How to Successfully Decommission a Data Center: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why Companies Are Dismantling Data Centers—and What Comes Next

In November 2025, global paints and coatings manufacturer PPG completed a years-long project to decommission its eight on-premises data centers, shifting entirely to cloud infrastructure. The move reflects a broader industry trend: enterprises are increasingly abandoning physical data centers in favor of hyperscale cloud providers, citing cost, security, and operational flexibility as key drivers. While the transition is complex—requiring meticulous planning, workforce realignment, and risk management—the long-term benefits, executives say, outweigh the challenges.

The Push Toward Cloud-Only Infrastructure

For PPG, the decision to dismantle its data centers was rooted in a simple realization: hyperscale cloud providers could deliver infrastructure at a scale and efficiency no private company could match. Bhaskar Ramachandran, global vice president and CIO of PPG, framed the shift as a strategic necessity. “This is their business, and they’re really good at it,” he said. “The size of the hyperscalers is just going to win over the infrastructure game.”

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The company, which has operated for 143 years and undergone over 60 acquisitions, found its sprawling data center footprint increasingly difficult to manage. Applications, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and compliance demands had become “unwieldy,” Ramachandran noted. The shift to cloud infrastructure allowed PPG to streamline operations while reducing inherent risks—such as hardware failures, security vulnerabilities, and the financial burden of maintaining aging equipment.

Gartner estimates that by 2030, twice as many enterprise data centers will have been decommissioned as built, driven by consolidation, obsolescence, and the migration of workloads to cloud and colocation services. The research firm warns that decommissioning is often underestimated in its complexity, with potential risks including downtime, data breaches, and reputational damage.

The Hidden Complexity of Decommissioning

Decommissioning a data center is not as simple as powering down servers. Aaron Walker, CEO of IT consultancy Overbyte and a former associate partner at IBM Consulting, likened the process to “defusing a complex bomb.” Every step—from auditing existing systems to migrating workloads and disposing of hardware—requires careful coordination to avoid disruptions.

Walker recently oversaw the decommissioning of a data center for a large, fully remote online school. The project began with a full audit of all systems, followed by categorizing workloads to determine what would be migrated, moved to cloud-native infrastructure, or retired. Physical decommissioning involved assessing hardware for residual value and ensuring proper recycling or disposal. “The timeline pressures are real,” Walker said. “You can’t just power things down. Dependencies surface that nobody documented.”

One of the biggest challenges was managing the human element. “People have years of institutional knowledge tied to physical systems, and there’s genuine anxiety about dismantling something they built and maintained,” Walker noted. Upgrading systems mid-migration added unnecessary risk, he added, recommending that modernization efforts be separated from migration projects.

Cost, Flexibility, and the Cloud Advantage

For digital marketing agency Helium SEO, the decision to decommission its data center was driven by cost and flexibility. CTO Paul DeMott said the company was spending $12,000 per month on colocation fees, hardware support, and server maintenance. Cloud infrastructure offered better reliability, automatic scaling, and reduced operational hassle. “Physical servers equated to capacity planning six months ahead,” DeMott said. “Cloud allows resources to be spun up in minutes and shut down at the same speed.”

The migration process took six months, with IT teams classifying applications by migration difficulty. Simple web apps were moved first, while databases and data-intensive workloads required more planning. However, the transition wasn’t seamless. Transferring 15TB of data took 72 hours over the company’s internet connection, prompting the use of AWS Snowball—a physical hard drive—to expedite the process. Cloud cost management also proved challenging, with the first month’s bill exceeding estimates by 40% due to unexpected data transfer fees.

Security and the Perception of On-Premises Control

Despite the operational benefits of cloud migration, some employees at PPG initially resisted the shift, citing security concerns. Ramachandran acknowledged that some technically savvy users believed on-premises data centers were inherently more secure. To address these concerns, PPG analyzed publicly available data on recent cybersecurity incidents, finding that major breaches were more common in on-premises environments than in cloud-based ones.

“The cloud actually became a lot more secure than on-prem infrastructure,” Ramachandran said. He attributed this to the ability to enforce security policies consistently across cloud environments, reducing the attack surface. “You have a single pane of glass enforcement of policies that you don’t have in an on-prem environment,” he explained. One-on-one discussions with skeptical employees helped clarify the security advantages of cloud infrastructure.

The Human and Operational Challenges

PPG’s transition to a cloud-only model required significant internal communication and workforce realignment. The company announced the shift at a global town hall, initially facing skepticism. “This too, shall pass,” was a common reaction, Ramachandran recalled. However, once the first data center was decommissioned, resistance faded, and momentum built. IT teams received training and certifications, with the company covering all costs and publicly recognizing employees who completed the programs.

Roland Parker, founder and CEO of managed IT services firm Impress Computers, emphasized the importance of phased migration. “The biggest mistake companies make is treating deconstruction as a single project instead of a phased operational shift,” he said. His team worked with a 200-person manufacturer to migrate workloads in priority tiers, ensuring production-critical systems were moved last. The process took 14 months, with Parker noting that “the human side kills more timelines than the tech does.” Informal processes and workarounds built around legacy systems often went undocumented, requiring thorough audits before decommissioning began.

The Final Steps: Beyond Workload Migration

For PPG, decommissioning the data centers involved more than migrating workloads. The final steps included dismantling power systems, cooling infrastructure, fire suppression systems, and backup generators—some of which had to be removed by helicopter. Diesel fuel was disposed of, and the buildings were recertified for safety before being returned to their owners. “The end is not migrating all the workloads,” Ramachandran stressed. “The end is actually shutting down the data center.”

The entire process for PPG’s eight data centers took about three years. While the company experienced some tactical delays—such as extended outage windows for network adjustments—there were no major disruptions. Ramachandran highlighted the importance of celebrating milestones to maintain momentum. Employees who embraced the transition were empowered to lead the new cloud-focused organization, with many joining PPG’s Cloud Center of Excellence (COE).

The Business Case for Decommissioning

For PPG, the primary goal of decommissioning its data centers was not cost savings but improved security, flexibility, and agility. “We achieved all of those,” Ramachandran said. The shift also allowed the company to reallocate capital from fixed infrastructure costs to variable cloud expenses, eliminating the need for hardware refreshes every four to five years. “You’re basically giving back working capital to the company,” he noted.

Walker advised companies to approach decommissioning methodically. “Measure twice, cut once,” he said. “Most teams want to jump straight into migration, but the real work is building a complete inventory and mapping dependencies upfront.” While PPG chose to modernize some applications during the migration, Walker recommended focusing on moving well-understood workloads first and isolating unknowns early. “The success of these projects is usually determined by how well you handle the edge cases, not the easy wins,” he said.

Ramachandran emphasized the broader strategic value of the transition. “Make sure your best people spend time creating value for the business, as opposed to babysitting infrastructure,” he said. “Infrastructure no longer adds value.” The shift has also improved talent retention, with IT teams now working on cutting-edge cloud technologies rather than maintaining legacy systems. “Working on the latest technologies makes IT happy,” Ramachandran added. “That helps with talent retention because we can say this 143-year-old company looks modern.”

Key Takeaways for Enterprises

• Plan meticulously: Decommissioning requires a full audit of systems, workload categorization, and dependency mapping to avoid disruptions.
• Separate modernization from migration: Layering upgrades onto migration projects introduces unnecessary risk. Focus on moving workloads first, then modernize.
• Address the human element: Employees with institutional knowledge may resist change. Training, recognition, and phased transitions can ease the shift.
• Expect cost surprises: Cloud pricing models can be complex, with unexpected fees for data transfer and storage. Budget accordingly and monitor usage closely.
• Celebrate milestones: Publicly recognizing progress helps maintain momentum and encourages buy-in from skeptical stakeholders.
• Prepare for the final steps: Decommissioning extends beyond workload migration. Plan for the physical dismantling of infrastructure and building recertification.

The trend toward cloud-only infrastructure is accelerating, with enterprises like PPG and Helium SEO demonstrating the operational and strategic benefits of decommissioning on-premises data centers. While the process is complex, the long-term advantages—improved security, flexibility, and cost efficiency—are compelling more companies to make the shift. As Gartner’s projections suggest, the era of the enterprise data center may be coming to an end, replaced by a new model of cloud-driven IT infrastructure.