What I’ve learned from a month on the XYZ Roadshow

30 September 2024

The XYZ Roadshow is in full swing and we’re having a blast! So far, the team and I have attended five events, from London all the way to Austin, and we’ve learned so much from all our conversations with industry leaders. Here are my top 6 takeaways from the first month of the XYZ Roadshow.

Accelerating speed to market is the north star

At least once in all my conversations with Tier 1 developers, accelerating speed to market was brought up. Everyone is trying to find new ways to shave days or even weeks off their data center projects in any way they can. The enormous demand for new data centers combined with the substantial financial incentive to bring them online quickly underscores the urgency of timely delivery. Late delivery of these mission critical facilities can result in millions of dollars in lost revenue each day.

Champions of change are everywhere

The construction industry has often been called slow to adopt technology. I have always had an issue with this sentiment, especially in data center construction, and I’m glad to say that my feelings have been validated by conversations with industry peers and experts from every single event the team and I have attended. People in data center construction are just as excited about new technology as I am – if not more so! They just need the right kind of tech, something that really pushes the needle and drives real change.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is king – and no one will take its crown

To the surprise of no one, the fact the recent data center boom has come alongside the AI boom is no coincidence. The two are inextricably linked, as the massive compute demands of new Large Language Models (LLMs) can only be met en-masse by data centers. Almost all of my conversations came back to this point – AI’s requirements make data center construction pivotal for realizing its true potential, and they need to be built fast.

But AI is not the only big player

Whilst AI is the one making all the headlines, data centers remain vitally important for almost every industry. The digital transformation has brought about a wholesale transformation in societal structure. Every sector now requires cloud computing. Services like train schedules, airports, healthcare, emergency services and everything in between are now increasingly moving to public cloud platforms powered by data centers. This makes it critical that the infrastructure supporting this transformation is built quickly, responsibly, sustainably and to the highest standards.

No-one in the industry has ever been busier

I have spoken to many people who have been in data center construction for 20+ years, and the one thing they have all said is that there has never been a busier time to be in the industry. People are managing portfolios that are now two, three, or even four times larger than they were just a decade ago, making it more and more challenging to keep up with demand. A comprehensive portfolio management service, like the one provided by XYZ Reality, has never been more critical to project delivery than it is now.

Getting feedback on our tech never gets old

We never get tired of seeing your excitement when demoing the Atom and our platform. As firm believers in 'seeing is believing,' we make it a point to offer interactive, live demos at every event. Hearing the 'oohs' and 'ahhs' is always incredibly rewarding for our team. So, thank you to everyone who has tried it out so far - your reactions mean the world to us. If you haven’t experienced it yet, October is the perfect time to do so. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on!

Conclusion

These are my key takeaways from my first month on the XYZ Roadshow. The feeling in the industry is overwhelmingly positive, yet there are significant concerns about managing and delivering effectively in such a rapidly expanding landscape. I'm looking forward to the next month of events and having more insightful conversations about the future of our industry. If you want to come and see us, check out the full list of events we are attending here. We hope to see you at our next event!