This is a guest post by Help Desk Migration.
Switching to a new help desk system can be daunting. Perhaps you know it’s good and necessary, but you keep postponing it to the next Monday. While it may seem to be a tiresome process at first, there are simple tricks that can make the migration quick and painless. If you’re ready to make the switch, read on for tips you should consider before making your data migration plan.
ProTip 1: Prepare your team
Help desk migration involves a significant change that concerns everyone on your team, starting with support reps and ending with IT team members and technicians. Once you have ensured everyone is on the same page, you can make this change comprehensive and consistent. Take the time to:
- Discuss the reasons for migration and the benefits to expect as a result.
- List the drawbacks of your current help desk system and highlight the capabilities of the target tool.
- Inform your team about their roles and responsibilities.
Keeping the communication open will encourage your team to ask questions or make suggestions, and it will help them adjust to the new support system smoothly.
ProTip 2: Pick a date for migration
Depending on the scope of data you want to transfer, the migration process can take from a few hours to several days. During this period, your support agents will have to compromise on time and capabilities. Fortunately, you can avoid unnecessary issues by planning out the data migration strategy in a way that considers your most active and quiet hours. Choose a time when your team can focus on clients without constant interruptions and limited support service tools.
ProTip 3: Audit and back up your data
Moving to a new help desk platform is an excellent chance to get rid of superfluous data. Run an audit and you will likely stumble upon duplicates, missing fields, unassigned ticket conversations, outdated profiles, and invalid email addresses. If you don’t want them to take up valuable space in your new system, remove those records before starting the migration.
Once you have filtered the data, back it up to eliminate the risk of loss or damage. Make a copy to fully restore it in case of failure.
ProTip 4: Start using your target help desk before migration
Switching a help desk tool is not an irreversible process, but you don't want to waste time and money on a solution that isn't right for your needs. Even after reading reviews and instructions, you still can’t be 100% sure that the tool is better than the previous one unless you try it out first. That’s why one of the key data migration tips is to use the target help desk system before fully switching over. By doing this, you can estimate the tool’s feature-to-price balance more accurately and allow your team to test its efficiency and ease of use.
ProTip 5: Test a data migration tool
Before completing the full migration, do a demo migration by importing a small piece of data to the target location. This will allow you to detect any errors that might occur during the full data migration. You can then investigate their nature and prevent future issues when importing the rest of the data.
So, how do you migrate?
There are three ways to migrate data: do it manually, hire an expert, or use a help desk migration tool. The first one requires effort, and the second requires money, but the third one strikes the best balance of money and effort. Your task is simply to monitor the process and give some minor assistance when the tool prompts you. Regardless of your chosen method, the above data migration tips will be relevant to your process.
If you’re looking to securely migrate from your current help desk system to Zoho Desk, you can use Import and Export for Zoho Desk to migrate ticket details, contacts, notes, attachments, and more.
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