TL;DR
Migrations often fail due to mistrust, not missing features. Executives need reliable data during cutover to prevent revenue leakage and operational disruption. This blog outlines practical API mapping and data sync strategies that ensure Salesforce and HubSpot remain aligned with minimal downtime.
During a Salesforce to HubSpot migration, maintaining business continuity is the top concern for leaders. Sales, finance, and customer-success teams rely on trusted, timely data for daily decisions. The challenge arises when both the source and target Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are active during cutover. Using tested patterns, such as canonical IDs, staged bulk moves, dual-write windows, and delta-driven updates, organisations can reduce conflicts, protect revenue, and maintain confidence across teams. HubSpot’s flexible API and webhook capabilities support these approaches, making a controlled migration achievable.
How Can You Achieve Business Continuity?
Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and technical leads often ask: How can we ensure operations continue smoothly while switching CRMs? Teams need accurate, timely records, even when both Salesforce and HubSpot are live. Cutover is not just about data transfer; it’s about trust in every decision made during the migration window.
Why Does This Matter?
Mistrusted data during migration can create revenue leakage, duplicate work, and operational disruption. For executives, the concern is risk management: business decisions must be based on reliable information. Mapping IDs and synchronising updates accurately ensures that teams remain confident in the system during the transition.
What Steps Should You Take?
1. Plan Canonical IDs and Field Mapping – Decide which system owns canonical identifiers and document every field transformation. This reduces ambiguity and speeds troubleshooting.
2. Use Staged Bulk Export + Imports – Move historical records in batches, cleanse in a staging area, and upsert in HubSpot. Tag records for traceability and audit purposes.
3. Adopt Dual-Write + Reconciliation Windows – Allow both systems to accept writes temporarily while reconciling nightly. Limit mirrored fields to essential ones.
4. Apply Delta Syncs and Webhooks – Move only changed records to lower system load and prevent overwriting fresh data.
5. Make Syncs Idempotent and Order-Aware – Ensure retries never create duplicates and updates follow the correct sequence.
6. Automated Reconciliation & Monitoring – Run nightly comparison jobs, alert business owners to mismatches, and maintain dashboards for visibility.
7. Define Cutover Decision and Fallback Plan – Pre-authorise rollback steps and scripts to reduce CEO risk and protect revenue.
Takeaways
- Map IDs and field transforms before writing any code.
- Prefer staged bulk + delta syncs over simultaneous full writes.
- Build idempotent, ordered API calls and daily reconciliation dashboards.
- Consider a migration specialist for audits or a tested cutover playbook to minimise downtime.
FAQs
1. Can I keep both Salesforce and HubSpot running live during cutover?
Yes, but define a source-of-truth for each record type to avoid duplicates and reconciliation issues.
2. Can I test my cutover without touching production?
Yes, use sandbox environments, anonymised datasets, or a shadow sync to log API calls without committing them.
3. Will HubSpot automatically detect Salesforce changes?
No. HubSpot consumes changes via APIs or webhooks. Configure frequency, conflict handling, and watched fields.
4. Is real-time sync always better than batch sync?
Not always. Real-time increases conflict risk and API load. Batch + delta sync often delivers higher accuracy with less downtime.
