Ten Questions to Ask Before Changing Integrator
What to ask your current provider and the candidate before switching integrator: data ownership, exit plan, parallel running, contract terms and handover.
Changing integrator is one of the more nerve-wracking decisions a multi-channel business makes. The reason is usually clear: support has slowed, a channel cannot be added, or the system stops quietly and nobody notices. The nerves come from something else: if it goes wrong, selling stops.
This piece is not here to persuade you. It is here so you ask the right questions, some of your current provider and some of the candidate. Under each question we have added what a good answer looks like, because the useful information is less in the answer itself than in how concrete it is.
Ask your current provider
1. Is my data mine? Can product matches, channel settings and order history be exported, and in what format? If the answer is "you can look at it in the panel", there is no export. A good answer names a file format and shows a sample output.
Channel settings are the part of this question most often skipped. Price rules, thresholds and the mapping of warehouses to channels accumulate over years and are usually written down nowhere; they live only in the panel. Listing them before you decide saves the weeks otherwise spent chasing settings that went missing.
2. What do the termination and notice clauses say? How much notice is required, is there automatic renewal, and how far before the renewal date must notice be given? These two clauses set your timetable. It is safer to read them in the contract than to ask the provider to summarise them.
3. What happens when I leave? How long is data retained after the account closes, and can an export be taken afterwards? If there is no clear answer, take the export before you serve any notice.
Ask the candidate
4. Can you run in parallel? This is the critical one. Can the new provider read only, writing nothing, while your current setup keeps running? If not, migration means switching everything off one day and on the next, and there is no reason to accept that risk. The method is set out in changing integrator without stopping sales.
5. Can I hand over channel by channel? Does everything move at once, or one channel and then the next? A stepwise handover limits damage to a single channel when something goes wrong. A good answer also states the order: which channel first, and why.
6. How do I roll back? What happens if you change your mind after handing a channel over? An answer of "it cannot be undone" really means the process has not been tested. Ask how many steps a rollback takes and whose approval it needs.
7. When does write access open? In a sound setup it opens on your approval, not on the day the contract is signed. It also matters that access can be opened separately per channel and per data type: orders first, then stock, prices last.
8. How will I see that the numbers agree? During parallel running, are both sides shown side by side? If not, "the migration went smoothly" is only a claim. How that period works is described in shadow mode.
9. Will I rebuild product matching? Reworking matches across thousands of products is the longest part of a migration. How much does automatic matching on SKU and barcode cover, and is there a list for the remainder? The matching logic is explained in product matching with SKU and barcode.
The same heading carries two sub-questions: is the colour and size matrix managed per variant, and if there is more than one warehouse, which total reaches the channel? Most of the differences that surface after a migration come from those two.
10. Who is responsible? If an order goes missing during the handover, who do you ask? Without a named person and a way to reach them, you join a queue when it matters most.
How to read the answers
The form of an answer carries as much information as its content. Three signals rarely mislead.
Concreteness. A good answer shows a screen, a file or a sequence of steps. "Of course we do that" on its own says nothing.
A sense of order. A provider who has done this before explains which step comes when, without being asked. An answer with no order in it suggests the process exists on paper only.
The failure case. A provider who answers "what can go wrong?" candidly has seen those cases. An answer claiming nothing can go wrong is a claim, not information.
Your own pre-migration checklist
What should be ready on your side before you decide:
- Are the termination and renewal dates in the calendar?
- Have product matches and channel settings been exported?
- Is there a list of which price rule and threshold applies on which channel?
- Have you picked quiet weeks for the parallel run?
- Is there a named owner of the migration on your side too?
- Does your promotion calendar clash with the migration timetable?
Three common mistakes
- Serving notice too early. Notice given before the parallel run begins makes you a prisoner of the calendar. Let the new system start reading first, then send the notice.
- Timing the handover for a sales event. Even when the numbers agree, a high-volume channel should be handed over in a quiet week.
- Not agreeing what moves. Order history, the matching table, channel settings: if it is not written down in advance which of them carry over, the argument arrives mid-migration.
Related terms
- Shadow mode — the trial period in which a candidate connects to the channels and only watches, writing nothing.
- Ownership flag — the system's written answer to "who is writing to this channel right now".
- Handover — write access changing hands one channel at a time rather than all at once.
The question nobody asks
All of the above reduce to one: at this moment, on this channel, who is writing?
Every accident in a migration comes from leaving that unanswered. If two systems write to the same channel at once, which stock is correct becomes unclear. In a correct setup the write owner for each channel is single and explicit, and the moment of handover is known.
When that is clear, migration is a boring procedure. When it is not, no amount of planning prevents surprises. For the step order of a migration see the integrator migration plan, and for choosing a provider 15 questions to ask an integrator.
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest risk in changing integrator?
Not that selling stops, but that stock drifts apart between two systems. If both write to a channel at the same time, which quantity is correct becomes unclear and cancellations begin. One question matters in a migration: at this moment, on this channel, who is writing?
Can I migrate before my contract ends?
Technically yes, because a new provider can run in parallel by reading only for a period. The commercial side depends on the termination and notice clauses in your contract; read those two clauses before planning anything.
Will my past orders be carried over?
Usually they do not need to be. A new system can pull historical orders from the channels, but what you actually need are product matches and channel settings. Agreeing in writing up front what will be carried prevents arguments later.
