2023 Brightlayer Research: Data Centers

Introduction

Commercial data centers are one of the most digitally-advanced of all sectors, given that new IT technologies are literally their stock in trade. That doesn’t necessarily make the job of digitizing their own operations any easier. They sometimes lack the digital tools needed for timely, actionable insights into critical operational and sustainability metrics. They’re also often overwhelmed with too much data—unclear about which insights truly matter and uncertain how best to report them to meet industry and regulatory requirements. To make things even more challenging, the sector continues to face digital staffing and skills challenges even as the number, capacity and type of data centers needed to power the planet’s digital economy continues to grow exponentially.

Those are among the major takeaways from a survey commissioned by Eaton and conducted by S&P Global Market Intelligence of 152 commercial data center owners and operators in their organization’s digital transformation efforts in eight countries across North America and Europe.