data center business plan pdf

Data Center Business Plan [Sample Template]

By: Author Tony Martins Ajaero

Home » Business ideas » Technology Industry » Data Center

Are you about starting a data center? If YES, here is a complete sample data center business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE .

Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a data center business . We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample data center marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for data centers. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.

Even though data centers are mostly run by government agencies or large companies, several medium and small scale companies are also going into the business so as to provide a cloud solution service that can be used for private and business applications.

This business is however one that is capital intensive as any entrepreneur going into this would need to procure enough computers and also ensure that where the computers are housed has steady electricity, ventilation and is secure from theft, accidental and intentional manipulation.

Also, asides from these factors, there must also always be periodic back-ups in order to ensure that the business remains operable.

To start this business, it is necessary to approach a reputable business consultant who not only understands the industry but also the business very well in order to determine if it would be worthwhile going into the business. The business consultant also points out the obstacles and challenges the business is likely to face and how best to overcome them when it crops up.

Another thing that is important to have before starting any business is a business plan. Writing a business plan might not be so easy, however it is for this reason that a sample business plan has been prepared below – a sample data center business plan;

A Sample Data Center Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

The data center industry is one is one that has seen several changes come upon it, as businesses operating in this industry have moved from cloud adoption to data sovereignty, which is due to the fact that client companies are getting business smart about their data as well as computer strategies.

This has led to operators in the united states of America and even globally to experience growth in revenue as well as round the whole industry. The state that has the strongest presence in the data center industry is North Virginia, which is due to the fact that they have a low-post power as well as renewable hydropower.

Around the globe, operators are eyeing government policies that might require that data centers be housed in the same country from which the data is accessed from which would lead to locations playing a huge influence on the data center industry.

The data center industry has made a huge impact on the power sector in the United States of America as electricity savings have been improved in between the last seven years.

This is contrary to the expectations that energy use would increase as more people demand for real-time data which has not been so has energy has remained stable since 2010. Also, according to projections, energy use will reduce as the industry grows which would come from improved cooling and powering strategies and data center micro grids.

Most operators in the data center industry have started pushing for flexibility in their leasing agreements by looking to cut down the standard lease agreements from 10 years to between 5 – 7 years, this is so as to right-size and server reliance.

Data centers usually consume energy that is required that can be used to run a small town. Google Inc for instance had 13 data centers in 2013 round the world which used close to 260 million watts of power which amounts for 0.01% global energy. According to statistics, that amount of power can be used to supply electricity that will power 200,000 homes.

The lifespan of data centers is usually around 8 – 10 years on the average as technologies have been used to determine its lifespan. It should also be noted that cloud computing has also started gaining popularity among service providers; this is because more companies are switching from enterprise data systems to cloud services.

The data center industry has also seen some operators start to use automated network management systems. This automated network management operate physical network configuration, plugs and unplugs physical ports on command prompt from software and also allows physical data center network connections to be managed more quickly and remotely.

According to a recent study by International data Corporation (IDC), it has been projected that North America will provide the highest share of IT spending globally between the period of 2015 to 2019 which has been projected to pass the $1 trillion mark by 2017. In 2015, the data center industry grew to 6.1% with operators in the United States earning $115.6 billion in revenue.

2. Executive Summary

Utech datacenters is a leading and standard data center that will be located in Houston – Texas in order to serve all our domestic and corporate clients here in the United States of America and international clients as well.

We are in the data center business to provide hosting services such as shared, VPS, dedicated, co-locative and cloud services. We also in addition to our core services offer consultancy services in line with training services so as to boost our bottom line.

We are in business not only to make profit but to also favorably compete with our competitors here in the United States of America as well as globally.

• Our vision is to offer our clients a reliable, secure and fast data center regardless of whatever applications they choose to run on our data center. We also aim to be amongst the top five preferred data center here in Houston – Texas by the year 2025.

Our location in Houston – Texas is very strategic as we are not only very easy for clients to get to but we will also have low overheads in running the data center via factors such as power costs, lease costs, sales taxes, property taxes as well as the potential incentives.

We intend to procure the best equipment in order to be able to provide the best services for our clients and run a standard data center here in Houston – Texas. Our goal is also to ensure that we build a business structure that will aid us in achieving our corporate goals and objectives.

Our intention in running a smooth business with as less hitches as possible is to ensure that we hire the right number of employees who not only have an understanding of the industry and are professionals but also are attuned to our corporate goals and vision and are committed to ensuring that these goals and visions are achieved.

We intend to provide a conducive and friendly environment for our employees as well as ensure that they get the required training that is continuous in nature so as not only to enhance their skills and increase productivity for the organization but to also ensure that the skills gotten are the best across similar start-up such as ours in the industry.

We also intend to make sure that our employees are one of the best paid and that they also have one of the best welfare packages in the industry. We intend to carry out continuous appraisals on our employees to ensure that those who are hard-working are promoted in order to motivate them into being more productive.

Finally our owners, Blake Chylds and Rob Branson have not only been in the data center business for years but have also served in the management capacity where they have had to make strategic decisions on behalf of the company. Both men have several IT certifications and are alumni of Harvard University and MIT Engineering School.

Both men also have several stakes in the IT industry and are going into the data center business due to the demand from their various clients. They will bring their over 30 years experience to bear in this business and ensure that the goals and objectives of the business are achieved.

3. Our Products and Services

Utech datacenters will offer traditional data services to its customers that are of the highest standard possible from our permanent and strategic location based here in Houston – Texas. However as part of our efforts to boost our bottom line, we intend to ensure that we create multiple sources of income to our core service by providing consultancy services as well as trainings to our clients.

Our intention is to ensure that we make profits as is legally permissible by the laws of the state where we are operating as well as all over the United States of America. Therefore, some of the products and services we intend to offer at Utech datacenters include;

• Providing hosting services such as shared, VPS, dedicated, co-locative as well as cloud
• Consultancy services

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• In order to achieve our vision, we intend to ensure that we get the right equipment, choose the right location that is not only strategic but secure and also hire the right employees that understand our vision to help us run the business.

Our Business Structure

Having the right business structure is very essential to the growth of our business and we are therefore not taking this aspect trivially. We intend to ensure that our corporate foundation is perfect and as such we would go the extra mile in sourcing for and hiring competent and hardworking employees to handle the various roles and responsibilities in the organization.

We are ready to do whatever it takes to achieve this as we are a standard company with a standing in the industry that will lure the right employees to come and work for us at Utech data center here in Houston – Texas. The employees we intend to choose to work with us are those that understand the objectives of the business and are willing to work in ensuring that we achieve our intended goals and objectives.

Due to the fact that we intend to offer a wide range of services and offer trainings as well as consultancy services at our data center business, we intend to hire different employees that will be able to handle the different responsibilities from the assigned tasks that would be available at Utech datacenter here in Houston – Texas.

Therefore, the business structure that we intend to build at Utech datacenter is;

Chief Executive Officer

Infrastructure Manager

IT and Database Admin

Network and Systems Admin

Customer Service Executives

Marketing and Sales Executives

Security Specialist

Server and Storage Admin

Electrical and Mechanical System Engineer

Security Personnel

Human Resources and Admin Manager

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

• Formulates the policies that are used in planning for the strategic direction of the organization
• Manages financial resources by recommending yearly budget and ensuring that the organizations resources within the budget guidelines are in line with organizational laws and policies
• Reviews policies and processes and removes or modifies those that are found to be inefficient
• Responsible for all the IT systems which includes the hardware, software as well as security systems in the organization
• Responsible for ensuring that data is secure the company data-wise and also ensure that the business runs smoothly and efficiently
• In charge of implementing up-to-date solutions across the infrastructure
• Works closely with the systems administrator to ensure that all the database needs are being met
• Carries out an upgrade to the database whenever needed
• Ensure that the security of the database is implemented in order to safeguard the data
• Ensures that the network is designed in such a way as to suit the needs of the organization
• Ensures that the network administration is set up and configured
• Adds new host machines, administers network security and also trouble shoot network problems
• Are up-to-date about relevant trends in the industry as well as organizations policies so as to give clients informed information
• Keeps an accurate database of clients and updates when necessary on behalf of the organization
• Carries out any other duties as directed by the human resource manager
• Carries out communication with target market and also ensure that client relationships are well managed
• Conducts more research on the target market in order to determine new markets for the organization
• Advertises the organization on different platforms so as to create awareness for the organization
• In charge of protecting information from unauthorized violations and access
• Conducts continual tests on systems so as to expose vulnerabilities in security
• Prepares technical reports
• In charge of maintaining and managing the company’s storage-based systems
• Assists in product engineering as it relates to the organizations technologies
• Deploys storage technologies on behalf of the organization
• Investigates and designs renovations for available mechanical systems
• Provides technical support to the department related to mechanical and electrical systems in the organization
• Carries out or supervises construction or repair of electrical and mechanical systems
• Patrols organizations property to ensure that the premises and personnel are secure
• In charge of monitoring surveillance equipment and reports irregularities
• Restrains trespassers and inform violators of policies and procedures of the organization
• Defines job positions for recruitment, carries out recruitment exercise and induction for new staff members
• Ensures that recruitment, welfare benefits as well as contract termination are in compliance with legal, contractual and statutory procedures
• Handles general office management issues
• Recommends financial actions on behalf of the organization by analyzing accounting options
• Prepares financial statements and income by compiling and analyzing account information on behalf of the company
• Analyze budgets as well as other financial information and help implement strategies that would save cost
• Ensure that the premises is kept clean at all times
• Follow procedures in using chemical cleaners especially where the systems are located
• Carries out any other duties as directed by the human resources manager

6. SWOT Analysis

Due to the fact that we intend to run a business that is up to standard, we have hired the services of a reputable business consultant here in Houston – Texas who has the necessary experience and also knows the business and industry thoroughly to help us look through our business concept and determine if it was worthwhile going into the kind of business that we were going into.

The business consultant was also to help us determine if we were well suited to run a data center business profitably and also compete favorably with the competitors who were running a similar business to ours here in the data center industry.

In view of that, an analysis was run in order to be able to take stock of what strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats were available to us in the industry we intended going into here in the United States of America. Below is the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Utech Datacenter;

There are several strengths available to us during the course of running the business and they include the fact that there are already existing distribution and sales networks available which makes it easier for us to penetrate the target market and get a share.

Also, the industry has been projected to grow and has a high growth rate which means that we are poised to earn lucratively from this business. Another strength lies in the fact that we have reduced labor costs as some of the tasks are being automated.

Finally, our employees are not only competent but very experienced and professional and are well equipped in ensuring that we achieve our intended goals and objectives.

The weakness we have in this business is due to the fact that we are running a small business unit that might affect our standing in the industry. We however intend to combat this by taking our sustainability and expansion measures seriously.

• Opportunities

There are several opportunities that are available to us in the course of running this business and they include; the growing demand from the target market as more and more people are shifting towards cloud based services and other hosting services. This would lead to another opportunity for income, as income for workers and operators in this field will be on a constant increase.

Every business no matter how lucrative faces threats every now either during start-up or whilst running the business and the data center business is no different. As a serious business we however have already laid down strategies that would combat any threat that we might face during the course of running the business.

Some threats that we are likely to face when starting this business include; technological problems that might arise from the equipment. Price changes in procuring most of the equipment or in running the data center that might likely affect our pricing rate for our clients. The arrival of a competitor in the same location might cause our profitability to drop.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

According to a JLL report, Northern Virginia as at 2015 had a year-to-date absorption of 63 MW with Dallas, Seattle and Portland following closely behind. It has also been found that states such as Atlanta, Colorado Springs, Northern Virginia, Portland and Seattle were more attractive for providers in the data center industry based on factors such as power costs, lease costs, sales taxes, property taxes as well as the potential incentives to be gotten.

Data center providers in the United States of America have between the years 2009 and 2015 had a total of 1,267 projects both new and existing; most of these projects had Texas topping the list of states with a total of 147 projects.

This is because Facebook has a 750,000 square foot facility in Fort Worth, Texas which is worth nearly $1 billion, another of such large corporation with several data centers in Texas in HP. Houston in Texas is the hub of for data centers as the demand for these centers is mostly driven by oil and gas companies, energy companies as well as healthcare organizations.

Another state that has a large hub for data centers is Virginia and it has been projected to overtake New York metro. This is because Northern Virginia has abundant fiber, cheap and reliable power as well as attractive tax incentive programs for data center providers. Data centers bring large investments to the community as they also attract service providers.

Although the network management for data centers have been automated for a long while back, they were not fully automated as they ran on servers and routers, physical switches, and were lined by physical network cables. Also, the plugging and unplugging of network cables had been physically limiting for the automatic network configuration.

However, with innovations all the aforementioned difficulties have been resolved especially the plugging and unplugging of physical ports which can be done as a command from software.

8. Our Target Market

The data center industry has a wide range of customers demanding for its services. However, in order for us to truly know who our target market is here in the United States of America, we have conducted a market research to help us truly determine what we are likely to face in getting our own share of the target market. This will also help us map out the needed strategies that would help our business reach its intended goals.

The market research we have conducted is also to help us know what exactly to look out for in our target market and what they will also be expecting from us. In view of this, we have determined that we are in business to cater to the following group of existing and potential clients;

• Data center service vendors
• Market operators
• Consultancy firms
• System integrators
• Training and education service providers
• Telecom and IT companies
• Cloud providers
• National regulatory authorities
• Government and public sector
• Financial institutions
• Oil and gas industry
• Small and medium enterprises
• Energy industry
• Healthcare industry

Our competitive advantage

We have established our business not only to make profit and be amongst the industry leaders but also to ensure that we have all the necessary factors that will allow us not only compete favorably with others but give us an edge as well.

We are located in a strategic location here in Houston – Texas that not only offer our employees easy access but also ensure that our overheads are low thereby affecting the overall pricing rates for our end-user clients, giving us an edge over others.

Even though data centers run a basic service of providing hosting services to clients, we intend to stand apart from our competitors by ensuring that we offer the best customer care service to our clients. All the inquiries of our clients, follow-ups and complaints will be professionally handled by our very qualified customer service executives.

Secondly, we intend to source for and hire the best employees to handle all the necessary responsibilities in the organization. Our employees will not only be very competent, qualified and professional, they will also understand not only the industry but also our corporate core values and be committed to ensuring that we attain all our intended goals and objectives.

Also, we will ensure that our employees are well paid and have the best welfare package across the industry whilst working in an environment that is conducive and safe. Also, our employees will always undergo regular training that will further enhance their skills while making them more productive for the company.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Utech datacenters Houston – Texas just like any other private business has been established with the intention of making money in the data centers market cum the Information technology industry here in the United States of America through our provision of data services for our numerous clients.

At Utech datacenters, we intend to generate income through the provision of these services;

10. Sales Forecast

The data center business industry is one that is still growing and this is because the demands for services of this nature are growing.

Our strategic location in Houston – Texas has made it very possible for us to be optimistic about generating the required income that would allow us not only make enough profits that will allow us sustain and grow our business within six months of operations.

However, in order to ensure that we come up with a sales projections that is not only accurate but that we can rely on, we conducted a critical analysis of the data center industry cum IT industry in order to analyze what chances we had.

The sales projections were done based on information gathered on similar start-ups such as ours here in Houston – Texas as well as all around the United States of America. Below is the sales projection for Utech datacenters based on several factors;

• First Fiscal Year-: $50,000,000
• Second Fiscal Year-: $100,000,000
• Third Fiscal Year-: $200,000,000

N.B : The above sales projections were done based on several assumptions that there won’t be an arrival of any major competitor and that growth in the industry would be stable. It should be noted that should there be a change in the assumptions, the projected sales figures would likely increase or decrease but not remain the same.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Marketing and sales is very important for the growth of a business and so at Utech we take this aspect of our business very seriously as we are also aware that marketing also increases the awareness for a business, asides from allowing a business penetrate the target market and gain a fair share of the market.

We have hired the services of a reputable marketing consultancy firm here in Houston – Texas who have the expertise in this industry and now the terrain here very well to help us draft strategies that would benefit our business and generate the revenue that we have projected for the organization.

We want to build a marketing structure that will allow us also compete favorably with other leading datacenters here in the United States of America whilst also ensuring that we attract potential customers to our business. Our marketing and sales executives have also been empowered to work together with the marketing consultancy firm so that the strategies drafted are in line with our corporate policies and goals.

Below are the marketing strategies that we intend to adopt in generating revenue for Utech datacenters;

• Ensure that our data center business is introduced to organizations and agencies as well as other stakeholders in the United States of America
• Place adverts in local and national newspapers and magazines as well as on radio and television stations
• Engage in direct marketing and sales
• Throw a huge IT themed party in order to capture the interest of stakeholders, potential clients and the general community
• Use our website and other social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google plus and Twitter in order to actively promote our data center business
• Ensure that our business is listed in online directories

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Every business that intends to make profit knows the importance of ensuring that the business receives enough publicity. Publicity for a business not only increases awareness for the business but also ensures that more revenue is generated through the publicity the business gets.

Also in addition to creating awareness for our business, we intend to ensure that our publicity strategies will make us compete favorably with the other leading data centers in the United States of America.

In publicizing and advertising our business, we intend to ensure that we deploy all available strategies. We first intend to hire a reputable brand consulting firm to help us draft suitable publicity and advertising strategies that will ensure that our brand is positively communicated to all our clients – existing or potential.

Therefore some of the publicity and advertising strategies we intend to adopt for Utech datacenters include;

• Be active in the local community where we are located by sponsoring relevant programmes
• Creating contests physically and online for college and university students
• Ensure that we install our billboards in strategic locations all around Houston – Texas as well as round the United States of America in order to create awareness about our organization
• Place adverts in local and national newspapers, business and other relevant magazines as well as on radio and television stations
• Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Google plus, Twitter and other related platforms to create awareness about our business
• Distribute our handbills and post fliers in strategic locations all around Texas

12. Our Pricing Strategy

In deciding what prices we would set for our data center services we would need to carry out a pricing strategy in order to correctly determine what to charge our end-user clients. Factors such as power costs, lease costs, sales taxes, property taxes, what our competitors are offering as well as what potential incentives are to be gotten from our location would go a long way in determining what we would charge our clients.

In view of the fact that we are relatively new in the industry, we intend to lower our prices a bit from what our competitors are offering and so we would ensure that we give our clients a discounted rate for the first six months of business in order to ensure that more customers are aware of the business and that we attract a huge share of the target market. We assure our stakeholders that the lowering of our rates will not in any way allow us to run at a loss.

• Payment Options

Utech is aware of the fact that our different clients have diverse business preferences and lifestyles and so will require different payment options that will suit them. Therefore, the different payment options that will be made available to all our clients include;

• Payment via check
• Payment via credit card
• Payment via online payment portal
• Payment by bank transfer

We have carefully chosen the above payment options because we know that they would work without any form of hitches for our various clients.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

The data center business is a capital intensive one especially as the bulk of the capital is used to lease a suitable facility, get sufficient power, get the necessary equipment to be used and also pay employees and utility bills. Therefore, the key areas where we intend to spend our start-up capital are;

• Fees for business registration and incorporation – $750
• Insurance coverage (General liability, property and equipment insurance, and Workers Compensation) – $100,000
• Obtaining of licenses and permits, as well as accounting software – $100,000
• Leasing of office facility for a period of 10 years including renovations – $7,000,000
• Cost of ensuring generating power as well as back-ups – $3,000,000
• Marketing expenses for a period of one year as well as marketing expenses for the grand opening of Utech datacenters – $450,000
• Cost of hiring reputable business consultants – $350,000
• Operational costs for the first 1 year (employee salaries, utility bills) – $2,000,000
• Cost of purchasing equipment for use (KVM console servers, SSD SAN storage, digital data shredder, Ethernet switches, retina scanner, UPS, blade server etc) – $10,000,000
• Cost of purchasing computers, printers, fax machines, phones – $10,000,000
• Cost of launching a website – $200,000
• Cost of throwing an opening party – $50,000
• Miscellaneous – $1,749,250 

From the above requirements, we would need the sum of $35,000,000 to be able to start and successfully run our data center business here in Houston – Texas. The above amount covers the salaries of our employees and payment of utilities for at least 1 year of operations. It also covers the leasing of an office facility for a period of 10 years, and also procuring of equipment needed to run the data center business.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Utech Data Center Business

Utech datacenters is a business owned and run by two entrepreneurs and businessmen, Blake Chylds and Rob Branson. They intend to seek for various sources in ensuring that they source for the capital required for this business.

Therefore the areas where they intend to generate start-up capital from are;

• Generate part of the start-up capital from sale of property and personal stock
• Approach private investors for a loan in exchange for equity
• Apply for a loan from the bank

N.B: We have been able to generate the sum of $5,000,000 from the sale of our properties and personal stock. We approached a group of private investors who have agreed to lend us the sum of $10,000,000 in exchange for 3% equity in our business.

Our agreements are however based on certain conditions. We approached the ban for the sum of $20,000,000 to be repayable at the rate of 7% in 10 years. All the documents approving the loan have been signed and the money would soon be credited into our account within the week.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of our business lies in how well we are able to sustain and later expand the business. In order to achieve our goals and grow as an organization, we intend to focus on the following factors such as investment strategy, our business structure as well as customer loyalty.

No business can survive without having a stable bottom line and so due to this; we intend to ensure that we re-invest 30% of our profit back into the company so that the business would be able to sustain itself without having to seek for external sources all the time.

We know how important it is for us to build a business structure and as such we are taking this aspect very seriously by recruiting employees who are not only competent and professionals but also those who thoroughly understand and identify with our corporate goals and objectives. We also intend to ensure that we have a great welfare package for our employees so as to boost their productivity efficiency for the organization.

Without customers, businesses would cease to exist as customers make sure that a business can generate revenue and make profit. We intend to offer excellent customer care to our clients and make sure that all issues and complaints are promptly resolved.

Check List / Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members: Completed
• Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In Progress
• Purchase of trucks: Completed

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Sample Data Center Business Plan

Data center hosting company business plan sample.

A data center business is a capital-intensive one. This is because running this business successfully requires a lot of computers.

Amazingly, that’s not all that is required. Also required is a standard facility where the computers will be kept, a constant power supply, security from theft and manipulations, and occasional backup to files to keep the business running.

This is one reason huge companies and government agencies primarily handle it. Government agencies mainly control this business, which does not mean regular individuals can’t run it.

To start a data center business, you will need a business plan. This article contains a data center business plan sample. It contains all that you need to write a good business plan.

Here is a sample business plan for starting a colocation data center agency.

BUSINESS NAME: Btech Data Centre Company

Executive Summary

• Our Products and Services

Vision Statement

Mission Statement

Business Structure

• Market Analysis
• Financial Plan

Competitive Advantage

Btech data Centre Company is a data Centre that is located in New York City.

It is owned by a group of friends and was established to meet the needs of residents of New York City as well as other parts of the United States.

In as much as we are in this business in order to make profit, that is not the only reason we are in this business. The major reason we are in this business is to make available to our clients trustworthy, and a fast data center.

This will be regardless of whatever application that our clients decide to run.

To make top quality services available to our clients, we are looking to get the best equipment available and make use of them in a standard facility. Also, we intend to employ individuals that are not only skilled but have the ability to meet very tight deadlines.

Products and Services

At Btech data Centre Company, we will make available data services of a very high standard to all our clients. We intend to make this possible by offering the following services

• Consultancy
• Services such as VPS, dedicated, Co-locative etc.

Our vision at Btech data center company is to make a trustworthy and fast data center available to our clients.

This does not consider whatever application they decide to run on our data centre. In about 10 years after we get started, we aim to make it to the list of the top 10 choice data centres in New York City.

To make our vision a reality, we will ensure that we make a choice of the right location for our business. We will also get the best equipment and the right staff who understands our vision and can run with it.

The right or wrong business structure can make or mar a business. We are very much aware of this fact.

As a result of this, we are not going to take our business structure lightly. We have taken it upon ourselves to get a conducive working environment for our employees.

Also, we will only hire competent employees who can carry out whatever responsibility is assigned to them perfectly. At Btech data Centre Company, we will be offering a wide range of services.

This means we will be hiring professionals that are the best at what they do. With this, we will have only the best hands working with us.

Market Analysis Market Trend

Some years ago, data centres were not fully automated. We did such things as plugging and the unplugging of network cables manually.

This created some sort of limitation. However, at the moment, with latest innovations, data centres are now fully automated. This has made data centers much more efficient than they used to be.

Target Market

After carrying out a series of thorough research. We have finally selected a group of individuals from the huge market available to data centres.

Some of the sectors that we target include the oil and gas industry, the energy industry, the healthcare sector, the financial sector, the public sector, and the telecom sector.

Sales and Marketing Strategy

At Btech data Centre Company, we aim to market our brand by doing the following.

• Giving discounts to our clients throughout the first month of running our business
• Offering good and top notch services to our clients
• Giving our clients the best treatment possible

Financial Plan Source of Startup Capital

From the day we set out to start this business, we knew it would require a lot from us both in time and cash. We are looking to run this project with $1,000,000. We already have half of that amount.

We were able to get this half from our savings and from loans and gifts from friends and family. You will get the remaining 50% of the amount needed to start this company from the bank.

As far as data center business is concerned, we are not interested in being just a face in the crowd.

We want to become a force to be reckoned with. We are looking to achieve this by offering only top quality services to our esteemed clients.

The above business plan sample is a business plan sample for the data center company, Btech data center company. It is owned by a group of friends with a joint working experience of over 50 years.

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Investing in the rising data center economy

The explosion in demand for data centers has attracted the attention of investors of all types—growth capital, buyout, real estate, and, increasingly, infrastructure investors. In the US market alone, demand—measured by power consumption to reflect the number of servers a data center can house—is expected to reach 35 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, up from 17 GW in 2022, according to McKinsey analysis (Exhibit 1). The United States accounts for roughly 40 percent of the global market.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Srini Bangalore, Arjita Bhan, Andrea Del Miglio , Pankaj Sachdeva, Vijay Sarma, Raman Sharma , and Bhargs Srivathsan , representing views from McKinsey’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice.

Data centers are typically owned and operated either by big companies (such as cloud vendors, banks, or telcos) for their own purposes or by co-location companies. The latter lease out the space and typically provide network capacity and power, as well as the cooling equipment that keeps down server temperatures. Tenants bring their own IT equipment. Data centers have attracted the interest of investors, often because of the steady, utility-like cash flows and risk-adjusted yields. 1 Relatively few data center operators remain publicly owned. According to NAREIT, as of October 31, 2022, the dividend yield stands at 3.14 percent, and the 2021 total return at 25.47 percent. In 2021, there were 209 data center deals, with an aggregate value of more than $48 billion, up some 40 percent from 2020, when the deals were worth $34 billion. In the first half of 2022, there were 87 deals, with an aggregate value of $24 billion. From 2015 to 2018, private equity buyers accounted for 42 percent of the deal value. Their share increased to 65 percent from 2019 to 2021 and to more than 90 percent in the first half of 2022. 2 “Private equity is driving a boom in data center M&A deals,” Synergy Research Group, June 22, 2022.

Several factors could limit this trend, however. First, higher interest rates raise the cost of funding deals, though this is not limited to only data centers. More specifically, multiples and forward price-to-earnings ratios for co-location companies have been relatively high, boosted by competition to snag the diminishing number of potential acquisition targets for private investors and for co-location companies keen to expand.

In addition, the operating margins of co-location companies are under pressure from prominent cloud vendors, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. These have long been major customers for co-location companies but also continue to own and build their own world-class centers. 3 McKinsey analysis. As a result, they are signing shorter-term contracts and are often in a strong position to demand favorable leasing terms. Moreover, if this strategy means that co-location companies will no longer be long-term owners and operators of data centers but more akin to developers, the market will open up for other competitors. Real-estate companies, for example, could increasingly build or lease out space for their tenants to equip and use.

But this possibility does not mean that the sector lacks value-creating investment opportunities. As Exhibit 1 shows, co-location companies will continue to have a strong position in the market. Hyperscalers still need them to meet fast-growing demand, and smaller enterprises depend on their specialist services. That helps explain why three investment groups are in the running to acquire Global Switch. 4 Dan Swinhoe, “Stonepeak and Gaw drop out of Global Switch bidding, three companies still in running,” DCD, November 22, 2022. However, many investors may not have considered the upstream opportunities in a complex value chain. Here we explain where investors might start to look.

Data centers have four main components: the facility itself; the industrial equipment, including the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) gear; the IT hardware; and the software. There are also opportunities in data center operations—the management of facilities and IT services, such as hosting and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Other services, such as power and connectivity, present opportunities, too. Potential investments lie across this value chain, but in four areas demand is particularly high (and not matched by supply) or innovation is especially likely to create value.

Sustainable (or green) energy

Data centers are big energy consumers—a hyperscaler’s data center can use as much power as 80,000 households do. Pressure to make data centers sustainable is therefore high, and some regulators and governments are imposing sustainability standards on newly built data centers. 5 Singapore and the Netherlands are examples. This development gives investors opportunities to help data centers secure carbon-free energy supplies.

In fact, the use of renewable energy is a critical component of the hyperscalers’ strategies. Thanks to carbon offsets, Apple, Google, and Meta, for example, were all carbon neutral by 2020. They and other hyperscalers have committed themselves to using only carbon-free energy by 2030. Co-location companies are also under pressure , not least from some of their customers, to meet sustainability goals. A former executive at a hyperscaler told us that the sustainability record of co-location companies was a significant consideration in deciding which ones to work with.

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To reach carbon-free energy goals, data center owners are signing power purchase agreements (PPAs) with suppliers of renewable energy. Meanwhile, hyperscalers are starting to fund the building of renewable-energy plants in the face of soaring prices caused by supply shortages. 6 Dan Swinhoe, “Power purchase agreement prices up nearly 50 percent in Europe over last year,” DCD, July 14, 2022. In the United Kingdom, for example, Amazon has supported Scottish Power’s wind farm and is purchasing its entire 50-megawatt (MW) output. 7 “Amazon’s first Scottish wind farm project comes online,” Amazon News, October 28, 2021.

Yet such moves will not suffice if using only renewable energy is the goal. The first problem is intermittency. Solar power is generated only in the daytime, and wind power depends on the weather, so fossil-fuel supplies often supplement power from renewable PPAs. One emerging solution is “24/7” PPAs, which commit themselves to matching each hour of electricity consumption with a combination of carbon-free supplies and, quite important, stored renewable energy. These contracts come at higher prices, however, not least because current storage technologies are expensive. The levelized cost of electricity from a system that combines wind, solar, and lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery storage typically exceeds $200 per megawatt-hour. Long-duration storage solutions that deploy hydrogen and green-ammonia energy could push that below $100, but these technologies remain at a relatively early stage of development. 8 “ Decarbonizing the grid with 24/7 clean power purchase agreements ,” McKinsey,  May 11, 2022. Backup power is another issue, since many data centers still use diesel generators during power outages. Li-ion batteries are the most developed carbon-free backup solution but can prove expensive over long periods.

All of this presents opportunities for investors. Not all co-location providers have the scale to procure renewable power either through PPAs or investments in power plants. Investors with smaller data centers could aggregate their purchasing power to optimize energy procurement and storage. Some might also consider investing in renewable-energy plants that could supply consortiums of smaller players.

Other potential technology and R&D investments include more stable renewable-energy technology and sources (such as geothermal and wave energy) to facilitate zero-carbon backup power and storage solutions. Investors might even offer to pilot new solutions in data centers they own.

Cooling and energy consumption

Climate change and unpredictable weather events, pressure to decarbonize data centers, and increasingly powerful computers offer investment opportunities in cooling and energy efficiency technologies for data centers.

Data center equipment, often consisting of thousands of servers, must be cooled to work efficiently. Indeed, the capacity of a data center is dictated by how well it cools the servers—the more closely they can be stacked, the more productive the square footage. Efficient cooling is therefore a crucial driver of a data center’s profitability. Cooling accounts for some 40 percent of a data center’s energy consumption. 9 McKinsey analysis. The cost of downtime from overheating can be high.

Cooling technology has improved rapidly over the past decade. Most large data centers have replaced old air-conditioning-like systems that keep entire rooms cool with in-row or rotodynamic heater-based cooling designs: heat emitted from servers is drawn away by fans and then cooled with water or a refrigerant. Yet even better performance is required because today’s more advanced systems can struggle to control the temperatures associated with global warming. Google and Oracle, for instance, both faced downtime during a heatwave in Europe this past summer.

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Higher computing power and innovative chip designs are also putting more demand on cooling systems by raising the power density: the energy consumption of the equipment stored in racks. Their average power densities have more than doubled over the past six to seven years and continue to rise. 10 Andy Lawrence, “Density is rising,” Uptime Institute, December 7, 2020. The density of a single rack can be as high as 20 to 30 kilowatts in specific high-performance environments. Space constraints—especially for smaller edge-computing data centers in urban areas—also raise demand for systems with higher power densities.

Data centers need to use energy more efficiently as well. Power usage effectiveness (PUE)—the amount of power the computing equipment in a data center uses relative to its total energy consumption—fell considerably from 2007 levels, but progress has flattened over the past decade (Exhibit 2). 11 Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey Results 2022 , Uptime Institute, September 14, 2022. Even the hyperscalers that deploy advanced cooling designs and technologies struggle to improve significantly: the reported PUE of Google’s data centers has fallen only incrementally during the past seven to eight years, for example. 12 “Efficiency,” Google Data Centers.

Cooling and energy efficiency technologies

To improve the efficiency of cooling systems and reduce energy consumption in data centers, several technologies are now under development.

Immersion cooling. New approaches include full-immersion and direct-to-chip/cold-plate cooling. In the former, IT equipment (such as a server) is immersed entirely in a nonconductive and nonflammable di-electric liquid that acts as a coolant and dissipates heat generated by the equipment. In the latter (and more targeted) approach, a metal plate (or heat sink) is used for high-thermal-emission components (such as chips) in the servers. This approach transfers the heat and then cools it using a liquid coolant. By maintaining consistent, uniform temperatures, full-immersion cooling can cope with higher power densities (upward of 100 kilowatts) and raise the average performance of central processing units by as much as 40 percent. 1 McKinsey analysis. Riot Platforms uses immersion technology at a Bitcoin-mining farm in its Whinstone facility in Texas, 2 “Riot announces first industrial-scale immersion-cooled bitcoin mining operation,” Riot Platforms press release, October 19, 2021. and hyperscalers are developing and testing it. But the widespread use of these technologies will require collaboration between IT manufacturers and infrastructure owners.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning. Hyperscalers such as Google have used artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms to focus cooling where it is most needed, depending on factors such as workload intensity and changing power loads across racks. Early adopters have reported 20 to 30 percent reductions in power usage effectiveness. AI/ML applications have also balanced the load on uninterruptible-power-supply units by changing power routes to servers throughout the day to optimize cooling and save energy.

Waste-heat applications. To reduce a data center’s carbon footprint, these applications use heat from data centers for other purposes, such as district heating. Amazon uses recycled heat from a data center in Ireland to supply district heat in Dublin, for example, and Facebook says that the heat from its Danish data center is warming 6,900 homes. 3 Lauren Edelman, “Facebook’s hyperscale data center warms Odense,” Meta, July 7, 2020.

To address these challenges, companies are developing and deploying several technologies, including immersion cooling, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and the use of waste heat (see sidebar, “Cooling and energy efficiency technologies”). Yet extensive investment is still required to make progress in R&D and in deployment at scale. In some instances, collaboration across the value chain will probably be needed: for example, full-immersion cooling, which submerges servers in a coolant, could require changes to chip packaging; the form factors of servers; building layouts, materials, and design; and MEP systems. An investor with data center assets might vertically integrate components of the value chain by, for example, investing in a cooling-technology company to prove a concept and test the solution.

Constructing prefab and modular data centers

Rising demand for new data centers is also creating potential investment opportunities in the fragmented prefabrication and modular (PFM) sector. According to the Synergy Research Group, in 2022 hyperscalers alone allocated some $9 billion to build more capacity—a sum expected to grow by more than 4 percent a year until 2030 (Exhibit 3). Such plans face headwinds, however: the labor market is tight, commodity prices volatile, inflation high, and supply chains constrained, so global capital costs for construction projects have risen by at least 6 percent since 2020. 13 McKinsey Capital Analytics.

As a result, hyperscalers have turned increasingly to PFM solutions that enable parts of the construction process to take place off-site. Done well, PFM not only cuts construction times but also reduces costs and improves safety, quality, and sustainability, since more work takes place in controlled manufacturing settings. One company recently cut the cost of building a 45-MW facility in Europe by 20 percent and slashed construction time to 11 months (from 17) by using prefabricated components for the building, as well as modularized components for the electrical and cooling systems.

There are four types of prefabricated or modularized solutions:

• the prefabrication of structural and architectural components, such as concrete beams, walls, slabs, facades, and precast underground culverts
• skid-mounted MEP equipment: metal racks for mounting and connecting mechanical, IT, power, and cooling components and systems
• enclosed MEP modules, which mount and connect the same kind of equipment, but in a cabinet
• all-in-one data centers: turnkey data centers, which are feasible only for smaller facilities of 1.0 to 1.5 MW.

Some companies manufacture parts for solutions and others integrate them. A few well-established players serve a broad range of industries; others work specifically with data center operators. But a long tail of start-ups focus on small slivers of this industry. They are too small to serve large companies, and that holds back demand. Investors in manufacturers or integrators of PFM components could help these companies expand their reach and improve economies of scale.

Edge computing

Although enterprises are rapidly shifting vast amounts of their work to the public cloud, they are also growing more knowledgeable about what not to store there. Applications (for instance, autonomous driving) that require real-time insights at very low latencies might be better conducted close to the data’s source. The cost of transferring large volumes of data to and from the public cloud can also favor edge computing. So do data privacy and residency regulations that require certain types of data to be stored near their point of origin.

All this explains the growing size of the addressable market for edge computing. According to IDC, the worldwide spending of enterprises and service providers on hardware, software, and services for edge solutions was projected to reach $176 billion in 2022 (an increase of 14.8 percent from 2021) and $274 billion in 2025. 14 “New IDC spending guide forecasts double-digit growth for investments in edge computing,” IDC, January 13, 2022.

Two types of investment opportunities related to data centers stand out. The first is real estate. Demand for edge computing must be met from smaller data centers, often located in urban areas close to customers, rather than huge facilities in far-off locales. The second is technology. The components of the edge-computing tech stack (the hardware, connectivity, platforms, and software) are not new. The challenge is how to deploy and architect them at the edge—how artificial-intelligence capabilities can be brought there, for example, or how to deploy and manage platforms.

Not surprisingly, the big edge providers (such as hyperscalers, telcos, and large systems integrators) are acquiring or investing in start-ups in the space. In March 2022, for instance, T-Mobile invested $40 million in Spectro Cloud to promote innovation in Kubernetes management. In April, Google Cloud acquired MobiledgeX, an edge-computing management specialist aiming to develop a standard orchestration layer for edge-computing assets. Private investors interested in data centers could also consider investments in edge technology.

As demand for data centers increases, investments in companies that operate them and in co-location companies remain an option. Yet potentially attractive opportunities lie in other parts of the data center value chain. Investors might focus on individual elements (such as green-power generation or immersion cooling) or invest where elements intersect—modular solutions for edge data centers, for example, or carbon-free edge data centers. Investors that already own data center assets could also consider vertically integrating critical elements across the value chain.

Investment activity in some areas, such as procuring green energy for data centers or cooling solutions, may be picking up. However, these are still far from the mainstream, leaving considerable untapped potential. Since the risk/return profiles differ from those for the acquisition of a data center, these areas will probably appeal to different sets of investors, depending on their investment objectives. With data centers now playing such a central role in the economy, it makes sense to consider the entire value chain.

Srini Bangalore and Bhargs Srivathsan are partners in McKinsey’s Bay Area office; Arjita Bhan is a knowledge specialist in the Waltham, Massachusetts, office; Andrea Del Miglio is a senior partner in the Milan office; Pankaj Sachdeva is a partner in the Philadelphia office; Vijay Sarma is a senior expert in the London office; and Raman Sharma is an associate partner in the Toronto office.

The authors wish to thank Katy Bartlett, Luca Bennici, Marcel Brinkman, Vladimir Cernavskis, Rishi Gupta, Arpit Kaur, Matt Linderman, Andrew Mullin, Shaila Narang, Jakob Österberg, Nick Padgett, Jürgen Sailer, Lorraine Salazar, Nestor Sepulveda, Shashank Singh , Even Skjellaug, Christoph Sohns, Adithya Sukumar, Shally Venugopal, and Philippe Wrobel for their contributions to this article.

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Data Center Business Plan

Data center business plan presentation, free google slides theme, powerpoint template, and canva presentation template.

We could say that data centers keep the brain of the companies, since they are facilities in charge of keeping the computers, networks, and, in short, the data of a company. The security and maintenance of this type of center is vital, as it could mean the end of a company. But that will not happen, because your data center is the safest in the world and has the best possible organization, because you have organized your business plan with this futuristic template, full of resources. Download it to discover its technological style and protect your data!

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ZenBusinessPlans

Home » Sample Business Plans » Technology

A Saample Data Center Business Plan Template

Are you about starting a data center? If YES, here is a complete sample data center business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE . Okay, so we have considered all the requirements for starting a data center business.

We also took it further by analyzing and drafting a sample data center marketing plan template backed up by actionable guerrilla marketing ideas for data centers. So let’s proceed to the business planning section.

Why Start a Data Center?

Even though data centers are mostly run by government agencies or large companies, several medium and small scale companies are also going into the business so as to provide a cloud solution service that can be used for private and business applications.

This business is however one that is capital intensive as any entrepreneur going into this would need to procure enough computers and also ensure that where the computers are housed has steady electricity, ventilation and is secure from theft, accidental and intentional manipulation. Also, asides from these factors, there must also always be periodic back-ups in order to ensure that the business remains operable.

To start this business, it is necessary to approach a reputable business consultant who not only understands the industry but also the business very well in order to determine if it would be worthwhile going into the business. The business consultant also points out the obstacles and challenges the business is likely to face and how best to overcome them when it crops up.

Another thing that is important to have before starting any business is a business plan. Writing a business plan might not be so easy, however it is for this reason that a sample business plan has been prepared below – a sample data center business plan;

A Sample Data Center Business Plan Template

1. industry overview.

The data center industry is one is one that has seen several changes come upon it, as businesses operating in this industry have moved from cloud adoption to data sovereignty, which is due to the fact that client companies are getting business smart about their data as well as computer strategies. This has led to operators in the united states of America and even globally to experience growth in revenue as well as round the whole industry.

The state that has the strongest presence in the data center industry is North Virginia, which is due to the fact that they have a low-post power as well as renewable hydropower. Around the globe, operators are eyeing government policies that might require that data centers be housed in the same country from which the data is accessed from which would lead to locations playing a huge influence on the data center industry.

The data center industry has made a huge impact on the power sector in the United States of America as electricity savings have been improved in between the last seven years. This is contrary to the expectations that energy use would increase as more people demand for real-time data which has not been so has energy has remained stable since 2010. Also, according to projections, energy use will reduce as the industry grows which would come from improved cooling and powering strategies and data center micro grids.

Most operators in the data center industry have started pushing for flexibility in their leasing agreements by looking to cut down the standard lease agreements from 10 years to between 5 – 7 years, this is so as to right-size and server reliance.

Data centers usually consume energy that is required that can be used to run a small town. Google Inc for instance had 13 data centers in 2013 round the world which used close to 260 million watts of power which amounts for 0.01% global energy. According to statistics, that amount of power can be used to supply electricity that will power 200,000 homes.

The lifespan of data centers is usually around 8 – 10 years on the average as technologies have been used to determine its lifespan. It should also be noted that cloud computing has also started gaining popularity among service providers; this is because more companies are switching from enterprise data systems to cloud services.

The data center industry has also seen some operators start to use automated network management systems. This automated network management operate physical network configuration, plugs and unplugs physical ports on command prompt from software and also allows physical data center network connections to be managed more quickly and remotely.

According to a recent study by International data Corporation (IDC), it has been projected that North America will provide the highest share of IT spending globally between the period of 2015 to 2019 which has been projected to pass the $1 trillion mark by 2017. In 2015, the data center industry grew to 6.1% with operators in the United States earning $115.6 billion in revenue.

2. Executive Summary

Utech datacenters is a leading and standard data center that will be located in Houston – Texas in order to serve all our domestic and corporate clients here in the United States of America and international clients as well. We are in the data center business to provide hosting services such as shared, VPS, dedicated, co-locative and cloud services. We also in addition to our core services offer consultancy services in line with training services so as to boost our bottom line.

We are in business not only to make profit but to also favorably compete with our competitors here in the United States of America as well as globally. Our vision is to offer our clients a reliable, secure and fast data center regardless of whatever applications they choose to run on our data center. We also aim to be amongst the top five preferred data center here in Houston – Texas by the year 2025.

Our location in Houston – Texas is very strategic as we are not only very easy for clients to get to but we will also have low overheads in running the data center via factors such as power costs, lease costs, sales taxes, property taxes as well as the potential incentives.

We intend to procure the best equipment in order to be able to provide the best services for our clients and run a standard data center here in Houston – Texas. Our goal is also to ensure that we build a business structure that will aid us in achieving our corporate goals and objectives.

Our intention in running a smooth business with as less hitches as possible is to ensure that we hire the right number of employees who not only have an understanding of the industry and are professionals but also are attuned to our corporate goals and vision and are committed to ensuring that these goals and visions are achieved.

We intend to provide a conducive and friendly environment for our employees as well as ensure that they get the required training that is continuous in nature so as not only to enhance their skills and increase productivity for the organization but to also ensure that the skills gotten are the best across similar start-up such as ours in the industry.

We also intend to make sure that our employees are one of the best paid and that they also have one of the best welfare packages in the industry. We intend to carry out continuous appraisals on our employees to ensure that those who are hard-working are promoted in order to motivate them into being more productive.

Finally our owners, Blake Chylds and Rob Branson have not only been in the data center business for years but have also served in the management capacity where they have had to make strategic decisions on behalf of the company. Both men have several IT certifications and are alumni of Harvard University and MIT Engineering School.

Both men also have several stakes in the IT industry and are going into the data center business due to the demand from their various clients. They will bring their over 30 years experience to bear in this business and ensure that the goals and objectives of the business are achieved.

3. Our Products and Services

Utech datacenters will offer traditional data services to its customers that are of the highest standard possible from our permanent and strategic location based here in Houston – Texas. However as part of our efforts to boost our bottom line, we intend to ensure that we create multiple sources of income to our core service by providing consultancy services as well as trainings to our clients.

Our intention is to ensure that we make profits as is legally permissible by the laws of the state where we are operating as well as all over the United States of America. Therefore, some of the products and services we intend to offer at Utech datacenters include;

• Providing hosting services such as shared, VPS, dedicated, co-locative as well as cloud
• Consultancy services

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

• Our vision is to offer our clients a reliable, secure and fast data center regardless of whatever applications they choose to run on our data center. We also aim to be amongst the top five preferred data center here in Houston – Texas by the year 2025.
• In order to achieve our vision, we intend to ensure that we get the right equipment, choose the right location that is not only strategic but secure and also hire the right employees that understand our vision to help us run the business.

Our Business Structure

Having the right business structure is very essential to the growth of our business and we are therefore not taking this aspect trivially. We intend to ensure that our corporate foundation is perfect and as such we would go the extra mile in sourcing for and hiring competent and hardworking employees to handle the various roles and responsibilities in the organization.

We are ready to do whatever it takes to achieve this as we are a standard company with a standing in the industry that will lure the right employees to come and work for us at Utech data center here in Houston – Texas. The employees we intend to choose to work with us are those that understand the objectives of the business and are willing to work in ensuring that we achieve our intended goals and objectives.

Due to the fact that we intend to offer a wide range of services and offer trainings as well as consultancy services at our data center business, we intend to hire different employees that will be able to handle the different responsibilities from the assigned tasks that would be available at Utech datacenter here in Houston – Texas.

Therefore, the business structure that we intend to build at Utech datacenter is;

Chief Executive Officer

Infrastructure Manager

IT and Database Admin

Network and Systems Admin

Customer Service Executives

Marketing and Sales Executives

Security Specialist

Server and Storage Admin

Electrical and Mechanical System Engineer

Security Personnel

Human Resources and Admin Manager

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

• Formulates the policies that are used in planning for the strategic direction of the organization
• Manages financial resources by recommending yearly budget and ensuring that the organizations resources within the budget guidelines are in line with organizational laws and policies
• Reviews policies and processes and removes or modifies those that are found to be inefficient
• Responsible for all the IT systems which includes the hardware, software as well as security systems in the organization
• Responsible for ensuring that data is secure the company data-wise and also ensure that the business runs smoothly and efficiently
• In charge of implementing up-to-date solutions across the infrastructure
• Works closely with the systems administrator to ensure that all the database needs are being met
• Carries out an upgrade to the database whenever needed
• Ensure that the security of the database is implemented in order to safeguard the data
• Ensures that the network is designed in such a way as to suit the needs of the organization
• Ensures that the network administration is set up and configured
• Adds new host machines, administers network security and also trouble shoot network problems
• Are up-to-date about relevant trends in the industry as well as organizations policies so as to give clients informed information
• Keeps an accurate database of clients and updates when necessary on behalf of the organization
• Carries out any other duties as directed by the human resource manager
• Carries out communication with target market and also ensure that client relationships are well managed
• Conducts more research on the target market in order to determine new markets for the organization
• Advertises the organization on different platforms so as to create awareness for the organization
• In charge of protecting information from unauthorized violations and access
• Conducts continual tests on systems so as to expose vulnerabilities in security
• Prepares technical reports
• In charge of maintaining and managing the company’s storage-based systems
• Assists in product engineering as it relates to the organizations technologies
• Deploys storage technologies on behalf of the organization
• Investigates and designs renovations for available mechanical systems
• Provides technical support to the department related to mechanical and electrical systems in the organization
• Carries out or supervises construction or repair of electrical and mechanical systems
• Patrols organizations property to ensure that the premises and personnel are secure
• In charge of monitoring surveillance equipment and reports irregularities
• Restrains trespassers and inform violators of policies and procedures of the organization
• Defines job positions for recruitment, carries out recruitment exercise and induction for new staff members
• Ensures that recruitment, welfare benefits as well as contract termination are in compliance with legal, contractual and statutory procedures
• Handles general office management issues
• Recommends financial actions on behalf of the organization by analyzing accounting options
• Prepares financial statements and income by compiling and analyzing account information on behalf of the company
• Analyze budgets as well as other financial information and help implement strategies that would save cost
• Ensure that the premises is kept clean at all times
• Follow procedures in using chemical cleaners especially where the systems are located
• Carries out any other duties as directed by the human resources manager

6. SWOT Analysis

Due to the fact that we intend to run a business that is up to standard, we have hired the services of a reputable business consultant here in Houston – Texas who has the necessary experience and also knows the business and industry thoroughly to help us look through our business concept and determine if it was worthwhile going into the kind of business that we were going into.

The business consultant was also to help us determine if we were well suited to run a data center business profitably and also compete favorably with the competitors who were running a similar business to ours here in the data center industry.

In view of that, an analysis was run in order to be able to take stock of what strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats were available to us in the industry we intended going into here in the United States of America. Below is the SWOT analysis that was conducted on behalf of Utech Datacenter;

There are several strengths available to us during the course of running the business and they include the fact that there are already existing distribution and sales networks available which makes it easier for us to penetrate the target market and get a share.

Also, the industry has been projected to grow and has a high growth rate which means that we are poised to earn lucratively from this business. Another strength lies in the fact that we have reduced labor costs as some of the tasks are being automated.

Finally, our employees are not only competent but very experienced and professional and are well equipped in ensuring that we achieve our intended goals and objectives.

The weakness we have in this business is due to the fact that we are running a small business unit that might affect our standing in the industry. We however intend to combat this by taking our sustainability and expansion measures seriously.

• Opportunities

There are several opportunities that are available to us in the course of running this business and they include; the growing demand from the target market as more and more people are shifting towards cloud based services and other hosting services. This would lead to another opportunity for income, as income for workers and operators in this field will be on a constant increase.

Every business no matter how lucrative faces threats every now either during start-up or whilst running the business and the data center business is no different. As a serious business we however have already laid down strategies that would combat any threat that we might face during the course of running the business.

Some threats that we are likely to face when starting this business include; technological problems that might arise from the equipment. Price changes in procuring most of the equipment or in running the data center that might likely affect our pricing rate for our clients. The arrival of a competitor in the same location might cause our profitability to drop.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

• Market Trends

According to a JLL report, Northern Virginia as at 2015 had a year-to-date absorption of 63 MW with Dallas, Seattle and Portland following closely behind. It has also been found that states such as Atlanta, Colorado Springs, Northern Virginia, Portland and Seattle were more attractive for providers in the data center industry based on factors such as power costs, lease costs, sales taxes, property taxes as well as the potential incentives to be gotten.

Data center providers in the United States of America have between the years 2009 and 2015 had a total of 1,267 projects both new and existing; most of these projects had Texas topping the list of states with a total of 147 projects.

This is because Facebook has a 750,000 square foot facility in Fort Worth, Texas which is worth nearly $1 billion, another of such large corporation with several data centers in Texas in HP. Houston in Texas is the hub of for data centers as the demand for these centers is mostly driven by oil and gas companies, energy companies as well as healthcare organizations.

Another state that has a large hub for data centers is Virginia and it has been projected to overtake New York metro. This is because Northern Virginia has abundant fiber, cheap and reliable power as well as attractive tax incentive programs for data center providers. Data centers bring large investments to the community as they also attract service providers.

Although the network management for data centers have been automated for a long while back, they were not fully automated as they ran on servers and routers, physical switches, and were lined by physical network cables. Also, the plugging and unplugging of network cables had been physically limiting for the automatic network configuration.

However, with innovations all the aforementioned difficulties have been resolved especially the plugging and unplugging of physical ports which can be done as a command from software.

8. Our Target Market

The data center industry has a wide range of customers demanding for its services. However, in order for us to truly know who our target market is here in the United States of America, we have conducted a market research to help us truly determine what we are likely to face in getting our own share of the target market. This will also help us map out the needed strategies that would help our business reach its intended goals.

The market research we have conducted is also to help us know what exactly to look out for in our target market and what they will also be expecting from us. In view of this, we have determined that we are in business to cater to the following group of existing and potential clients;

• Data center service vendors
• Market operators
• Consultancy firms
• System integrators
• Training and education service providers
• Telecom and IT companies
• Cloud providers
• National regulatory authorities
• Government and public sector
• Financial institutions
• Oil and gas industry
• Small and medium enterprises
• Energy industry
• Healthcare industry

Our competitive advantage

We have established our business not only to make profit and be amongst the industry leaders but also to ensure that we have all the necessary factors that will allow us not only compete favorably with others but give us an edge as well.

We are located in a strategic location here in Houston – Texas that not only offer our employees easy access but also ensure that our overheads are low thereby affecting the overall pricing rates for our end-user clients, giving us an edge over others.

Even though data centers run a basic service of providing hosting services to clients, we intend to stand apart from our competitors by ensuring that we offer the best customer care service to our clients. All the inquiries of our clients, follow-ups and complaints will be professionally handled by our very qualified customer service executives.

Secondly, we intend to source for and hire the best employees to handle all the necessary responsibilities in the organization. Our employees will not only be very competent, qualified and professional, they will also understand not only the industry but also our corporate core values and be committed to ensuring that we attain all our intended goals and objectives.

Also, we will ensure that our employees are well paid and have the best welfare package across the industry whilst working in an environment that is conducive and safe. Also, our employees will always undergo regular training that will further enhance their skills while making them more productive for the company.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

• Sources of Income

Utech datacenters Houston – Texas just like any other private business has been established with the intention of making money in the data centers market cum the Information technology industry here in the United States of America through our provision of data services for our numerous clients.

At Utech datacenters, we intend to generate income through the provision of these services;

10. Sales Forecast

The data center business industry is one that is still growing and this is because the demands for services of this nature are growing.

Our strategic location in Houston – Texas has made it very possible for us to be optimistic about generating the required income that would allow us not only make enough profits that will allow us sustain and grow our business within six months of operations.

However, in order to ensure that we come up with a sales projections that is not only accurate but that we can rely on, we conducted a critical analysis of the data center industry cum IT industry in order to analyze what chances we had.

The sales projections were done based on information gathered on similar start-ups such as ours here in Houston – Texas as well as all around the United States of America. Below is the sales projection for Utech datacenters based on several factors;

• First Fiscal Year-: $50,000,000
• Second Fiscal Year-: $100,000,000
• Third Fiscal Year-: $200,000,000

N.B : The above sales projections were done based on several assumptions that there won’t be an arrival of any major competitor and that growth in the industry would be stable. It should be noted that should there be a change in the assumptions, the projected sales figures would likely increase or decrease but not remain the same.

• Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Marketing and sales is very important for the growth of a business and so at Utech we take this aspect of our business very seriously as we are also aware that marketing also increases the awareness for a business, asides from allowing a business penetrate the target market and gain a fair share of the market.

We have hired the services of a reputable marketing consultancy firm here in Houston – Texas who have the expertise in this industry and now the terrain here very well to help us draft strategies that would benefit our business and generate the revenue that we have projected for the organization.

We want to build a marketing structure that will allow us also compete favorably with other leading datacenters here in the United States of America whilst also ensuring that we attract potential customers to our business. Our marketing and sales executives have also been empowered to work together with the marketing consultancy firm so that the strategies drafted are in line with our corporate policies and goals.

Below are the marketing strategies that we intend to adopt in generating revenue for Utech datacenters;

• Ensure that our data center business is introduced to organizations and agencies as well as other stakeholders in the United States of America
• Place adverts in local and national newspapers and magazines as well as on radio and television stations
• Engage in direct marketing and sales
• Throw a huge IT themed party in order to capture the interest of stakeholders, potential clients and the general community
• Use our website and other social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google plus and Twitter in order to actively promote our data center business
• Ensure that our business is listed in online directories

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Every business that intends to make profit knows the importance of ensuring that the business receives enough publicity. Publicity for a business not only increases awareness for the business but also ensures that more revenue is generated through the publicity the business gets.

Also in addition to creating awareness for our business, we intend to ensure that our publicity strategies will make us compete favorably with the other leading data centers in the United States of America.

In publicizing and advertising our business, we intend to ensure that we deploy all available strategies. We first intend to hire a reputable brand consulting firm to help us draft suitable publicity and advertising strategies that will ensure that our brand is positively communicated to all our clients – existing or potential.

Therefore some of the publicity and advertising strategies we intend to adopt for Utech datacenters include;

• Be active in the local community where we are located by sponsoring relevant programmes
• Creating contests physically and online for college and university students
• Ensure that we install our billboards in strategic locations all around Houston – Texas as well as round the United States of America in order to create awareness about our organization
• Place adverts in local and national newspapers, business and other relevant magazines as well as on radio and television stations
• Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Google plus, Twitter and other related platforms to create awareness about our business
• Distribute our handbills and post fliers in strategic locations all around Texas

12. Our Pricing Strategy

In deciding what prices we would set for our data center services we would need to carry out a pricing strategy in order to correctly determine what to charge our end-user clients. Factors such as power costs, lease costs, sales taxes, property taxes, what our competitors are offering as well as what potential incentives are to be gotten from our location would go a long way in determining what we would charge our clients.

In view of the fact that we are relatively new in the industry, we intend to lower our prices a bit from what our competitors are offering and so we would ensure that we give our clients a discounted rate for the first six months of business in order to ensure that more customers are aware of the business and that we attract a huge share of the target market. We assure our stakeholders that the lowering of our rates will not in any way allow us to run at a loss.

• Payment Options

Utech is aware of the fact that our different clients have diverse business preferences and lifestyles and so will require different payment options that will suit them. Therefore, the different payment options that will be made available to all our clients include;

• Payment via check
• Payment via credit card
• Payment via online payment portal
• Payment by bank transfer

We have carefully chosen the above payment options because we know that they would work without any form of hitches for our various clients.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

The data center business is a capital intensive one especially as the bulk of the capital is used to lease a suitable facility, get sufficient power, get the necessary equipment to be used and also pay employees and utility bills. Therefore, the key areas where we intend to spend our start-up capital are;

• Fees for business registration and incorporation – $750
• Insurance coverage (General liability, property and equipment insurance, and Workers Compensation) – $100,000
• Obtaining of licenses and permits, as well as accounting software – $100,000
• Leasing of office facility for a period of 10 years including renovations – $7,000,000
• Cost of ensuring generating power as well as back-ups – $3,000,000
• Marketing expenses for a period of one year as well as marketing expenses for the grand opening of Utech datacenters – $450,000
• Cost of hiring reputable business consultants – $350,000
• Operational costs for the first 1 year (employee salaries, utility bills) – $2,000,000
• Cost of purchasing equipment for use (KVM console servers, SSD SAN storage, digital data shredder, Ethernet switches, retina scanner, UPS, blade server etc) – $10,000,000
• Cost of purchasing computers, printers, fax machines, phones – $10,000,000
• Cost of launching a website – $200,000
• Cost of throwing an opening party – $50,000
• Miscellaneous – $1,749,250 

From the above requirements, we would need the sum of $35,000,000 to be able to start and successfully run our data center business here in Houston – Texas. The above amount covers the salaries of our employees and payment of utilities for at least 1 year of operations. It also covers the leasing of an office facility for a period of 10 years, and also procuring of equipment needed to run the data center business.

Generating Funding / Startup Capital for Utech Data Center Business

Utech datacenters is a business owned and run by two entrepreneurs and businessmen, Blake Chylds and Rob Branson. They intend to seek for various sources in ensuring that they source for the capital required for this business.

Therefore the areas where they intend to generate start-up capital from are;

• Generate part of the start-up capital from sale of property and personal stock
• Approach private investors for a loan in exchange for equity
• Apply for a loan from the bank

N.B: We have been able to generate the sum of $5,000,000 from the sale of our properties and personal stock. We approached a group of private investors who have agreed to lend us the sum of $10,000,000 in exchange for 3% equity in our business.

Our agreements are however based on certain conditions. We approached the ban for the sum of $20,000,000 to be repayable at the rate of 7% in 10 years. All the documents approving the loan have been signed and the money would soon be credited into our account within the week.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

The future of our business lies in how well we are able to sustain and later expand the business. In order to achieve our goals and grow as an organization, we intend to focus on the following factors such as investment strategy, our business structure as well as customer loyalty.

No business can survive without having a stable bottom line and so due to this; we intend to ensure that we re-invest 30% of our profit back into the company so that the business would be able to sustain itself without having to seek for external sources all the time.

We know how important it is for us to build a business structure and as such we are taking this aspect very seriously by recruiting employees who are not only competent and professionals but also those who thoroughly understand and identify with our corporate goals and objectives. We also intend to ensure that we have a great welfare package for our employees so as to boost their productivity efficiency for the organization.

Without customers, businesses would cease to exist as customers make sure that a business can generate revenue and make profit. We intend to offer excellent customer care to our clients and make sure that all issues and complaints are promptly resolved.

Check List / Milestone

• Business Name Availability Check: Completed
• Business Registration: Completed
• Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
• Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
• Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
• Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
• Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
• Application for business license and permit: Completed
• Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
• Conducting feasibility studies: Completed
• Generating capital from family members: Completed
• Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
• Writing of Business Plan: Completed
• Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
• Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
• Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
• Graphic Designs and Printing of Packaging Marketing / Promotional Materials: In Progress
• Recruitment of employees: In Progress
• Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
• Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
• Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
• Opening party / launching party planning: In Progress
• Establishing business relationship with vendors – wholesale suppliers / merchants: In Progress
• Purchase of trucks: Completed

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