Andy Ruhan, CEO at Sentrum says that research carried out by the company shows a shift in the attitude to outsourced data centres

In 2008 Sentrum introduced an ongoing research programme in order to poll IT professionals from UK organisations and identify existing business issues, and for monitoring developing trends in the data centre market. One recurring theme in the research has been the developments in the outsourcing of data centre space.

When the research was first conducted, it was very clear from the findings that we were at the start of a major shift in the attitude of customers with regards to what they wanted, and expected, from the data centre market and the operators within it. The demise of the mega data centre was apparent - not a single interviewee could point to a concrete plan for such a development – and the drive towards outsourcing was becoming more popular.

43 per cent of respondents were outsourcing data centre space in 2008, with 28 per cent having adopted this model for the first time that year.  In addition, there was an abundance of interest from 35 per cent of those that had not at that time outsourced any of their data centre space to start looking at it in more detail.

These numbers leapt by a somewhat staggering 42 per cent within the year, with 85 per cent of large organisations citing that they had outsourced at least part of their data centre requirements by 2009. Those outsourcing all their data centre space requirements had also jumped from just 2 per cent to 27 per cent, whilst those partially outsourcing saw a rise of 19 per cent.

Outsourcing had now become a business essential. In parallel to these changes, the financial climate faltered and become another, but major, driving force behind companies investigating an outsourced approach to their data centre facilities. Organisations were recognising the flexibility that customised third party offerings could bring when they needed to manage increasing data demands within constrained IT budgets.

The economic uncertainty also helped to accelerate a new maturity in the provision, and delivery, of consistent levels of excellence to customers.  Third party data centre operators were held accountable by strict service level agreements and delivering against them was now critical. There was also a second underlying trend identified which showed that as many as a quarter of companies questioned felt that their data centre developments had been over-specified and were, therefore, massively underutilised. This helped to further drive up outsourcing levels as organisations frustrated by this sought to find alternative, reliable and cost effective data centre facilities without facing the high capital expenditure levels associated with building dedicated facilities. This step-change was reflected by 21 per cent of respondents who participated in the 2009 survey as they cited that they believed that outsourcing would in fact help to deliver increased control when planning policies to manage IT expansion and/or consolidation.

It was great to see that improved levels of customer education, shown by the fact that so many companies were outsourcing all their data centre needs, was also proof of a rising level of trust in the third party provision of world class facilities.

Now in 2010, outsourcing appears to have peaked with 67 per cent of large UK organisations outsourcing at least some of their data centre space requirements. A further 13 per cent outsource all data centre requirements, and whilst 32 per cent are not currently outsourcing any of their data centre space requirements it is worth noting that 13 per cent have plans to do so in the future.

As businesses now start to edge away from the global economic problems, the reasons to outsource will again be driven by a broader variety of issues in the market place. We expect to see many companies start to assess the value of switching from one data centre operator for another for a better deal on costs (71 per cent from the 2010 research stated this as a key factor in deciding to move) and improved level of consultancy. Securing better energy efficiencies and benefiting from greater levels of expertise were also reasons given for reviewing the market.

What remains apparent is that there is still a very strong trend towards outsourcing some or all data centre facilities. While that customer base may now plateau in terms of numbers, it will increasingly lead to churn amongst the operators. For the data centre provider, there is certainly no lack of business to be had, but in order to secure new customers and then retain them, the data centre market must continue to exhibit high levels of expertise and be increasingly reactive to the specific individual needs of each and every customer.  If operators cannot do that, they will fail.