Migrate from MARS to Zoho CRM

Discovery and scoping

We audit the MARS export across primary objects (Contacts, Companies, Deals), engagement history volume (calls, emails, meetings, tasks, notes), custom field count and types, pipeline and stage structures, owner assignment patterns, and any custom object definitions. We pair this with a Zoho CRM edition assessment: Standard ($14/user) covers basic migrations; Professional ($23/user) is required if the migration involves lookup fields, formula fields, or advanced automation; Enterprise ($40/user) if multi-divisional territory management, advanced AI (Zia), or extensive Blueprint workflows are planned. The discovery output is a written migration scope document with record counts per object and a Zoho edition recommendation.

Schema design and field mapping

We design the destination Zoho CRM schema during scoping. This includes provisioning custom fields (matching MARS field types to valid Zoho field types), creating pipeline and stage structures that mirror MARS deal stages, setting up any required custom modules with lookup relationships, and configuring page layouts per module. We produce a field mapping spreadsheet that maps every MARS field to its Zoho equivalent with type, format, and notes columns. The schema is validated in a Zoho staging environment before production migration begins.

Data export and quality cleansing

We extract data from MARS using the platform's available export mechanism (CSV, API, or backup file depending on what MARS exposes). The export is staged and audited for record counts per object. We run a data quality analysis that identifies duplicates (by email and company name), incomplete records (missing required Zoho fields), and format inconsistencies. A cleansing report is delivered to the customer for review and action before import begins.

Owner and lookup reconciliation

We extract every distinct MARS Owner referenced on Contacts, Companies, Deals, and Activity records and match by email against the Zoho CRM User table. Owners without a matching Zoho User go to a reconciliation queue. The customer's Zoho admin provisions any missing Users before record import resumes. Lookup references (e.g., Contact to Account, Activity to Contact) are resolved in dependency order: Accounts first, then Contacts with AccountId, then Deals with AccountId and OwnerId, then Activities with parent record references.

Production migration in dependency order

We run production migration in record-dependency order: Accounts (from MARS Companies), Contacts (with Account lookup resolved), Potentially to Deals (with stage and owner resolved), then Activity history (Tasks, Events via Zoho API with chunking and rate-limit handling). Each phase emits a row-count reconciliation report comparing MARS source record count to Zoho destination record count. Discrepancies above the tolerance threshold trigger a re-extraction and re-import for the affected object before the next phase begins.

Cutover, validation, and automation handoff

We freeze MARS writes during cutover, run a final delta migration of any records modified during the migration window, then enable Zoho CRM as the system of record. We validate a random sample of migrated records against the MARS source (minimum 25 records per object type) and deliver a migration summary report. We deliver the Workflow and Automation inventory document to the customer's admin team. We support a one-week hypercare window for reconciliation issues. Workflows and automations are not rebuilt as part of the migration scope.