How Data Center Facility Management Can Bridge the Skills Gap

Data centers require skilled professionals. Collaboration between IT and facilities, along with proactive maintenance and remote monitoring, helps address workforce shortages.Mary E. Shacklett,President,Transworld Data

October 16, 20263 Min ReadGetty Images

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on TechTarget.com.

Data centers depend on highly skilled professionals, and not all of them are in IT.

The adoption of AI and other energy-consuming technologies requires data center and facilities managers to hire electrical engineers, HVAC technicians, security specialists, and even construction workers. This article examines the best way to ensure readiness in these areas by identifying missing skills and plugging the gaps.

Data centers have physical rooms and assets that require the attention of electricians, HVAC specialists, physical security experts, construction workers, and IT personnel. Past practice placed much of the data center's physical equipment under the company's facilities manager. IT data center managers didn't have to worry about overseeing elements such as heating and cooling.

However, as energy efficiency and sustainability become more important, facilities accommodate heavier AI workloads, and data centers expand to edge and remote locations, IT operations and facilities management increasingly overlap. Managing data centers is now a shared responsibility of IT and facilities teams.

Workforce Pressures

Workforce pressure is most often felt during the installation and maintenance of data center electrical, cooling, and battery systems, as well as in the construction modifications that may be needed to support them. Consequently, data center managers are suddenly finding themselves in the crosshairs of labor shortages affecting the electrical, HVAC, and construction trades.

Here are a few figures:

Nationwide, there is a shortage of HVAC professionals that drives up costs and wait times for service.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the employment of electricians will grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, which is much faster than the average for all occupations.

As early as 2025, the Associated Builders and Contractors Association estimated that the construction industry would need to attract 439,000 net new workers to meet the anticipated demand for construction services.

What Can Data Center Managers Do?

Data center managers must take proactive steps to ensure facility efficiency and reliability. Key actions include fostering collaboration, enhancing preventive maintenance, and using advanced technologies to optimize performance and address challenges in today's data landscape.

Both the IT and facilities groups should collaborate on planning, budgeting, and operational support for the entire data center (i.e., both IT and facilities equipment). This is the only way to ensure 360-degree management of every data center asset.

Data center and facilities managers want to avoid contacting contractors for assistance when a data center issue arises. Establishing service agreements with providers proactively helps prevent problems and fosters a partnership for when support is needed.

Basic facility health checks, such as inspecting UPS systems and switching gear, monitoring energy usage, verifying data center physical security, checking for noise and vibration, and changing filters, can be performed by existing IT ops staff as part of regular preventive maintenance schedules. This work isn't much different from the check-ups staff already perform on servers and disk arrays, so cross-training shouldn't be difficult.

Use Sensors and Remote Monitoring

Sensors and remote monitoring can track environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, as well as data center physical security, cooling, and energy. These devices can be installed in the central data center and in remote edge facilities. This setup provides automated alerts and health checks that can be sent to staff as part of the daily maintenance routine.

Standardize Equipment

Standardizing equipment across fewer brands and configurations simplifies maintenance for both IT and facilities.

Everyone is feeling the pinch from shortages in HVAC, electrical, and construction. One way around this is to outsource more IT to cloud-based providers that have the money to obtain or hire facility service personnel more easily than their customers can.

Mary E. Shacklett is president of Transworld Data.See more from Mary E. Shacklett

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