5 tips for building a resilient data center supply chain

1. Make the supply chain part of the IT strategic plan

CIOs have often overlooked the IT supply chain in their strategic plans. However, the energy and semiconductor demand driven by AI alone could change this.

Now is the time for CIOs to discuss how IT products and service availability could change. This includes informing management and the board on why the supply chain should be part of IT's and the company's strategic risk management plans.

By raising awareness of IT supply chain risks, CIOs achieve two outcomes:

• Alert key business decision-makers of potential IT disruptions that could affect the business.
• Raise awareness among business decision-makers that there could be budget implications and project delays if unforeseen supply chain shortages cause prices to rise and projects to stall.

2. Evaluate the health of the IT supply chain

Evaluating the supply chain is similar to developing a business continuity plan. In both cases, it's important to identify the mission-critical IT vendors, products and services that IT simply can't do without.

Evaluate a vendor's dependability before making a decision. Review past order histories and vendor performance to ensure their products and services are reliable.

Assess a vendor's security and compliance through surveys. Send surveys to each mission-critical vendor, requesting that each provide its latest security and compliance report and SCM practices. The goal of the survey is to confirm that each mission-critical vendor has the latest security and compliance methodologies in place and can manage its own supply chain, enabling it to continue providing timely products and services.

3. Watch out for weak links

Inevitably, there will be weak links in the IT supply chain. Among these are mission-critical vendors that serve as the sole source for IT, with no backup if they are acquired or go out of business.

Vendor surveys can reveal that they depend on sole-source suppliers that are questionable in the long run, or that vendors lack proper SCM practices or up-to-date security and compliance.

It is also crucial to check whether mission-critical vendors have records of outages or product and service failures that have routinely put IT at risk. If a vendor poses a high risk, it is best to seek out another vendor.

4. Have a vendor backup plan

It is prudent to have a backup plan in case a vendor or its products and services fail. Signs of vendor risk include:

• A vendor that has proven reliable over the years but is suddenly acquired by a new company that doesn't deliver the same level of reliability.
• Vendors at risk of financial insolvency that are likely to go out of business.
• Vendors that struggle to deliver products on time.

To help mitigate these situations, many IT departments strive to diversify by using multiple vendors for each product or service. A common example of this is load balancing internet traffic across multiple internet service providers (ISPs), with the option to reroute traffic if one ISP experiences an outage.

In other cases, enterprises maintain both on-premises and cloud versions of their critical systems -- ERP is a good example. In this way, failover can be performed from one system to the other if needed. These practices create a resilient IT supply chain and keep the business running.

5. Check your generators and consider using a microgrid

The growing nationwide demand for energy could lead to power outages. Historically, corporate IT has addressed data center and IT sustainability with electrical generator backup power and failover to the cloud, and it will continue to do so in 2026.

There is also a new microgrid strategy that will gradually gain traction with larger enterprises. A microgrid is a network of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources within defined electrical boundaries that operates as a single unit. It can function both connected to the larger grid and in island mode, including off-grid applications.

By using a microgrid, enterprises can become more self-sufficient in their energy needs and operate independently of the regional or national grid. This alternative energy approach will become more crucial as strain on the electric grid increases with AI workload demand.

Mary E. Shacklett is president of Transworld Data, a technology analytics, market research and consulting firm.