The sun has set on Luminate CRM as Blackbaud decided to end the CRM support for Luminate CRM and shut it down in Jan 2021. For Luminate CRM users, it's certainly not the best news of 2021, as the core of their technology ecosystem and customer database is going away. This has led users to look for a new CRM that can become the backbone of their organization that Luminate CRM once was. The clock is ticking as slowly Luminate CRM’s service termination date is approaching, and it is recommended to migrate CRM before the Luminate CRM shutdown for uninterrupted workflow. But, CRM migration is not easy as a pie. It includes planning and a well-orchestrated strategy that fits all the pieces together.
Nevertheless, before stepping into its and bits of CRM migration, the users need to understand their technological needs and settle on a CRM!
Is Salesforce a viable choice for the Luminate CRM users?
Salesforce is a capable and versatile CRM platform with an overwhelming amount of tools and products. Its Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) can help nonprofits to extend their reach, volunteer management, and drive successful donation campaigns in full swing. But, the key factor of choosing Salesforce over any other CRM is the ease of adoption. Since Luminate CRM is based on the Force.com platform, it shares the technical background and working mechanism with Salesforce. Going for Salesforce will give Luminate CRM users a headstart over others, as the time required for user training and deployment will be slim to none due to similar CRM interface and navigation.
Complete roadmap for migrating from Luminate CRM to Salesforce
Migrating your systems from Luminate CRM to Salesforce is a step-by-step process that requires accounting for every business component of your organization. Our roadmap will help you go through the implementation and pre-implementation process, so buckle up for the ride.
Identifying your goals
Migrating to Salesforce needs a clear vision and understanding of your organization's needs. Your Salesforce CRM should not only be able to do what your previous CRM was capable of, but it should also raise the bar of productivity in your organization. Your teams need to account for every business activity, including the sales, marketing, customer success, and management before you even begin with the migration plan. It is essential to keep organizational goals in mind and ensure that Salesforce can support your organization's activities and workflows.
Defining Sales process
You need to create an outline of your Sales and work process structure that your Salesforce CRM will follow. It is crucial to define every step of your Sales, including understanding customer requirements, prospecting, sales forecasts, and what sales methodologies implied to reach your objectives. This helps in the effective customization of Salesforce CRM during the migration process. Your team will customize the CRM elements like objects, sales stages, fields, page layouts, dashboards, reports, etc., as per their convenience.
Planning
Planning your CRM migration includes various aspects, from what Salesforce license and edition your organization needs to 3rd party app integrations from your previous CRM. It includes narrowing down the key functionalities required to be implemented in your Salesforce CRM, like lead generation, customer acquisition, campaign management, etc. Settling on Salesforce licenses and editions depends on your organization type, activities, and the amount of workload that your organization handles.
Setup and Configuration
- User-based Data Access
- Setup Processes and Workflows
- Configuring automation and dashboards
For an optimized work process, the Salesforce CRM needs to limit access to data and functionalities. Your Admins need to ensure the correct licenses, functionalities, access, and permissions are given to every role in your organization.
Based on your business requirements, optimizing your setup also include configuring a business process suited to your organization. Depending on the type of industry and business objectives, the processes can be Campaigns and Lead management, Forecasting, Opportunity, and Case Management.
Salesforce provides both automation and a unified view of your organization with detailed reports. Your teams need to decide that what process needs automation in your organization, and items should be available in your team's dashboards as per their job role.
Data Migration
Data Migration is the centerpiece of the whole process. Your team needs to identify every ounce of data and how it is structured in your existing CRM before taking any step. Even a single mismatch can lead to data duplication or form data silos within your Salesforce CRM that can haunt your organization for years to come and severely affect the transparency with the organization. Once the data is migrated, it is vital to run the database on a sandbox to avoid any mishaps during deployment. Data migration takes the lion's share of your resources and time, so it is recommended to plan the data migration ahead of time.
Testing and Sanity Checks
As mentioned in the last point testing your database is crucial for CRM migration. Every functionality and feature needs to be thoroughly tested before deployment. Your team also needs to look back on the entire migration journey until now and make sure that no steps are skipped or look for any ramification that has started to shape up.
Setup and Configuration
- Training and Adoption
For Luminate CRM users, training and adoption programs do not hold much value or will make any difference, as technically and interface-wise they are still using the same old CRM they were used to with. But still, for a frictionless user experience, training and adoption are advised as they bolster your team's confidence and proficiency in the Salesforce platform.
How a Salesforce partner can be a game-changer for CRM Migration
CRM Migration can be a tough cookie. A flexible and well-done CRM migration needs coordination in your team and immense experience in doing so. This can slow down and negatively affect your migration process. At times like these, a Salesforce partner can help you devise a sound strategy and sail your organization through the migration journey without any bumps.
DemandBlue is a longstanding Salesforce partner and has extensive experience in the Salesforce ecosystem. Our objective is to help you migrate and implement Salesforce CRM with customizations that suit your business and operational needs. We deliver top-notch Salesforce migration services and strive to ensure that your Salesforce instance is deployable from day one.
