Everything You Need to Know About Decommissioning Unused Hardware During a Cloud Migration

Migration from on-premises services to the cloud has many benefits for businesses of all sizes. However, it also leaves behind an extensive collection of leftover on-premises hardware that occupies space without a purpose.

What to do with leftover hardware? The answer may vary based on your company’s needs.

Reasons to Migrate to the Cloud

Cloud services provide growing businesses ample opportunity to scale their operations with demand. On-demand bandwidth avoids unnecessary or premature upgrades, which reduces tech investment costs and allows investment in other areas to further accelerate growth.

Cloud providers often possess additional security expertise that smaller businesses can leverage to protect their data. Users can also access cloud networks from any authorized location; increased business travel and flexibility for remote work add additional value to cloud migrations.

That said, these benefits also come with certain responsibilities.

What to Do with the Leftover Hardware

Cloud storage saves space, but businesses that operated outside the cloud previously often end up with leftover on-premises hardware taking up space within the company.

The easy solution is to throw everything in the dumpster or resell it. However, the valuable business data contained within intact computers and hard drives has incredible value.

Fortunately, organizations have several ways to destroy their sensitive data without a trace or find other users for their hardware investments.

Computers

Businesses can resell computer workstations to recoup migration costs, but they should only do so after a thorough data wipe. No business information can remain anywhere within the computers’ systems lest it fall into the wrong hands.

Donation provides an alternative that invests in goodwill rather than finances. Schools, libraries, and other nonprofits tend to welcome used hardware and can put it to good use.

In either case, data destruction services can analyze and wipe computer drives to remove data and make the workstation safe for re-use elsewhere.

Hard Drives

Hard drives can live on as backup storage. Supposing that backups are unnecessary or included with the cloud service provider package, though, companies can use services like SEAM to physically destroy the drive and render the data inside inaccessible.

While budget-conscious organizations may try to destroy their hard drives themselves, a certified third party can better ensure that the stored data can never be recovered.

Ensuring Data Security During Hard Drive Destruction

The right third-party service should have at least one — if not many more — compliance certifications.

Such certifications, which include NAID, e-stewards, and R2, subject the business to regular audits and hold data destruction services to the highest security and quality standards. Make sure you seek a certified data destruction service to handle your business data.

Destroy Your Post-Migration Hardware with SEAM Services

SEAM is the only certified data destruction provider in the Dakotas. We hold many compliance certifications and proudly serve Sioux Falls, SD, businesses in all their data destruction needs.

If your North Dakota or South Dakota business plans to migrate to the cloud or has unwanted hardware lying around, contact us for a quote to destroy, resell, or recycle it safely.