How to migrate CRMs without losing data: a step by step checklist

A company decided to switch CRMs on a Friday. It exported the contacts, uploaded them to the new system and on Monday discovered that the opportunities had no stage, the tags were gone and nobody knew which automations did what. The old CRM had already been canceled.

What gets migrated when you change CRMs?

Besides contacts, you migrate companies, opportunities with their stage, custom fields, tags, owners and, when possible, history. Automations, templates and forms are almost always rebuilt, not copied.

If you are still choosing a platform, compare first with Zoho CRM or Kommo: which to choose or see why many companies move to an all-in-one platform.

What is the checklist?

A safe migration follows eight steps, in this order. Skipping the inventory or the testing is what causes Monday surprises.

Step	What you do	Result
1. Diagnosis	You define the sales and service process you have today	Knowing what the new CRM must do
2. Inventory	You list fields, stages, tags, users and automations	Map of what exists
3. Decision	You mark what migrates, what gets rebuilt and what stays behind	Agreed scope
4. Export	You download the full data from the current CRM	Backup copy
5. Cleanup	You remove duplicates and empty rows, and standardize formats	Data ready to import
6. Setup and import	You create fields and stages in the new CRM and import	Data in its place
7. Testing	You check random records and test every automation	Errors caught in time
8. Training and go live	You train the team and switch systems	Operation in the new CRM

How is the data exported?

From the current CRM, in the most complete format it offers, keeping a separate copy. In Kommo, for example, according to its official help center, leads are exported from Pipelines, All leads, the three dot menu and Export, choosing between .xlsx, .csv, .vcf or a Google Sheet. Contacts and companies are exported from Lists.

If the new CRM also imports by file, check its limits. The same Kommo help center states that, for imports, the file must be at most 2 MB, have up to 10,000 rows, no empty rows, a single sheet, and that headers must match the field names exactly, including capitalization.

Important: do not cancel the old CRM on migration day. Keep access until you have checked that everything is right in the new one and keep a full export as a backup.

What about conversation histories?

Chat, email and call histories cannot always be moved, and it is worth knowing that before promising it. It depends on what the source platform lets you export and what the destination lets you import. Often the practical solution is to save the history as a file or note on the contact record, instead of recreating every message.

With WhatsApp you also need to check how the number connects to the new system, as we explain in WhatsApp coexistence.

What care should you take with personal data?

A migration is data processing, so Law 1581 applies: data must be moved securely, up to date and with its consent. Article 17 of the law requires keeping a copy of the consent, storing information under security conditions that prevent its loss and keeping it up to date.

In practice: do not send export files by email without protection, delete temporary copies when you finish and also migrate the consent records, not just the contacts.

How do we migrate to TMV One?

To move to TMV One we follow this same process: diagnosis, inventory of data and automations, setup, migration of contacts and opportunities, rebuilding of processes, testing and training. Which histories or integrations can be brought over is defined in the diagnosis, without promising a full migration before reviewing your case.

In short

Friday’s company would have avoided its Monday with an inventory, a test with real data and the old CRM active a few more days. A CRM migration goes well when it is treated as a project with steps, not as an export and an import.