Regardless of how far along your data migration project is, it’s important to consider the benefits such a project can bring. With this in mind, we’ve selected four of our favourite reasons why your data migration shouldn’t be delayed.
If you’re reading this article, we’ll assume that you are in the process of planning a new application adoption to replace a legacy platform. It could be a CRM, an ERP, or even an accounting platform. Fundamentally though, it’s a platform that contains data. However, the stage you’re at could also vary. Perhaps you’re in the consideration stage – with no significant decisions made yet. Maybe you’ve reached budgeting and planning, or you’re knee-deep in deployment and data migration issues have reared their head to cause… headaches.
In fact, the risk of implementation failure is a huge driver for taking data migration projects seriously for any new system adoption. Regardless which stage your data migration project is at, it’s vital to keep up momentum, otherwise your project could stall, and you’ll never reap the benefits of a successful data migration. And so, let’s explore some of these benefits in more detail:
1 – Data is One of Your Biggest Assets – Accurate and complete data will maximise the value of any new enterprise application. It will enable your staff to be more productive, your supply chain to be more efficient, your customers to be more engaged and your financial planning to be more accurate. In short, getting data right means results on your bottom line.
2 – Better Data Means Better Decisions – When you get your data right, the decisions taken by your business will be better. They are grounded in evidence, not opinions or hunches. This will lead to you capitalising on more opportunities and enabling positive changes that will have a direct effect on business performance.
3 – Accurate Data Improves Efficiency – Any application where the data is accurate, timely and trusted will invariably lead to efficiency and productivity gains. For example, a home shopping retailer in the UK appointed Euler to rescue a failed ERP migration. When we reviewed the project, we discovered the project team had carried out a working time analysis of a typical sales order telephone call in the UAT system.
In their legacy platform it would take 4 minutes and 20 seconds to process an average sale. The business case for the new platform said this could be achieved in 2 minutes 45 seconds. The reality, due to inaccurate data and a patched design, it was taking an astonishing 8 minutes! The result after the data migration was redone? 2 minutes 40 seconds.
4 – Legislative Compliance – While this might be a dry subject, the importance of legislative compliance can’t be understated. More and more data classifications are being subject to international regulatory control. GDPR in Europe for example has redrawn the rules on managing personal data. It is now the law that your data on individuals should be accurate, maintained and made available to the individual for review. So, making sure you accurately migrate data into your new platform will ensure you are meeting local regulations.
While these are just four benefits to be gained from a successful data migration, there are many more that we’ve not touched on here. Interested in learning more? Euler CEO, Rob Jones has written a handy guide for data migration success. Check it out here.
