The single biggest mistake I see in CRM migrations is treating the move as a copy-paste exercise. If your current system holds stale records, you'll just be moving that mess into a new home.

Start by running a full audit of your existing data. Research consistently shows that over 70% of CRM records become inaccurate within a year, and most organizations discover they're carrying between 10% and 30% duplicate records once they actually look. Those duplicates don't just bloat your new system; they skew forecasting, break automated workflows, and create awkward moments when two reps call the same prospect in the same week.

Your audit should flag three things: duplicate records, incomplete records missing critical fields like email or company name, and outdated contacts that haven't had any activity in years. Use this as an opportunity to decide what's worth carrying forward. Migrating everything isn't always the right call, and the cost of migration scales with data volume, so cutting dead weight upfront can save you real money.

Field mapping is where CRM migrations quietly fall apart. Data leaves your old system looking fine, lands in the new one in the wrong place, and nobody notices until a sales rep can't find three months of deal notes.