TL;DR
Migrating from Salesforce to HubSpot involves more than transferring contacts or deals. It demands strategic planning to keep CRM workflows active during cutover. A structured automation migration minimises downtime, protects revenue, and sustains team productivity. HubSpot’s visual automation tools simplify replication, testing, and monitoring of workflows, sequences, and playbooks, helping organisations maintain continuity and realise a faster return on investment.
When organisations migrate from Salesforce to HubSpot, the real challenge isn’t data but automation continuity. Workflows are often the hidden backbone of business operations, connecting sales, marketing, and service activities. Any disruption can affect revenue flow and customer engagement. HubSpot’s unified ecosystem offers intuitive tools that simplify automation setup, testing, and monitoring, enabling leaders to maintain workflow continuity and keep their teams productive throughout the migration.
What Is Automation Cutover And Why Does It Matter?
When migrating a CRM platform, data transfer is only half the task. Salesforce automations (workflows, sequences, and playbooks) contain the logic that drives sales and marketing actions. If automation cutover is mishandled, follow-ups can fail, leads may go unassigned, and revenue activities can stall. A smooth transition ensures business continuity, helping the new CRM deliver value immediately after go-live.
Why Should Organisations Prioritise Automation Migration?
Automation migration determines how efficiently teams adapt to the new CRM. Deactivating workflows too early or rebuilding them incorrectly can cause gaps in customer engagement and reporting. Handled strategically, automation migration keeps processes uninterrupted, reduces manual intervention, and leverages HubSpot’s native automation tools for better productivity and faster ROI from your HubSpot migration.
How Does HubSpot Simplify Automation Migration?
1. Audit and prioritise
Begin by auditing every Salesforce workflow, sequence, and playbook. Categorise them by business impact and urgency. Prioritise revenue-driving automations first to ensure mission-critical functions, such as lead routing or deal tracking, continue without disruption.
2. Map logic
Document each trigger, action, and condition from your Salesforce workflows. HubSpot’s workflow editor enables teams to recreate branching logic, but with fewer dependencies. This often simplifies existing complexity, making future updates faster and more manageable.
3. Recreate in HubSpot
Use HubSpot’s visual builder to rebuild each workflow step by step. This is where automation becomes more intelligent. HubSpot’s native task automation, deal stage tracking, and email sequencing enhance process efficiency and visibility across teams.
4. Test thoroughly
Simulate your new workflows using sample contacts, deals, or tickets before go-live. Testing ensures every notification, task, and email is triggered correctly, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring all team members stay aligned.
5. Cutover and monitor
Plan the cutover during low-traffic periods to reduce business impact. Post-migration, monitor HubSpot dashboards to track workflow execution and detect issues early. Continuous monitoring ensures your automation layer performs reliably from day one.
What Are the Key Takeaways for Leaders?
Automation cutover is a critical phase that directly influences operational continuity. HubSpot simplifies automation migration, but success depends on planning and testing. Leaders should focus on prioritising key workflows, engaging expert migration partners, and maintaining oversight through analytics dashboards. A structured approach ensures teams remain productive, customers stay engaged, and CRM performance remains uninterrupted.
FAQs
- How do I ensure my teams remain productive during migration?
Audit your current Salesforce workflows and identify critical automations. Prioritise migrating these first and rebuild them in HubSpot’s workflow builder to prevent downtime and disruption. - Is it better to migrate in phases or all at once?
A phased approach is generally safer. Moving workflows in smaller batches helps teams identify issues early and refine configurations before scaling to the entire system. - How long does a Salesforce to HubSpot migration take?
Timelines vary by complexity. Smaller migrations may complete within 6–8 weeks, while larger enterprises with custom integrations might need 6–12 months. Planning and phased testing reduce risks and delays.
