Data centre resilience starts with smarter MRO

MAJOR INVESTMENT is flowing into UK data centres with operators striving to meet unprecedented demand. The country already hosts close to three gigawatts of installed capacity and almost 250 third-party facilities, with investment expected to reach £10bn annually by 2029. 

Amid this growth a new challenge is emerging: ensuring the maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) function is mature enough to support always-on infrastructure.

A white paper from RS, reveals while facilities are being designed for resilience, many organisations are still developing the supply chain strategies needed to keep them running. A spotlight on data centres… How MRO is central to their future, delivers a snapshot of data centre operations specifically through the MRO lens. 

It incorporates the views of data centre sector industry players, combined with responses from a survey, distributed in partnership with the Data Centre Alliance (DCA), of 74 professionals across the UK and Ireland. Here we offer some insights from the white paper. 

The ‘commissioning cliff’ is where operational risk begins

Resilience is being engineered into almost every layer of a data centre’s physical infrastructure. But responses from RS’s survey highlight MRO strategy maturity doesn’t support the procurement of critical spares to secure this resilience. Data centre downtime is estimated by various sources at costing anything between £7,000 and £10,000 per minute, with reputational impact being more difficult to quantify, but of course a real risk.

With 20% of survey respondents stating they have no formal MRO strategy, 28% not knowing what their MRO approach is, and only 27% establishing an MRO strategy during the design phase, the potential operational weakness becomes clear.

Richard Graham, industry sector manager, RS UK and Ireland, puts this down to the fact data centres are rapidly growing organisations with a common reliance on buying products from where they can access it quickest, rather than having any formalised supply chain strategy. He suggests this is an industry which isn’t immature in its attitude to MRO, but is still coming to terms with understanding what best practice is, and how to implement it.

MRO planning often absent at handover

The white paper suggests when a sector expands at speed, the importance of the MRO supply chain often only becomes apparent when the facility has been handed over on completion, and responsibility shifts into live operations, but MRO planning often hasn't been embedded. This is a concept described in the white paper as the ‘commissioning cliff’. 

This is where operational risk lies, where spare parts planning is delayed, supplier relationships aren't established and procurement processes remain reactive. Many new facilities, indicates the white paper, end up defaulting to this model. It is not suggested the gap mean parts are entirely absent, as many will have original equipment manufacturer (OEM) service contracts or maintenance agreements in place, but it can mean the stocking strategy is not fully aligned to operational risk. 

Operators should aim to clearly define which are their most critical assets for which spares need to be immediately available ...and have a process in place to ensure there is someone responsible for sourcing and deploying them quickly when a fault occurs.

The issue is compounded by the ongoing shortage of skilled engineers. As demand for data centre expertise increases, operators cannot rely solely on specialist knowledge being immediately available when something goes wrong.

Graham warns the longer data centres ignore addressing MRO strategy early on, the greater the size of the issues they will face down the line. 

Building a smarter MRO supply chain 

Traditional procurement processes are often designed around cost control, but in a data centre environment the priorities are different. When a critical component fails, the most important consideration is rarely price. The priority is whether the part can be identified, sourced and delivered before impact on operations escalates.

The survey findings reflect this reality. Speed of delivery was rated as very important by 82% of respondents when assessing MRO suppliers. Availability of parts was considered very important by 71%, while supplier responsiveness scored 80%. Price ranked lowest of the five criteria, with just over half (51%) considering it very important.

This highlights a disconnect between operational needs and traditional procurement models. MRO often sits within indirect procurement categories, where purchasing processes have historically focused on unit cost, supplier consolidation and routine transactions. Those measures aren’t enough when managing a supply chain that must respond to a critical failure.

Proactive procurement replaces reactive buying

The answer is a shift towards proactive procurement. Operators need to develop “what if” scenarios before problems occur. This means identifying alternative suppliers, agreeing response times, and testing whether suppliers can deliver, whether that be for a 3am or 3pm issue. Supplier relationships must also become more strategic. A contract alone, whether with an OEM or facilities management company, does not create or guarantee resilience. Maintenance teams need suppliers who understand their requirements, know their critical components and can provide support when time matters most.

This becomes increasingly important as data centres in the UK expand beyond traditional locations, which have thus far been concentrated around London and the southeast. But new facilities are increasingly being developed in locations like Manchester, Glasgow and Newport. The survey found that 62 per cent of respondents feel at least slightly exposed by limitations in the regional footprint of their supplier.

The future, according to the white paper, requires a move away from traditional linear supply chains towards supply webs. This means connected networks of suppliers, regional stock locations and shared data. For multi-site operators, understanding where inventory is located and how quickly it can reach each site will improve availability and support resilience across multiple sites. Regional coverage should be a primary consideration in MRO supplier evaluation.

Reducing downtime through better data and faster part identification

Even when the right supplier relationships exist, finding the correct part quickly can still be a challenge. The survey found 77% of respondents believe part identification contributes to restoration delays. The problem is not a lack of available products, but finding the exact component required when engineers are working under pressure.

This creates a significant operational risk. A catalogue containing thousands of products is only useful if maintenance teams can navigate it quickly and easily. Many search systems are designed around procurement processes rather than maintenance scenarios. They may rely on internal part numbers or catalogue references rather than equipment types, failure modes or asset information.

Additionally, if information about critical components exists only in the experience of one engineer or is stored across disconnected systems, it becomes difficult to access during an urgent repair. A mature MRO strategy should include accurate asset registers, clearly defined critical spares lists and digital systems that allow engineers to identify approved replacement parts quickly.

From reactive function to strategic priority

Digitalisation has an important role to play, but technology alone is not the answer. The value comes from combining systems with accurate data, clear ownership and the people required to maintain information. The goal is to move from a broad supplier catalogue towards a customer-specific critical spares framework. 

In the case of an outage, instead of searching for a replacement component, engineers can access a pre-approved list of suitable parts and suppliers. For maintenance teams, this means less time spent searching and more time focused on restoring and improving operations.

The UK data centre sector has demonstrated its ability to design and build highly resilient infrastructure. The next challenge for the sector is ensuring operational support systems are equally as robust.

MRO must move beyond being viewed as a reactive maintenance function and become a strategic discipline that supports uptime, reliability and business continuity. In a sector where every minute matters, MRO is no longer simply about maintenance. It is central to the future of digital infrastructure.

A spotlight on data centres… How MRO is central to their future offers insights, advice and practical tools on how enterprises can remain mission critical every day. Download it here: https://tinyurl.com/58sahdvk

For more information: 

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