C A S E S T U D Y
ENSURING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT TO REMAIN AT THE HEARTBEAT OF CUSTOMERS’ BUSINESSES
Matt Neil, Director of Data Centres, Datacom
To be the best data centre partner possible, Datacom is focused on continuous improvement, which led it to work with Uptime. Datacom also wanted a certification that reflected how its data centres perform in the real world under real operational conditions. Uptime’ s M & O Stamp of Approval does exactly that: it assesses the processes, people and practices that keep a site resilient over the long-term. Matt Neil, Director of Data Centres at Datacom, discusses how Uptime has helped Datacom maintain its high standards.
Datacom is one of Australasia’ s largest homegrown tech companies, bringing together technology and expertise to deliver sustainable solutions for some of New Zealand and Australia’ s most successful businesses and public sector organisations. Datacom’ s specialist teams work across cybersecurity, cloud, digital platforms and applications and operate mission-critical infrastructure including best-in-class data centre facilities.
Datacom has been providing bespoke and flexible data centre services to customers for the last 30 years, earning a reputation as a reliable data centre partner that delivers secure and flexible data centre solutions.
In New Zealand, Datacom’ s four data centres – Orbit, Kapua, Abel and Gloucester – are designed, built, owned and operated by Datacom. These facilities are powered by Mercury and have achieved independent Toitū carbon reduction certification, which recognises the use of 100 % renewable energy sources.
Datacom has over 6,650 employees based across 26 different regional sites. Its ability to provide local support and expertise and work closely with its customers is what sets it apart from other companies.
One of the central challenges for data centres is that they are‘ always on’ – customers rely on this critical infrastructure; service demands can come in at any time and from anywhere. Datacom provides full-service data centre solutions, from receipt of deliveries on behalf of customers to recycling the packaging, installing racks and IT equipment in racks, changing media and a raft of other services.
Datacom focuses on maintaining the high standards that underpin its 24 / 7 operational model and ensuring its customers understand the ongoing commitment to excellence that drives the team. To help achieve this, Datacom decided to work with Uptime to benchmark itself against others in the industry, support its commitment to continuous improvement and gain trusted third-party verification for its data centres.
Design and build certifications are largely‘ point in time’ assessments, whereas Datacom wanted a certification that demonstrated to customers how well it runs its data centres, day after day, year after year. The M & O Stamp of Approval demonstrates the level of quality that it provides and helps prove that it is different from the competition.
Datacom values the M & O Stamp of Approval as an objective evaluation of its data centre capability and proof that its data centres are run to an extremely high standard.
As part of Datacom’ s continuous improvement programme, the team proactively reviews its processes and procedures. They take the lessons learned through BAU activities and projects and introduce operational improvements accordingly. Datacom uses the outcomes and recommendations provided by the M & O Stamp of Approval evaluation process as an ongoing quality assurance check. This helps to guide any improvements needed to ensure that its data centres continue to deliver best-in-class operational excellence for its customers.
Continuous improvement and the pursuit of opportunities to review and enhance processes have always been integral to Datacom’ s data centre operations. However, the M & O Stamp of Approval has played a significant role in further ingraining this approach within the team.
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