01
The Opportunity
A global hyperscale operator maintained approximately 40 data centres and relied heavily on OEMs and specialist vendors for maintenance. Its sites also retained substantial internal technical teams because operations required continuous coverage. At a representative site, the technical workforce comprised approximately 38 technicians plus 8–9 additional site technical resources. The question was whether selected vendor-delivered activities could be performed internally without reducing required maintenance, weakening reliability or breaching operating controls.
The answer depended on more than identifying work that looked technically simple. Each activity had to be assessed against complexity, frequency, intrusiveness, competency, qualification, certification, tooling, proprietary access and regulatory requirements, then tested against the labour capacity available within the existing technical teams.
Technicians at the representative site
Additional site technical resources
Operational coverage required across the site
The question was whether selected vendor-delivered activities could be performed internally without reducing required maintenance, weakening reliability or breaching operating controls.
02
The Approach
The team carried out two connected analyses. First, it assessed technical suitability: which activities could be performed safely by internal technicians and which still required specialist or proprietary external capability. Second, it completed a labour-load assessment showing the hours required for those activities and comparing them with available internal capacity. At a representative site, the analysis indicated approximately 6,000–8,000 hours of work that could potentially be self-performed each year. This was a modelled opportunity, not a delivered saving. The analysis did not assume technicians were idle; it examined how an existing continuous-coverage workforce could absorb suitable work.
Analysis 01
Technical suitability
Which activities could be performed safely internally, and which still required specialist or proprietary external capability.
Analysis 02
Labour-load assessment
The hours required for suitable activities, compared with available capacity within the existing technical teams.
Modelled annual opportunity
Potentially self-performed each year at the representative site. A modelled opportunity, not a delivered saving.
The opportunity was then turned into a phased workforce-development programme. The competency gaps standing between the existing workforce and the suitable activities were identified, technician training and qualification pathways were developed against them, and the transfer was implemented in phases. Easier activities could move in approximately three months. Medium-complexity activities required roughly six to nine months for further training, qualifications, certification, tooling or practical preparation. Harder activities could require 12–15 months. The associated training and competency plan connected each activity with the capability needed to perform it.
Phased activity transfer
01
Easier activities
Activities could move after the initial preparation.
02
Medium complexity
For further training, qualifications, certification, tooling or practical preparation.
03
Harder activities
More complex activities required the longest development pathway.
These are the periods this programme planned for each group of activities, stated as what each could require. They are not a general implementation schedule.
Supplier economics were part of implementation. Some vendors would remove activities from scope without making a corresponding price adjustment, so the team renegotiated scope and pricing and changed suppliers where necessary. The programme retained specialist OEM/vendor activities where proprietary access, protocols, certification or technical risk made external delivery appropriate. The financial result below is the confirmed net annualised pilot outcome, not a single contract reduction.
Governance
Insourcing did not mean removing maintenance. Suitable activities transferred only after technical suitability, workforce readiness and operating controls had been assessed.
03
The Result
The pilot delivered
million in net annualised maintenance savings.
The original annual maintenance budget at the pilot site was $4.45 million, so the confirmed result represents approximately 32% of that pilot-site baseline. This was a delivered result at one pilot facility during its transition from construction into operations. The wider analysis identified further opportunities across the estate, but those modelled opportunities were not presented as realised portfolio savings.
04
How It Shaped Clarisync
The methodology emerged from operational improvement work led by professionals involved in developing Clarisync. The experience subsequently informed capabilities built into the platform.
The connected capability spans Asset Management (CMMS), Workforce & Competency and Operational Finance. Maintenance activities can be classified by complexity and competency requirements; technician qualifications can be evaluated against those requirements; and financial information can support assessment of vendor expenditure, potential savings and phased insourcing economics. Together, these capabilities support identification, workforce-readiness assessment, training-programme development, financial evaluation and implementation planning.