DATA CENTRES Availability and speed beat price


in data centre procurement By Will Boylan, Corporate Account Manager, RS Components Ireland


As Ireland’s data centre sector continues to expand, operators are increasingly recognising that when critical systems fail, the speed at which replacement parts can be identified and delivered is often more important than the cost of the component itself


R


esearch published in a new white paper – A spotlight on data centres… How MRO is central to their future


– produced by RS in partnership with the UK- based Data Centre Alliance (DCA) highlights this difference in priorities. Among the 74 data centre professionals surveyed in the UK and Ireland, 82 per cent rated speed of delivery as ‘very important’ when evaluating MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) suppliers, while 80 per cent said the same of responsiveness and support. Availability of parts was rated very important by 71 per cent. Price ranked lowest of the five criteria tested, at 51 per cent.


These findings suggest a disconnect between


operational requirements and established procurement processes. MRO typically sits within indirect procurement, where controls may have been designed around high volumes of relatively low-value purchases. Those controls are not effective when an engineer needs a critical replacement urgently. An approval bottleneck, difficulty accessing a procurement system or time spent finding the right supplier contact may seem minor during normal operations. During an outage, each can add to restoration time.


There are also SLA penalties and customer compensation to consider. This, alongside potential


lost revenue and future contracts, and reputational damage, causes a cascading effect where one failure impacts the rest of the business.


FINDING THE RIGHT PART Part identification also presents a big issue. The research found that 74 per cent of respondents believe part identification contributes to delays in restoring operations, with 17 per cent saying it frequently extends repair time.


Data centres can contain equipment from


numerous manufacturers, while asset information, product references and procurement records may sit in different systems. Under pressure, engineers can spend valuable time establishing which specific component is required before sourcing even begins. This makes discoverability an important part of


MRO resilience. Rather than expecting engineers to search large generic catalogues during an incident, operators can develop approved, asset-specific product lists more closely aligned to their installed equipment. Critical spares can also be assessed according to factors like failure probability, lead time and the operational consequences of a failure. According to Will Boylan, who works in market intelligence and analysis for RS Ireland, downtime- related costs often extend far beyond the value of the failed part.


“In a data centre environment, the true cost of


an outage is rarely the cost of the failed component itself. The key challenge is identifying the right replacement quickly and restoring services as fast as possible. That’s why factors such as availability, delivery speed and supplier support are becoming increasingly important.”


The same thinking applies to supplier relationships. Pre-qualified suppliers, clear escalation contacts and agreed response arrangements can save valuable time when a fault occurs. Procurement can then help build resilience preventatively, rather than simply respond once it has happened. Boylan believes that the most resilient


organisations are those that prepare well before an incident occurs. “The operators that are best positioned for


long-term success are those that have the right supplier relationships in place, clear access to critical spare parts and processes that are designed to support uptime. In today’s data centre environment, resilience and operational readiness are becoming key competitive advantages.” As demand for digital infrastructure continues to


rise across Ireland, ensuring uptime may prove just as important as building new capacity. See RS Ireland at the Data Centres Ireland event at


the DS, Dublin, on November 18 and 19 (stand 604) uk.rs-online.com


38 September/October 2026 Irish Manufacturing


www.irish-manufacturing.com


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