenses in terms of time, money, and effort.
Contact First Direct Corp.
First Direct Corporation is a Zoho Authorized Partner as well as a Premier GoldMine Partner. So we have extensive experience with CRM-related systems. Whether you want to leave ACT and switch to Zoho CRM or move from GoldMine CRM to Zoho, our certified ZOHO CRM professionals can help. Please contact us here or call (845) 221-3800.
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