Just think about it: How many times have you had to delay adding a new feature or flow due to issues with Data Loader or change sets? These tools might be free, but they’re also labor intensive, error prone, and time consuming. So if you want to use them for a time-sensitive project, you’ll need to add headcount to meet your deadline. 

Of course, developers are known for their ingenuity, and many write their own scripts for promoting data through the release chain. This can certainly save them hours on an individual data migration project. 

But the time investment needed to initially write the script and subsequently maintain it can be considerable—and take them away from their core work. Not to mention, every script is unique. That can create problems when syncing all the changes in a shared sandbox, leading to hours of troubleshooting. Is this really the best use of developers’ time?

Alternatively, you can use a Full Copy sandbox to recreate your production org. However, that’s often cost prohibitive. Plus, a Full Copy sandbox doesn’t refresh frequently enough to be an actual reproduction of your production environment. The resulting data degradation can even have a negative effect on the project.

The final option is to outsource your projects—but that’s expensive. Moreover, contractors don’t have the knowledge of your business that your own team has. This can result in errors and delays. On top of that, if you need to change or fix something after the contractor has delivered the work, it can rack up additional costs.