As the Global 2000 companies race to modernize tech stacks, new research from CloudBees reveals a ‘platform migration mirage’ with enterprises losing an average of $315K per project to overruns, tool sprawl, burnout and security gaps
CloudBees, the leading software delivery solutions provider for enterprises, released its first DevOps Migration Index, revealing the widening gap between modernization ambitions and business reality.
The Migration Mirage: ROI That Never Materializes
Platform migrations are consuming massive budgets and delivering diminishing returns, undermining innovation and draining resources. For many enterprises, every migration cycle adds new cost and risk instead of compounding value.
Key findings include:
- Financial waste: 57% of enterprises spent over $1M on migrations last year, with average projects costing $1.75M and running 18% over budget – an average cost overrun of $315K per enterprise.
- ROI falling short: 37% lost a quarter of migration budgets to sunk costs, 94% saw slower or the same system performance, and 60% missed revenue opportunities from delayed launches.
Fallout Beyond Budgets: Human and Operational Strain
The toll of platform migrations extends beyond financial overruns. Constant retooling and disruption creates a productivity drag that compounds over time, burning out teams, and eroding trust in transformation programs. The human cost of transformation now rivals the financial one: teams are stretched thin, projects stall, and innovation pipelines dwindle.
Additional key findings include:
- Burnout and fatigue rises: 61% of leaders report migration fatigue delaying projects for six months or longer, while 70% cite increased developer burnout and 76% note a drop in developer morale.
- Consolidation backfires: 74% said tool sprawl increased and 66% saw lower satisfaction after consolidation, with 37% saying they wouldn’t repeat their migration strategy.
Security Gaps Widen in the AI-Driven Enterprise
AI adoption is colliding with DevSecOps reality. Rather than strengthening controls, migrations often weaken them, expanding compliance risk and third-party vulnerabilities.
For example:
- Security strain intensifies: 75% of respondents said maintaining security integrations became harder after migration, and 40% discovered new blind spots that widened compliance exposure.
- Governance breakdown: 70% admitted business leaders often push AI tools into pipelines without security review.
The Bottom Line: Integration Outperforms Consolidation
While “rip and replace” migration strategies have dominated the market, CloudBees research points to a better path forward: integration-first modernization. Rather than replacing systems, enterprises can layer new capabilities across existing platforms to achieve faster ROI while maintaining strong governance and controls.
Ultimately:
- Integration outperforms consolidation: 92% of organizations saw greater delivery efficiency by integrating tools rather than replacing them, and 84% said real-time analytics were easier to adopt without replatforming.
- Modernization redefined: 92% of DevOps leaders now prioritize modernization paths that avoid platform disruption altogether.
“CloudBees Unify understands what many platforms miss – ripping and replacing simply doesn’t work at the enterprise level,” said Sudhakar Parakala, VP of IT and Applications at Synaptics. “We need solutions that complement our existing systems, not conflict with them. That’s exactly why CloudBees Unify is so compelling to us.”
Methodology: These results are from one survey of 200 enterprise IT/tech leaders and an additional survey of 100 enterprise IT/tech leaders, conducted by independent research agency TrendCandy.
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