From Merger to Migration: How to Succeed with Salesforce in M&A

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are inherently complex, bringing together different corporate cultures, business processes, and tech stacks. One of the most challenging aspects of any M&A is the integration of Salesforce instances. 

When handled well, it builds the foundation for a cohesive, efficient, and scalable operation. Done poorly, it can create data silos, process issues, and missed opportunities. Here are some things to consider as you plan for your next migration effort.

Align on Strategic Goals Early

Before diving into the technical aspects of migration, it’s crucial to align the leadership teams from both companies on the strategic goals of the Salesforce integration. 

A Salesforce migration has a lot of moving parts. Whether the aim is to refine processes, improve customer satisfaction, or unlock cross-selling potential, ensuring everyone has the same vision helps guide the migration towards meaningful business outcomes rather than focusing solely on the technology itself. 

Stacking hands on “What does a successful migration look like?” gives your team a clear north star to follow and helps narrow the scope into manageable steps, positioning you for a smooth, successful migration in what can often feel like a massive undertaking.

Know Your Data Inside & Out

M&A often brings together disparate data sources, each with its own set of challenges. Conducting a comprehensive data audit helps identify redundant, outdated, or irrelevant data that shouldn’t make it to the new system. It’s also the perfect time to standardize data formats, naming conventions, and definitions to ensure a seamless integration.

The trickiest part of most migrations is the data. From what we’ve seen, here are a few best practices to help navigate that process:

• Negotiate what data is necessary! Stakeholders tend to see all data as a priority when migrating, but often, a significant portion isn’t essential. The more data you try to move, the more complex this piece of the puzzle becomes. 

• M&A often results in organizations having overlapping customers. Speaking from personal experience 🙂, merging duplicate accounts in-transit can be a real headache and introduce risk. It’s worth considering ways to clean up redundant data after the migration instead.

• Use this as a training opportunity! In cases where we are migrating sales teams from old CPQ to new CPQ, we’ve used in-flight quotes as a chance to do hands-on training. We’ve had success when we migrate historical data and designate a period of time when reps are adding in their in progress quotes during the hyper-care period after a big go live. This allows you to get clean data in, and encourages early adoption for merging teams. 

Prioritize User Experience

M&A can be unsettling for employees, especially when they're faced with new systems and processes. A seamless transition is essential to keep morale high and productivity steady.

Naturally, some processes and user experiences will take priority over others. Involve end-users early by collecting feedback on their pain points and aspirations. Customize the unified Salesforce instance to not only meet business requirements but also to elevate the user experience.

Change Management is Key

Even the most technically sound migration can fail if the change isn’t managed properly. Develop a robust change management plan that includes clear communication, training programs, and support mechanisms. This helps ease the transition, ensures user adoption, and minimizes disruptions within your organization.

Change isn’t easy, but letting your team absorb it in smaller chunks is oftentimes a recipe for success. 

Test, Test, Test

Never underestimate the importance of testing. Perform rigorous testing across different scenarios to identify potential issues before they become major problems. Consider a phased rollout, where the migration is implemented in stages, allowing teams to adapt gradually and address any issues that arise in real time.

It’s not just end users who need to test things out. Your development team should run the migration in a sandbox environment before moving to Production. The first time data is transferred in bulk should never be in the live environment. Yes, Allen Iverson - we’re talking about practice.

Migration is Just the Beginning

The initial migration of your Salesforce instances is just the beginning. With proper scope management, and keeping in mind the tips laid out in this article, post-migration optimization is critical to ensure the system is performing as expected and delivering on its intended business outcomes. Schedule regular check-ins to fine-tune processes, address user feedback, and explore opportunities for further automation and innovation.

There truly is no finish line for Salesforce.

Conclusion

Salesforce migrations due to M&A are challenging but also present a unique opportunity to create a unified, powerful CRM system that drives business growth. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but leaning into these concepts can set you on the right track for a successful migration that positions your company for long-term success.