Insourcing vs. Outsourcing – Finding the Right Fit in Today’s Data Centre Landscape
By Roger Stevenson, Global Head of Operations at Onnec
From London to Singapore to Silicon Valley, operators are racing to expand data centre capacity to meet the surge in AI demand. Power demand in European data centres is forecast to jump 250% to 35 gigawatts by 2030, to keep up with AI usage. In the UK alone, facilities are set to increase by almost a fifth with billions in global investment – including the UK–US tech deal – shaping the market.
Data centres now sit at the centre of economic growth and AI innovation. But with that opportunity comes pressure: operators must keep pace with expansion, stay compliant with shifting regulations, and deliver to global standards – a long list of requirements they can no longer shoulder alone. This is where partners like Onnec are playing a critical role, helping operators deliver at speed while keeping risk and costs under control.
Outsourcing, once seen mainly as a cost play, has become a strategic tool. Done right, outsourcing unlocks flexibility, ensures compliance, and brings in the expertise operators need. And with rapid expansion in emerging markets, the insourcing versus outsourcing question has never been more relevant. For operators, the challenge is finding the right balance to deliver at speed and scale.
Where Outsourcing Beats Insourcing
Insourcing means you’re tied to fixed headcount. With the speed at which AI is advancing and changing data centre requirements, hiring takes time, while training takes longer. All this takes place against a demand for AI that rarely lines up neatly with available resources. In many cases, internal teams can quickly become overloaded, while strategic projects wait in line.
Outsourcing flips this model. Rather than rigid processes, it creates agile support:
- Resource flexibility: Service providers can scale up or down based on SLAs and activity data, giving clients the confidence that resources are available when they need them, and not draining budgets when they don’t.
- Operational efficiency: Partners take on time-consuming, procurement and administrative tasks, freeing internal teams to focus on what really matters.
- Global delivery: With the right partner, projects can be mobilised almost anywhere in the world, at speed. This means a fast-moving project in Asia, can be delivered with the same level of expertise and oversight as a project in FLAP-D.
The payoff is clear – reduced pressure on client teams, faster project delivery, and the ability to focus internal energy on core business goals instead of scrambling for extra capacity.
Onnec is currently delivering a hyperscale data centre project in Amsterdam for a global client. Rather than the client attempting to recruit and train 200 specialist engineers, Onnec deployed a fully vetted, experienced team in weeks. The project required rapid mobilisation and a sharp turnaround, which outsourcing made possible. Once completed, the client avoids the burden of carrying long-term staff they don’t need, while Onnec’s team moves seamlessly onto the next global project.
Compliance and Risk Management
Regulation is now a defining factor in how data centres are built and operated. From financial services clients demanding stringent data sovereignty protections to new frameworks like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), compliance is moving fast and leaving no margin for error.
For internal teams, keeping up with these changes can be overwhelming. What starts as a manual, box-ticking exercise quickly becomes a drain on resources – and leaves dangerous gaps when updates slip through the cracks.
This is where outsourcing provides serious value. At Onnec, compliance isn’t treated as a one-off checkpoint but as a living part of every contract. Teams are required to maintain active compliance training on an ongoing basis, ensuring credentials never lapse. That means both client and service delivery teams are always operating to the latest standards.
The goal is simple, to ensure that when requirements evolve – as they inevitably do – clients remain compliant by default, not by exception. For clients, this proactive approach reduces risk, ensures readiness for audits, and frees their internal teams to focus on growth rather than scrambling to interpret regulatory fine print.
Expertise, Quality, and Innovation
Emerging markets are where much of today’s growth is happening. But they come with challenges – finding qualified teams, ensuring quality, and meeting global standards. Insourcing in these markets often means hiring local teams without the management-level expertise to run complex projects. That creates a high risk of failure.
Onnec’s delivery model avoids these pitfalls by deploying experienced management from regional hubs, then integrating local resources for efficiency and market knowledge. This balance ensures global standards are met without missing the value of local expertise. Quality assurance comes from specialist oversight – for instance, subcontracting partners from markets like Australia to ensure consistency.
There’s another advantage: exposure to innovation. Outsourcers work across industries and markets, learning best practices that insourced teams simply don’t see. That knowledge transfer brings clients not just capacity, but also smarter, more future-ready solutions.
A client struggling with a complex build in Malaysia turned to Onnec to help. By providing senior management from outside the region while building up local teams, Onnec stabilised the project, ensured compliance, and delivered the build to global standards. The hybrid approach allowed the client to benefit from local knowledge without sacrificing expertise.
Scaling Smarter with Onnec
The global data centre boom shows no signs of slowing. With billions flowing into AI-driven services, operators cannot afford inefficiencies, compliance gaps, or quality failures.
Insourcing may feel like the safer, cheaper choice, but the hidden costs tell a different story: overstretched teams, stalled projects, and missed opportunities for innovation. Outsourcing, when done with the right partner, flips this – delivering flexibility, compliance confidence, and expertise that can be deployed anywhere in the world.
Rather than seeing outsourcing as a loss of control, it should be seen as a strategic partnership. With Onnec, that means operators gain flexibility, compliance confidence, and global expertise – while their internal teams stay focused on transformation and growth.
About Onnec
Onnec is a leading Infrastructure Solutions and Services company for tech and enterprise, specialising in structured cabling, managed services, and network solutions. Our team of experienced designers, project managers, and engineers, supported by world-class vendor partnerships, delivers top-tier services and solutions.
Onnec’s expertise spans all data centre environments and can support customers with:
- Structured cabling design and installation
- Installation of cabling, ODFs, PDUs and containment solutions
- Network hardware installations, changes and support
- Connectivity and equipment upgrades and changes
- Smart Hands support services
