As more organizations opt for a hybrid approach to IT, the share of enterprise workloads that are run in corporate, on-premises facilities has fallen to below half for the first time and is expected to shrink further, according to the Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2023.

"Our data shows operators grappling with several issues," said Andy Lawrence, Executive Director, Uptime Intelligence. "In 2023, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have receded, but other challenges have emerged. Digital infrastructure managers are now most concerned with improving energy performance and dealing with staffing shortfalls, while Government regulations aimed at improving data center sustainability and visibility are beginning to require attention, investment, and action."

Key findings from the report include:

■ Enterprise operators say data security is the biggest impediment to moving mission-critical workloads to the public cloud. Resiliency and transparency are lesser concerns.

■ Most operators believe acceptance of the use of artificial intelligence will grow in data centers, but operators are distrustful of its ability to make reliable operational decisions.

■ More than half (55%) of operators reported they have had an outage at their site in the past three years, the lowest number yet recorded. This continues a trend of steady improvement.

■ Power outages continue to be cited as the single biggest cause of outages.

■ Nearly two-thirds of operators have problems recruiting or retaining staff – however, this figure is not currently growing. The largest skill gaps are in operations, mechanical and electrical roles.

Methodology: Uptime conducted the survey online from February–April 2023 and collected responses from more than 850 data center owners and operators and nearly 700 vendors and consultants.