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Industrial Automation and Motion Control Distributor

Unifying HubSpot for a Multi-Brand Industrial Group

Company name and visuals have been altered to protect client confidentiality.

Deliverables:
HubSpot Migration

Platform:
Hubspot

Jump to:      Meet the Client      |     Understanding the Problem     |     Solution     |   Results     |     Client Testimonial

Meet the Client

Client is a leading industrial automation and motion control distributor, providing advanced electrical and control solutions to manufacturers across North America.

Understanding the Problem

A specialized industrial distributor had been operating its own HubSpot environment for nearly a decade. Over the years, the portal had grown in complexity, packed with legacy fields, inconsistent data, and multiple business units and teams all using HubSpot differently.

After being acquired by a large multi-brand industrial group, the parent company wanted to unify marketing and CRM operations across all subsidiaries. The goal: one HubSpot platform, shared intelligence, cleaner data, and a scalable foundation for future growth. They partnered with Human Element to make it happen.

Challenge

  • 8+ years of historical data to clean, align, and migrate
  • Multiple business units and teams with different processes and workflows
  • Conflicting fields, naming conventions, and list logic
  • Cross-business unit segmentation that needed to work inside a single HubSpot instance
  • Third-party integrations that had to be reconfigured without downtime
  • A company-wide team of marketers who needed continued access throughout the transition

The parent company needed more than a data transfer—they needed a smarter, unified system.

Solution

1. Deep Discovery Across Both Organizations

Human Element interviewed teams from both the distributor and the parent company to understand:

  • Current HubSpot usage
  • Feature adoption
  • Data structures
  • Workflows and lists
  • Permissions and visibility needs

This clarity shaped the foundation for all migration decisions.

2. Strategic Cleanup & Data Mapping

Before any migration could begin, we collaborated with the client to:

  • Remove outdated or irrelevant data
  • Standardize field types
  • Create new custom fields where shared names conflicted
  • Tag contacts and companies by business unit
  • Rebuild lists and filters for a multi-brand environment

This ensured the data would “make sense” in the new unified system.

3. A Detailed, Zero-Surprise Migration Plan

Human Element mapped out a step-by-step launch plan, including:

  • What would migrate via a third-party automated tool
  • What required manual import
  • What needed to happen pre-launch, during migration, and immediately after
  • How to manage permissions and user roles across the various business units in the unified HubSpot instance

Every detail was documented—timelines, responsibilities, verification steps, and backup plans.

Launch Weekend

On launch day:

  • The distributor’s HubSpot was temporarily set to view-only
  • The migration tool kicked off and ran overnight
  • The team performed live QA in real time
  • Four third-party integrations were reconfigured in the new instance
  • Any issues were resolved collaboratively on Zoom

By Monday morning, the unified HubSpot was up and running.

What We Delivered

A Single HubSpot Ecosystem​

All business units now operate inside one CRM with clearly segmented data and consistent processes.

 

CLEANER, SMARTER DATA

Nearly a decade of disparate information was cleaned, standardized, and mapped for long-term usability.

Cross-Brand Workflows

We built new HubSpot workflows to:

  • Maintain cleaner email lists
  • Handle invalid email logic
  • Automatically maintain marketing contact statuses
 
Improved User Structure

We created a multi-team hierarchy to support visibility rules, brand separation, and shared reporting.

Training & Adoption Support

Teams received hands-on training to adapt to:

  • New filtering strategies
  • Updated workflows
  • Business-unit level segmentation

A Foundation for Future Growth

The unified HubSpot ecosystem isn’t just a streamlined version of what existed before—it’s a foundation for long-term growth across every business unit in the organization. With a shared, structured, and scalable platform, the company is now positioned to:

1. Onboard New Brands Seamlessly

A standardized data model, unified workflows, and a multi-team structure make it easy to bring additional business units into HubSpot with consistency and confidence.

2. Build Stronger Cross-Brand Visibility

With all customer and marketing activity housed in one place, teams can now uncover shared opportunities, coordinate outreach, and eliminate duplicate efforts.

3. Scale Automation Across the Enterprise

Centralized logic—like marketing contact management and email validation—can now support every brand, enabling more efficient, organization-wide automation.

4. Improve Segmentation & Personalization

Business-unit tagging and cleaner data enable more targeted campaigns, clearer reporting, and more relevant customer journeys across different divisions.

5. Strengthen Governance & User Management

A refined permissions and team structure creates repeatable onboarding, better oversight, and smoother adoption for future users and departments.

6. Confidently Integrate New Tools & Processes

With the ecosystem standardized, the organization can expand integrations, adopt advanced HubSpot features, and evolve marketing operations without destabilizing the system.

Results

  • ~300 hours of work completed on time and under budget
  • Smooth migration with minimal downtime
  • Positive early feedback from both organizations
  • Increased clarity in reporting and campaign execution
  • A long-term path to onboard more brands into HubSpot

This project didn’t just consolidate two systems—it established a unified marketing and CRM foundation for an entire industrial family of brands.