Systematically managing risk in legacy infrastructure decommissioning across industries

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Executive Summary

Legacy infrastructure decommissioning has emerged as a critical strategic imperative in 2025, with organizations across industries facing mounting pressure to retire outdated systems while maintaining operational continuity. This whitepaper presents a comprehensive framework for systematically identifying and minimizing risks during the decommissioning process across financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and government sectors.

Recent studies analyzing 26 decommissioning projects across multiple industries reveal five critical risk categories: technical risks (identified in 20 studies), financial risks (15 studies), environmental risks (13 studies), social risks (12 studies), and health/safety risks (10 studies). Organizations implementing structured risk management frameworks report up to 80% cost reductions while avoiding significant security and compliance violations.

The strategic recommendations include establishing dedicated decommissioning programs, implementing industry-specific risk assessment frameworks, developing comprehensive compliance checklists, and leveraging emerging technologies including AI-powered risk assessment tools. Organizations that adopt these systematic approaches achieve improved regulatory compliance, reduced operational incidents, and enhanced cybersecurity postures while realizing substantial cost savings.

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