How do you switch business software without losing your data?
Export everything from the old tool first and open the file to check it is complete. Then decide what comes across and what stays behind, test with a small batch, and run old and new side by side. Check a sample against the original. Retire the old tool last: keep it read-only until a full cycle such as a month end has passed, export once more, store that copy safely, then close access.
Before you touch anything
- Write down what the old tool holds: customers, notes and history, files, bookings or invoices, templates and any automatic messages.
- List who uses it and what else depends on it, such as a website form that sends inquiries into it or a calendar it feeds.
- Export everything while the old tool still works. Look for an export that includes notes, history and attachments, not only names and phone numbers. Some tools export only part of what they hold, so ask what is left out.
- Open the file. Check that it opens in a spreadsheet, that the number of rows matches what the tool shows, and that a few records, including awkward ones, are complete.
- Keep that first export untouched, in a place you control and not inside either tool, and limit who can open it, because it holds customer details. The related answer on backing up business data covers keeping copies.
Decide what comes across
Moving everything is not always the goal. Decide what the new tool needs to do its job: current customers, open jobs and appointments, and as much history as you will actually look at. Older records can stay in the exported file. Clean up by merging duplicates before the import, working on a copy of the export, because a mess carried across is still a mess.
Carry across each customer's source and outcome (won, lost or still open) if you track them, and who has agreed to texts or asked to stop getting email. Texts go out only with the person's consent, so a missing mark means no texts until it is confirmed. If you are retiring an invoicing tool, ask your accountant which records to keep, and for how long, before you close it. Saved card details often cannot be exported, so ask both vendors what happens to them.
Test small, then run both
- Import a small batch into the new tool and look at it before importing the rest.
- Choose a quiet time for the switch, not your busiest week.
- For a short time, let both exist. New entries go in the new tool, and the old one is for looking things up, not adding to. Turn off the old tool's automatic messages, reminders and payment links once the new ones are live, so customers do not get two.
- Point website forms, booking links and email at the new tool, then send a test inquiry through each one.
- Tell your team the date, and customers if a link or reminder will change.
Check a sample before you rely on it
Pick a handful of records, including awkward ones such as a customer with many jobs, a canceled booking or a part-paid invoice, and compare each with the old tool. Compare totals too: how many customers, how many open jobs, what is owed. Check that reminders and automatic messages go out once, not twice and not never.
Retire the old tool last
Keep the old tool, even read-only, until a full cycle such as a month end or billing run has passed and the rare cases have shown up. Export once more just before closing and store that copy next to the first. Then remove everyone's access, starting with anyone who has left the business, which lowers the risk that a former employee can still sign in; the related answer on removing an employee's access when they leave covers the account list. Check what canceling does to your access before you cancel, then cancel renewals, and ask the vendor how and when it deletes your data. Delete nothing until you have confirmed the new tool holds it.
The related answers on CRMs and on online booking tools say to check that you can export before choosing; this answer covers the switch.
Related answers
- What is a CRM, and does a small business need one?
- Should a service business let customers book online?
- How do you remove an employee's access to accounts when they leave?
- How should a small business back up its data?
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