But there are many approaches to cloud migration, and the chosen method can make all the difference between success and failure. At one end is a simple lift-and-shift approach that relocates applications to virtual machines in the cloud. A lift and shift can help consolidate management and set the stage for further modernization efforts, but it doesn’t always result in cost savings. At the other end of the spectrum, enterprises can modernize their applications to take advantage of the cloud’s unique features. Such a move can improve cost-effectiveness and agility, but it’s riskier because it requires significant changes in the underlying code.