Every lender’s business is unique. Products vary, data volumes can be massive, and old systems are rarely a neat fit with new platforms.

A lending migration means data creation, manipulation, and manufacturing; mapping it into new formats, reconciling edge cases, and ensuring your business processes still deliver on the customer promise. The technical and operational implications touch everything from customer communications to reporting and regulatory compliance.

Migration should never be viewed as a simple “lift and shift” project. Transformation is critical. For example, when source data fields didn’t fit the new database, the solution was to use configurable attributes for overflow. Retrieving data in a way that keeps communications accurate while minimising changes or costs is vital. Code and queries need to support business logic, not just mirror old structures. Early resolution of legacy quirks prevents downstream disruption.

Legacy data nearly always contains unexpected issues or anomalies. Most migration effort is spent cleaning and validating records. Using the most recent production data in test environments is best, as clean test data rarely reflects reality. Build in time for hands-on review and data remediation.

While working with external partners can appeal from a cost perspective, in practice, when the platform provider’s migration team with deep database and system knowledge owns the mapping, transformation, and validation, it is faster and more effective.

Migrated data must fit new system parameters, which may change as requirements evolve. Early collaboration between migration, engineering, and product teams keeps system rules and data relationships aligned, ensuring go-live readiness.

Testing must reflect how the business will operate post-migration. Activities carried out daily by users and customers require specific validation by the same teams who’ll operate the system. Forming a cross-functional test team ensures workflows – rather than just scripts – are properly assessed.

Migration requires dedicated focus. Client teams cannot balance complex migration tasks alongside normal roles. Plan for full-time resources, prioritise migration work internally, and recognise robust migrations generally require more time and planning than expected.

Delays around security and production environment approvals, like penetration tests or GDPR checks, can stall go-live. Build these into the timeline early and keep all stakeholders aware of what’s required.

Strong technical ownership, early collaboration, business-fit configuration, meaningful testing, and a focus on data quality are central to successful migrations. Though complex, with proper preparation and experience, migrations can deliver operational and compliance improvements businesses need.