Planning a Redtail to Salesforce Migration? Read This First!
If your financial services firm is ready to upgrade its CRM, moving from Redtail to Salesforce can deliver game-changing functionality and long-term growth. But without the right migration plan, the process can quickly become expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating. At Navirum, we specialize in Salesforce consulting for financial firms – helping you design your CRM, manage secure data migration, train users, and provide ongoing support. Our goal is to make your Redtail to Salesforce migration seamless while setting you up for scalable success.
Listen To These Migration Tips:
Discover 4 Helpful Tips for Migrating from Redtail to Salesforce
At Navirum, we’ve helped thousands of wealth management and financial advisory firms successfully migrate to the cloud. Redtail to Salesforce is one of the most common. Many firms start by asking: Salesforce vs. Redtail – what’s the difference? Others want to know how Redtail CRM stacks up against Salesforce, or more specifically, how Redtail compares with Salesforce Financial Services Cloud (FSC). Based on our experience across these migrations, here are four critical tips to make your transition smooth, secure, and aligned with your business goals.
Tip #1 – Start by Defining Clear Business Goals
Before moving any data or configuring a single feature, ask: What do we want to achieve with Salesforce?
Whether you’re in wealth management, insurance, private equity, or banking, your migration should support specific, measurable business objectives. Common goals include:
- Improving client experience through personalization
- Enabling better cross-selling and upselling
- Streamlining compliance tracking
- Automating routine tasks
🎯 Action Step: Identify 2–3 key outcomes and use them to guide your entire Salesforce setup and customization.
What is Salesforce??
Tip #2 – Design a High-Impact Salesforce Solution
Once your goals are clear, the next step is designing the right solution architecture.
This means understanding how your team works – and building Salesforce to support those workflows. Focus on:
- Map your key business processes – from onboarding, compliance, and reviews, to other workflows critical to your operations.
- Design the ideal data model that supports growth, scalability, and compliance.
- Plan for post-go-live success with a strong support and training strategy to keep your team confident and productive.
- Identify and integrate with leading platforms such as eMoney, MoneyGuidePro, Schwab, Fidelity, and Pershing.
- Leverage the right tools across your business – from PandaDoc for digital documents, to process and SOP documentation platforms like Process Street, to project management systems such as ClickUp, and digital marketing solutions like Dealfront and Brevo. The possibilities are endless.
📌 Tip: Don’t overbuild. Focus on high-ROI features that support your firm’s growth, not every possible tool Salesforce offers.
What is Service Cloud?
Tip #3 – Define and Simplify Technical Requirements
One of the biggest mistakes firms make during migration is trying to replicate everything from Redtail into Salesforce. This leads to complexity, bloat, and poor adoption.
Instead, focus on what adds value in Salesforce.
Here’s how:
- Create a target data model in Salesforce before migrating anything
- Map Redtail fields and workflows to Salesforce equivalents [See sample right below!]
- Eliminate outdated, unused, or redundant data
- Decide which legacy data (e.g., activity history, notes) truly needs to be transferred
💡 Pro Tip: Less is more. A leaner setup is easier to use, faster to train, and more efficient to maintain.
Tip #4 – Work with a Certified Salesforce Financial Services Partner
Migrating to Salesforce isn’t just a tech project – it’s a business transformation. And that’s where expert help makes all the difference.
A certified Salesforce partner like Navirum with financial services experience can:
- Customize Salesforce Financial Services Cloud for your unique needs
- Guide your data migration strategy and avoid common pitfalls
- Train your team on best practices and maximize adoption
- Ensure full regulatory, compliance, and security alignment
At Navirum, we help firms take full advantage of Salesforce’s ecosystem, including:
Together, these tools can help you:
- Replace manual tasks with automated workflows
- Centralize data across systems
- Improve audit readiness and compliance
- Eliminate paperwork and duplication
- Offer secure, cloud-based client services
Why Salesforce Is a Smart Move for Financial Firms
Salesforce isn’t just a CRM – it’s a complete platform for business growth. It offers:
- Best-in-class security and compliance infrastructure
- Seamless integration with third-party apps
- Flexible customization for any business model
- Three automatic platform upgrades per year
- Scalable architecture for firms of all sizes
When properly implemented, Salesforce becomes your firm’s digital backbone.
Need Help Migrating from Redtail to Salesforce?
Redtail to Salesforce Migration – FAQs
1. Can we export our data from Redtail and import it into Salesforce?
Yes. You can move client data from Redtail CRM to Salesforce without losing history. Redtail provides export options for contacts, accounts, and activities, which can then be imported into Salesforce.
2. Can we include historical data in the migration?
Yes. You can move client data from Redtail CRM to Salesforce without losing history. Redtail provides export options for contacts, accounts, and activities, which can then be imported into Salesforce.
3. Redtail to Salesforce migration – what challenges should I expect?
The most common Redtail to Salesforce migration challenges include:
Customization: Some Redtail data requires creating custom objects or fields in Salesforce.
- Data model differences: Objects and fields in Redtail don’t always align with Salesforce.
- Manual mapping: Field names and data types often require careful mapping.
- Customization: Some Redtail data requires creating custom objects or fields in Salesforce.
4. Is Redtail to Salesforce migration common?
Yes. Many wealth and advisory firms are moving from Redtail to Salesforce to access:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) for productivity and client insights.
- Financial Services Cloud (FSC) with three wealth-focused releases per year.
- Integration flexibility with custodians, PMS platforms, financial planning tools, marketing, and compliance systems.
How should we approach the data migration?
A Redtail to Salesforce migration is best approached in terms of value vs. investment:
- Avoid spending the entire project budget solely on data migration.
- Focus on the data that drives daily productivity.
- Archive and back up less-critical Redtail data for compliance and security.
6. How long does the migration take?
On average, migrations take 6 – 12 weeks, depending on:
- The training and change management scope.
- The volume of Redtail data.
- The customizations required.
7. How much does the migration cost?
Budgets vary, but we usually recommend allocating 5–10% of your overall Salesforce project budget to migration and data readiness.
8. How should we prepare our team?
- Training: Use Salesforce Trailhead, especially FSC modules.
- Change management: Help staff understand the value of moving beyond Redtail.
- Internal champions: Identify at least one team member to lead adoption.
9. What happens after go-live?
Migration is just the start of your Salesforce journey. Ongoing support is critical to:
- Drive adoption and maximize ROI.
- Build confidence in Salesforce.
- Prevent users from reverting to Redtail.
10. Will we lose access to Redtail after migrating?
Yes. Once you’ve moved client data from Redtail CRM to Salesforce, Redtail access is usually phased out. That’s why secure backups and adoption training are key.
11. What about integrations with other systems like Orion, Black Diamond, or eMoney?
Salesforce offers a far broader integration ecosystem than Redtail. For wealth firms, this includes:
- Other systems: Custodians, compliance platforms, and marketing tools.
- Portfolio management systems (PMS): Croesus, D1G1T, NDEX, Orion, Black Diamond.
- Financial planning tools: eMoney and others can integrate seamlessly with Salesforce.
This flexibility is one of the biggest reasons firms choose Salesforce over Redtail.
12. Why choose Salesforce over Redtail?
- AI & automation that Redtail doesn’t offer.
- Financial Services Cloud tailored to wealth management, with 3 releases per year.
- Integration flexibility with Orion (see), Black Diamond, eMoney, custodians, and beyond.
- Scalability for firms managing hundreds of millions to billions in AUM.
13. Can I integrate Orion with Salesforce
Nearly always asked. Yes you can see here for more details
