How to migrate from Dialpad: replace gaps in data, routing and CRM

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A support manager schedules the Dialpad cutover for a Friday afternoon. By Monday morning, three things were wrong: the IVR is routing inbound calls to the wrong queue, the HubSpot integration is logging calls but not outcomes, and two phone numbers that were supposed to port over the weekend are still sitting with Dialpad. The new platform is live. The old one is canceled. And the team is handling live calls in a system that is not fully configured.

This is what happens when a migration is treated as a provider switch rather than a structured operational transition. Knowing how to migrate from Dialpad correctly is about sequencing, not speed. Aircall replaces legacy phone systems with cloud-native AI business calling where CRM integration is native, routing is configurable from a single interface, and every call generates a complete CRM record from day one.

Key takeaways

• Migrating from Dialpad is a technical and operational transition, number porting, CRM reconnection, and IVR rebuild must all be sequenced correctly

• Do not cancel Dialpad until every number is confirmed ported and live on the new platform

• CRM integration must be validated on live call traffic before full cutover, not just in a test environment

• Teams that migrate to a CRM-native platform gain call data completeness that Dialpad's dashboard-first architecture does not provide by default

What does it mean to migrate from Dialpad?

Migrating from Dialpad means transitioning from a UCaaS-based communication platform to a new cloud phone system, covering number porting, CRM integration reconfiguration, call routing and IVR rebuild, AI feature replacement, and team cutover. The process affects both the technical infrastructure and the live operational workflows that sales and support teams depend on daily.

The technical side includes exporting call recordings and AI transcripts before closing the Dialpad account, submitting porting requests with the right documentation, configuring CRM integrations in the new platform, and rebuilding call routing rules and IVR menus. The operational side covers how the team's workflows, habits, and reporting dependencies shift when the platform changes, things like how reps log calls, where managers find performance data, and how inbound calls reach the right agent.

Both dimensions need to be planned before the migration starts. Teams that treat migration as purely technical, configure the new system, cancel the old one, are the ones who discover gaps in routing logic and CRM data completeness on live traffic rather than in testing.

Why teams decide to switch from Dialpad

Teams switch from Dialpad when the operational gaps in how call data reaches their CRM, and how call routing scales with team growth, become more costly to manage than the migration itself.

For outbound sales teams, the pattern is consistent. A RevOps leader tries to build a call performance report in Salesforce. Call volume is logged, but outcome data, talk time, and AI summaries are in Dialpad. Getting everything into one place requires a manual export and reconciliation every week. When the team is making hundreds of calls daily, that process stops scaling.

Inbound support operations hit a different ceiling. A support manager expands the team from 10 to 25 agents. The Dialpad IVR routing rules require manual reconfiguration for every new queue and skill group. Each restructure creates a backlog of routing changes, and during that window, calls are going to the wrong teams.

A sales director reviews deal health in HubSpot. Call activity is logged, but without outcome context, the CRM shows that calls happened without showing what was said, what was agreed, or what follows next. For teams where choosing a business phone system that integrates natively with their CRM is the primary requirement, this is the point where the migration decision gets made.

The decision to migrate is rarely about a single feature. It is about the accumulated cost of maintaining a UCaaS platform whose architecture was not designed for the depth of CRM connectivity and workflow automation that customer-facing teams require at scale. If you have already been through that evaluation, the Dialpad alternatives guide covers the platform comparison in detail.

What to do before you start migrating from Dialpad

Pre-migration preparation is what separates a clean cutover from a chaotic one. Everything that needs to move, be rebuilt, or be preserved must be documented before a single configuration change is made on either platform.

For IT and operations teams managing the migration, the audit stage is where most of the downstream configuration quality is determined. Skipping it is the most common reason migrations introduce problems that only surface on live traffic.

• All phone numbers on the Dialpad account: local, toll-free, and any numbers used as IVR entry points

• All CRM integration configurations: which fields sync from Dialpad to your CRM, what maps correctly, and what requires manual entry

• All call routing rules and IVR menus: document the full logic tree including business hours routing, after-hours behavior, queue assignments, and overflow rules

• All call recordings and AI transcripts you need to retain: these must be exported before the Dialpad account is closed

• All user accounts, roles, and permission configurations

Understanding what CRM phone integration delivers by default, automatic call logging, real-time screen pops, synchronized outcome tags, makes the audit more specific. You are not just documenting what Dialpad currently does; you are mapping what the new platform needs to do from the first live call.

Step-by-step: how to migrate from Dialpad

A Dialpad migration follows a fixed sequence, auditing first, building second, porting third, testing fourth, and cutting over last. Skipping or reordering steps is where most migrations introduce preventable disruption.

1. Audit all Dialpad numbers, users, routing rules, and CRM integration configurations

2. Export all call recordings, AI transcripts, and call history you need to retain

3. Select the new platform and configure CRM integration before porting any numbers

4. Rebuild call routing, IVR menus, and workflow automations in the new platform

5. Submit number porting requests with LOA and recent Dialpad bill, do not cancel Dialpad yet

6. Run a parallel pilot with a subset of users on the new platform while Dialpad remains active

7. Validate CRM data flow on live calls, confirm outcome logging, not just call logging

8. Complete full cutover once porting is confirmed and pilot validation is passed

9. Train all teams on new call workflows and confirm Dialpad account closure

The order of steps 3 and 5 is deliberate. CRM integration must be configured and validated before number porting starts, not alongside it. Teams that port numbers before the CRM integration are working correctly to discover the gap on live traffic, where every call that lands is generating an incomplete record.

IVR or Interactive Voice Response, is a telephony technology that presents callers with pre-recorded menus and routes calls based on keypad input or spoken commands. IVR systems direct callers to the appropriate team, queue, or self-service option without requiring a live agent to manage each incoming call manually.

Step 6, the parallel pilot, is the most important risk mitigation in the process. Run a subset of real users on the new platform while Dialpad stays active, using live call traffic rather than test scenarios. This is where routing misconfigurations, CRM field mapping gaps, and IVR logic errors surface before they affect the whole team.

Number porting from Dialpad: what you need and how long it takes

Porting your numbers away from Dialpad requires a signed Letter of Authorization, a recent Dialpad bill showing the numbers you want to port, and your Dialpad account number. The FCC rules on number portability require Dialpad to process a valid porting request; they cannot block or delay it, even if an outstanding balance exists.

Letter of Authorization (LOA), a signed legal document from the account holder that authorizes the transfer of specific phone numbers from one service provider to another. The LOA must include the exact numbers to be ported, the account holder's name and signature, the account number, and the service address as it appears on the current provider's records.

• A signed LOA from the account holder, your new provider will supply the form

• A recent Dialpad invoice showing the exact numbers to be ported, the account name, and the service address

• Your Dialpad account number, found in account settings or on your invoice

The FCC's VoIP consumer guide confirms that interconnected VoIP providers like Dialpad are subject to number portability requirements. For timeline expectations: simple ports for single lines typically complete within one business day under FCC rules; complex ports covering multiple lines, toll-free numbers, or numbers tied to Dialpad IVR entry points typically take three to ten business days.

Do not cancel Dialpad until every number has been confirmed ported and is receiving calls on the new platform. This is the single most common cause of coverage gaps in phone system migrations, and it is entirely preventable by maintaining both platforms in parallel until porting is fully confirmed.

Number porting, the process of transferring existing phone numbers from one service provider to another, preserving the same numbers your customers already use to reach your business, without requiring them to update their records or contact details, requires documentation, carrier coordination, and defined lead time before the transfer completes.

How CRM-connected platforms change what teams can do after migrating from Dialpad

Moving from Dialpad to a CRM-native platform changes the default state of every call, from a data point that exists in Dialpad's dashboard to a structured CRM record that managers and reps can act on without switching tools or running weekly exports.

CRM integration, the connection between a communication platform and a Customer Relationship Management system like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zendesk, enables call data, outcomes, and follow-up actions to sync automatically with customer records, eliminating manual logging and giving managers real-time visibility into team activity. Understanding phone system API integrations makes clear why native integration, where the CRM connection is built into the platform rather than managed through a third-party connector, is what makes call data reliable at scale.

A sales rep ends a call on the new platform. The outcome, talk time, and AI call summary are logged to the HubSpot deal record before the rep picks up the next call, with no manual entry required. A support manager pulls the Monday morning Zendesk report. Resolution times, escalation rates, and first call resolution data are sourced from call records that are updated in real time, not assembled from a Dialpad export. A RevOps leader reviews the pipeline. Every deal shows its last call outcome and next scheduled action directly in Salesforce, without reconciling two data sources.

Call routing, the automated process of directing inbound calls to the right agent, queue, or team based on configurable rules including skill, availability, language, or live CRM data, becomes a different capability when connected to live customer records. A caller with an open support ticket is routed to the agent who last handled it. A high-value account is connected to their assigned owner. These are standard configurations in a CRM-native platform, not advanced setup requirements.

Workflow automation, the use of rule-based triggers to automatically initiate actions based on call events, such as logging outcomes, creating follow-up tasks, sending notifications, or updating CRM records, is what determines whether the platform change actually improves how the team operates or just changes which system they manually update.

Puls, a home services platform, made the shift to Aircall and found the native, centralized approach immediately valuable. Stephen Monarch, Director of Operations, noted: "The fact that it was all in one place is something I was really happy about." That consolidation, call data, CRM records, and performance insights in a single connected system rather than spread across a phone platform and a separate analytics dashboard, is what the operational state teams arrive at when they migrate from Dialpad to a CRM-native alternative. Read the full story on the Puls customer page.

Common migration challenges when leaving Dialpad, and how to avoid them

Most Dialpad migrations that go wrong follow the same pattern: the new platform is configured, the old one is canceled, and the gaps, in routing, CRM data, or number coverage, are discovered on live traffic rather than in testing.

The IVR misconfiguration scenario is worth expanding. Teams that rebuilt their Dialpad IVR from memory, rather than from a documented logic tree, often miss edge cases: after-hours overflow rules, holiday routing, or the behavior when a queue is full. Those gaps only appear when real calls hit them. Document the full IVR logic before touching the new platform's configuration.

Getting started: the platform that replaces the gaps Dialpad leaves

For teams that have completed the pre-migration audit and are ready to build in a new environment, Aircall's configuration follows the migration sequence: CRM integration first, call routing and IVR second, then number porting once the platform is validated on pilot traffic.

Aircall's 250+ native integrations cover Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, and more, with automatic logging, outcome tagging, and follow-up task creation working across each by default. For teams rebuilding a conversational CRM workflow from scratch, that native integration is the foundation everything else sits on.

Aircall AI call intelligence features covers how AI call summaries, sentiment analysis, and call scoring surface in CRM records and manager dashboards, rather than in a separate Aircall-only view. Teams coming from Dialpad will recognize the transcription and coaching features; the difference is where those insights land.

The Aircall platform overview for sales and support teams shows the full call workflow from first ring through routing, handling, CRM logging, and coaching dashboard as a single connected system. Deployment is fast, most teams configure and validate CRM integration within days, not weeks. See pricing plans for what is included at each tier.

Data handling and compliance during the migration window

Migrating from Dialpad involves transferring or closing access to customer call data, call recordings, AI transcripts, and CRM-linked interaction records. Data handling obligations do not pause during a provider transition.

The first priority is export. Confirm what Dialpad retains after account closure and for how long, then export everything you are required to keep before the account is closed. Dialpad does not transfer call recordings to a new provider automatically, if the recordings exist only in Dialpad's platform and the account is closed before export, those records are gone.

The ICO's cloud computing guidance for organizations is a useful reference for teams managing data obligations during a cloud provider switch. It covers what businesses must manage when moving between cloud providers, including data retention and deletion policies, access control obligations, and what to verify about a new provider's data handling before switching. Teams operating under GDPR should review this guidance before the migration window opens.

For Aircall security and data handling standards, Aircall maintains certifications and data handling practices aligned with enterprise requirements. Validate these against your specific compliance obligations before moving live call traffic, not after the first month of calls is already in the system.

Do not close your Dialpad account until you have confirmed all call recordings that must be retained have been exported, your new platform's data handling practices meet your requirements, and all CRM integrations are logging correctly on live traffic.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to migrate from Dialpad?

Migration from Dialpad typically takes one to four weeks depending on the number of users, how many phone numbers need to be ported, and the complexity of existing CRM integrations and call routing configurations. Running a pilot group first before full cutover can reduce this timeline significantly.

Can you keep your phone numbers when switching from Dialpad?

Yes. FCC rules require Dialpad to release your numbers when you submit a valid porting request to your new provider. You will need a recent Dialpad bill, your account number, and a signed Letter of Authorization to initiate the process.

What should you do before migrating from Dialpad?

Audit all phone numbers, users, call routing rules, IVR menus, and CRM integrations before starting. Export call recordings and transcripts you need to retain. Do not cancel Dialpad service until number porting is confirmed complete and the new platform is live and tested.

What are the risks when switching from Dialpad?

The main risks are number porting gaps if Dialpad is canceled too early, CRM integration failures if not validated before cutover, and routing misconfigurations that misdirect live calls. All three are avoidable with a staged migration and a parallel running period before full cutover.

What is the best platform to migrate to from Dialpad?

For teams that need CRM data to flow into Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zendesk automatically after every call, the best migration destination is a platform where CRM integration is native, not configured via a third-party connector that requires ongoing maintenance.

What we are

Migration complete: what your team should look like on the other side

A successful Dialpad migration is not measured by the day the new platform goes live. It is measured by whether the team is operating better three weeks later than they were three weeks before. That means call routing that handles real traffic without misconfigurations, CRM records that reflect every call outcome without manual logging, and managers who can see what is happening across the team without switching platforms.

A completed migration delivers three things: every phone number ported and confirmed active on the new platform, with Dialpad fully closed; CRM integration validated on live traffic with outcome data, talk time, and follow-up tasks all updating automatically; and call routing and IVR logic rebuilt and tested on real call scenarios, not just in a sandbox.

The teams that get this right use the migration as an opportunity to fix what Dialpad was not giving them. Complete CRM records. Scalable routing. Call data that lives in the tools the business already uses to make decisions.

Aircall is built for teams arriving at this operational standard. For teams ready to start building before the Dialpad cutover, reviewing how Aircall handles CRM integration and call data sync is the right starting point.

Published on June 25, 2026.