Hi Freshworks Community!
Your help desk migration has a blind spot. Every ticket is updated as the data transfers.
Businesses lost $3 billion globally in 2025 from poor customer experiences. A migration that drops active tickets contributes directly to that number.
The standard approach: freeze ticket activity, move the data, resume work. Tickets still arrive during that window. Agents can't respond. A backlog forms fast, and when migration finishes, updates get missed, conversations get crossed, and SLAs break.
Delta migration solves this. It captures every ticket created or updated after your full data migration began, and transfers them to the target system. Your team keeps working on the source the entire time.
Why Delta migration matters for live support teams
It's the right fit when:
- Ticket volume is high — even a short freeze creates a backlog
- Your team spans time zones — there's no clean window to pause global support
- SLA commitments are strict — paused activity triggers escalations fast
- Migration falls during a busy period — launches, campaigns, seasonal spikes
How to run Delta migration — step by step
Step 1 — Run the Full Data Migration.
This moves your existing ticket history to Freshservice/Freshdesk or your target help desk. The moment it starts, the system records a timestamp.
Step 2 — Delta migration identifies what changed.
Every ticket created or updated after that timestamp is flagged. If the full migration was restarted due to a configuration change or connection issue, the system uses the most recent restart time, rather than the original start time, as the new reference point.
Step 3 — Full ticket context transfers with each record.
Conversations, replies, attachments, and metadata move alongside the ticket. Agents see complete history in the target system, not partial records.
Step 4 — Updated tickets get replaced, not duplicated.
If a ticket already exists in the target and was updated in the source during migration, Delta migration overwrites the outdated version with the latest one. One record. No duplicates.
Step 5 — New and updated tickets land in the target.
By the time your team switches over, the target system reflects the current state of your support queue.
One thing to confirm before running it: if agents have already started updating tickets in the target system, a migration specialist reviews that step first to avoid overwriting those changes.
Delta migration is part of Help Desk Migration — the same tool used to run your Full Migration. A free demo is available to validate results before you commit to the full move.
Have you tried Delta migration during a Freshdesk/Freshservice migration? How did you handle live ticket updates during the switch?
