November 201919 APAC is catching up fast in a market that has traditionally been dominated by North America. By 2020, if predictions are correct, the region will be the biggest data centre market in the world. Adding to Asia's concentration of data centre capacity in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, come scores of projects in Indonesia, India, Korea, Taiwan and China.The sheer number of projects, combined with the variety of cultural and regulatory environments, presents a raft of challenges in this fast-moving era. From a project management perspective, the secret of success is to do the basic things well: good planning, the right people and execution against the plan.1. Proper planningTime is what we don't have. But our analysis shows it's a false economy to cut back on time for planning. Poor planning is the most common cause of cost and time overruns on data centre projects in the region.Macro-level planning at the feasibility stage is vital. Employ an expert early to ask questions about location, size, IT load, operational specifications and power, all considered with business data and forecasting in hand. The impact of local planning permissions and other approvals should be included in the assessment.Failing to set realistic cost and time constraints can lead to poor decisions down the line. For example, if the timeline is too tight, design-and-build procurement may look like the only option, despite the fact that the local market is not set up to deliver through this route.BY BRIAN SHUPTRINE, DIRECTOR, SINGAPORE, TURNER & TOWNSEND PROJECT MANAGING ASIA'S DATA CENTRE BOOM: STEPS TO SUCCESSCXO NSIGHTS
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