Migrate from ContactWise CRM to Zoho CRM

ContactWise Contact records map directly to Zoho CRM Contacts. Standard fields (First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, Address) map field-to-field. Custom properties on Contact require pre-creation as Zoho custom fields before import; multi-select picklists in ContactWise may need transformation to comma-separated strings or multi-select picklists in Zoho based on the destination field type. We identify every custom property during scoping, create matching fields in Zoho at the Standard tier or above, and apply value transformations where data types differ.

ContactWise Lead records map to Zoho CRM Leads. Lead status, source attribution, and any scoring values migrate to corresponding Zoho Lead fields. If the customer's ContactWise instance uses Leads as a distinct pipeline stage rather than a separate object, we map them directly to Zoho Leads and apply any status normalization during the transform phase.

ContactWise Company records map directly to Zoho CRM Accounts. The company name becomes the Account Name, domain information migrates to Website, and industry classifications map to the Account Industry picklist where values correspond. Owner assignment resolves by email match against Zoho User records, with unresolved owners held in a reconciliation queue.

ContactWise Opportunity records map to Zoho CRM Deals. Deal Name, Amount, Stage, Expected Close Date, and Owner assignment migrate directly. Pipeline stage mapping is handled via a stage mapping table we create during scoping, which maps ContactWise stage names to Zoho Stage values in the relevant Pipeline. Closed-Lost and Closed-Won reasons from ContactWise custom properties become Zoho Loss Reason and Won Reason fields.

ContactWise pipeline stage definitions are documented during discovery and recreated as Zoho CRM Pipelines with matching Stage values. Probability percentages map from ContactWise to Zoho Stage Probability fields. We configure the Pipeline and Stage structure in Zoho before any Deal import begins so that stage validation does not reject records on insert.

ContactWise Service Desk Tickets map to Zoho CRM Cases, but the field schema differs substantially. We perform explicit field-level mapping for every ticket attribute (status, priority, origin, requester, subject, description, resolution) during scoping. Ticket-to-contact associations are preserved using reference IDs that we resolve at migration time. If ContactWise tickets have custom fields, those require pre-creation as Zoho Case custom fields before the Case import runs. This mapping is validated in a test migration before the production import.

ContactWise Time Entries linked to Contacts, Tickets, or Projects are exported with their association metadata. Because Zoho CRM does not have a native time-tracking object at the Standard tier, we map time entries to Zoho Tasks or Events with the duration preserved in custom fields or the Notes field. The association to the parent Contact or Case is preserved via the WhatId lookup. If the customer uses Zoho Projects, we can map to Zoho Tasks under the associated Project instead.

Documents and attachments associated with Contacts, Opportunities, or Tickets in ContactWise are exported to cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, or AWS S3 as the customer specifies) during the migration phase. We create link records in Zoho CRM referencing the file URLs. For attachments that can be exported as files, we migrate them as Zoho CRM Attachments linked to the parent record. This requires careful handling of file size limits and file type restrictions in Zoho.

ContactWise Workflow definitions store automation logic (triggers, conditions, actions) as platform configuration rather than data records. They cannot be exported and replayed directly in Zoho CRM. We document every active workflow during discovery, including trigger types (time-based reminders, field-change triggers, action types), conditions, and downstream actions. This inventory is delivered to the customer as a written specification for manual rebuild in Zoho Workflow Rules (for trigger-based automations) or Blueprint (for multi-step process orchestration). Time-based reminders that have no direct Zoho equivalent are flagged explicitly.

ContactWise Owner records map to Zoho CRM Users. We resolve owners by email match against the Zoho destination User table. Any ContactWise Owner without a matching Zoho User is held in a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record import resumes. Inactive ContactWise owners map to Zoho inactive Users, preserving the assignment history without creating active user licenses.