The Problem with ‘Lift-and-Shift’ Cloud Migrations (and What to Do Instead)

Cloud adoption continues to rise across every industry, but not all migrations deliver on their promise. According to McKinsey and Co, cloud migration missteps are expected to cost businesses over £75 billion globally across a three-year period. In addition to this, more than 60% of cloud migration projects end up costing more than expected, with many failing to deliver performance or flexibility gains. The most common reason? A lift-and-shift approach.

Moving existing systems into the cloud without rethinking how they affect the wider business operations may seem like a quick win. But in reality, it often brings legacy problems into a new environment, increases costs and makes future optimisation harder. Here’s why the lift-and-shift method falls short and what smart businesses are doing instead.

What Is a ‘Lift-and-Shift’ Migration?

A lift-and-shift migration involves moving applications and data from on-premise systems to the cloud without making any major changes to its architecture. It’s fast and requires less upfront planning, but it also ignores how cloud environments work best.

This approach often involves replicating virtual machines directly into the cloud, keeping the same architecture, same workflows and same inefficiencies. While everything may look familiar post-migration, the business doesn’t gain the full benefit of cloud agility or scalability.

Why It’s a Problem for Long-Term Efficiency

Many cloud migration projects bring “bubble costs” (temporary duplicate infrastructure), unexpected system integrator fees and delays. This typically results in:

• Overprovisioned resources and wasted spend
• Poor scalability and performance issues
• Missed opportunities to automate or streamline
• More complex cloud management down the line

In many cases, businesses end up paying more than they were when using on-premise systems, without any measurable gains in efficiency or flexibility – and because workloads haven’t been rearchitected, they may still rely on outdated dependencies or tightly coupled systems that limit innovation. As Tony Sherwin, Head of IT at Retail Assist, explains:

“Lift-and-shift migrations often create the appearance of quick progress but rarely deliver real business outcomes. In practice, they relocate existing bottlenecks into the cloud, where inefficiencies quickly translate into higher costs and slower performance.”

Also read: Planning a Cloud Migration? Don’t Forget These 5 Post-Migration Pitfalls

What to Do Instead: Take a Cloud-Smart Approach

High-performing businesses lay out an end-to-end strategy up front and prioritise value creation, not just cloud consumption. They invest early in cloud-native skills and security frameworks before migration even begins. Rather than simply replicating their current setup in the cloud, they take cloud-smart approach. That means assessing what to rehost, what to replatform and what to rearchitect, based on what’s right for their business. Here’s how to do it:

• Assess each workload individually. Not every app needs to be cloud-native, but some may benefit from being modernised or adapted to run more efficiently in the cloud.
• Use migration as a chance to streamline. Eliminate redundant systems, clean up data and retire underused tools during the move.
• Choose the right model for each system. Some workloads are best suited to SaaS or PaaS solutions, while others may need a hybrid approach.
• Optimise for cost and performance from the start. Use cloud-native tools for auto-scaling, monitoring and billing visibility.

A trusted cloud migration partner, like Retail Assist, can help you make these calls with clarity, aligning your infrastructure to actual business needs.

“The smarter approach is to modernise as you migrate, addressing constraints, building in scalability, automation and resilience, so the cloud becomes a platform for agility, innovation and long-term value. Executives should be asking not just how fast can we move to the cloud, but how much faster, leaner and more competitive will our business be once we’re there. That’s the difference between a migration that spends money and a transformation that makes money.” Tony Sherwin, Head of IT, Retail Assist.

Also read: Cloud Cost Optimisation Strategies in 2025: What Every CIO, CTO and CFO Needs to Know

Lifted, Shifted… Now What?

If you’ve already migrated to the cloud using a lift-and-shift approach, you’re not alone. But if your cloud bills keep rising without explanation, performance issues have started to show up or your development cycles feel slower than they used to, it might be time for a rethink. You may also be struggling to scale or integrate new services smoothly. These are all signs that your setup needs refining, and that a more strategic optimisation phase is overdue. A successful cloud migration is about unlocking flexibility, control and cost-efficiency for your business. At Retail Assist, we help businesses plan and optimise cloud environments that work for the way they want to operate and grow.

Want to talk about rethinking your cloud migration strategy? We’re here to help you make it work smarter.

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