Author

Christina Mertens

Published

26 January 2026

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Christina Mertens, vice president of business development, EMEA, at VIRTUS Data Centres on designing next gen digital infrastructure

Europe’s digital infrastructure is entering a new phase of development. For more than a decade, growth was concentrated in a small number of metropolitan hubs. This was where connectivity, enterprise demand and financial services created natural centres of gravity for data centres. Cities such as London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris (FLAP markets) became the backbone of Europe’s cloud and colocation landscape.

That model is now under pressure. Computing power is surging in ways that surpass forecasts made even two years ago. AI training and inference, high performance computing (HPC), analytics and modernised public services all require significant and sustained energy and cooling capacity. McKinsey suggests that global demand for data centre capacity could more than triple by 2030. It’s clear Europe needs more digital infrastructure. However, it needs that infrastructure in places with the headroom and regulatory clarity to support long term expansion. And this is why what are referred to as second-tier locations are becoming critical to expanding Europe’s digital architecture.

In practical terms, second-tier locations are not secondary in importance. They are cities and regional areas outside the most constrained metropolitan centres, where there is greater headroom for power, land and long-term infrastructure planning. Across Europe, this includes parts of regional Germany and Italy, Iberia, the Nordics and areas of the UK outside of London. These locations are now playing a central role in how Europe expands its digital capacity.

Why the Digital Infrastructure Shift is Happening

The primary driver is power. Data centres require sustained, predictable electrical capacity over long periods, particularly as AI workloads increase baseline demand. In dense urban centres, electricity networks are often operating close to their limits, and upgrading them is complex, costly and slow. New substations are difficult to site, transmission upgrades can take many years, and competition for capacity from other sectors is intensifying.

Land availability compounds this challenge. Modern data centres are no longer single buildings inserted into existing industrial estates. They are increasingly campus-based developments, designed to accommodate multiple facilities, on-site substations and future expansion. Securing sites of that scale within major cities is difficult and expensive. And often incompatible with planning frameworks that prioritise mixed-use or residential development.

By contrast, regional and edge-of-city locations offer more physical space and greater flexibility. They make it possible to plan electrical infrastructure coherently from the outset, rather than retrofitting systems around urban constraints. For building services professionals, this changes the nature of both design and delivery.

Delivery Challenges in Regional Locations

While second-tier locations offer more space and flexibility, they are not without challenges. Securing grid capacity remains a critical path issue. It requires close collaboration with transmission and distribution network operators, regardless of geography. In some regions, new infrastructure or upgrades are required to support data centre demand. This can introduce complexity into delivery programmes.

Phased development is another defining characteristic. Many campuses are designed to be built out over several years, sometimes over a decade or more. Electrical and mechanical systems need to be designed and installed in a way that supports this staged approach, maintaining operational efficiency while allowing for expansion.

This places a premium on coordination between designers, contractors, operators and utilities. Clear documentation, consistent standards and long-term programme management become essential, particularly where different phases may be delivered by different teams over time.

Skills and Workforce Considerations

As data centre development spreads across a wider range of locations, skills availability becomes an important consideration. High-voltage electrical expertise, experience with resilient power systems and familiarity with data centre standards are already in demand, and that demand is unlikely to ease.

In regional locations where specialist labour pools may be smaller, there is increased focus on training, apprenticeships and long-term workforce development. From an operator and developer perspective, the ability of contractors and consultants to provide consistent quality across multiple phases is particularly valued on campus-scale projects.

This creates opportunities for building services firms that invest in people and develop repeatable delivery capability. Long-term relationships can be built where teams understand an operator’s standards and are involved across successive phases of development.

The Influence of AI and Higher-Density Workloads

AI is accelerating many of these trends. Training and inference workloads place sustained loads on electrical and cooling systems, increasing the importance of reliability and predictable performance. This reinforces the need for robust primary infrastructure and careful long-term planning.

Second-tier locations make it easier to accommodate these requirements because they allow for comprehensive system design at scale. Space for substations, cooling plant and future expansion can be planned into the site from the beginning, rather than being constrained by surrounding development.

From a building services perspective, this does not necessarily mean radically new technologies, but it does increase the importance of integration, resilience and accurate demand forecasting.

Why this Matters for the Built Environment Sector

The shift toward second-tier locations represents more than a geographical redistribution of data centres. It reflects a broader change in how digital infrastructure is planned, designed and delivered. Larger sites, longer programmes and greater emphasis on early-stage coordination place building services and electrical design at the centre of successful delivery.

For the built environment sector, this creates sustained opportunities across design, construction and operation. Campus developments require ongoing engagement rather than one-off interventions, and they rely on teams that can think beyond individual buildings to system-level performance over time.

Looking Ahead…

So, it’s clear that Europe’s digital infrastructure is becoming more distributed, and that trend is unlikely to reverse. Power constraints, planning pressures and rising digital demand all point toward continued development beyond traditional metropolitan hubs.

Second-tier locations are not a temporary solution. They are becoming a permanent and essential part of Europe’s digital landscape. For building services professionals, understanding how to design and deliver infrastructure at this scale, and over these time horizons, will be increasingly important.

As the next phase of development unfolds, success will depend on careful planning, strong collaboration and a clear understanding of how electrical and mechanical systems underpin the resilience and performance of Europe’s digital future.

Learn more at virtusdatacentres.com

  • Data & AI
  • Digital Strategy

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

13 January 2026

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Ritavan, author of Data Impact, explores how to sidestep one of the most common threats to your digital transformation’s success

Most digital transformation initiatives fail. That’s not speculation—it’s empirically validated. A meta-study by Michael Wade and co-authors from IMD Business School in Switzerland, puts the aggregate failure rate at 87.5%. These failures don’t stem from a lack of technology. 

They stem from a lack of first principles thinking. Worse, they stem from groupthink packaged as ‘best practices’ due to misunderstood value creation paradigms, misaligned incentives, and instinctive gut reactions.

Groupthink is the structural rot at the core of digital transformation. It disguises itself as best practices, consensus, and risk mitigation. In reality, it’s the comfort zone of institutional ‘cover your ass’ politics avoiding accountability. Vendors and consultants exploit this dynamic to sell solutions, either by making them so narrow they avoid all integration costs and result in no real impact or so vast they drown in abstraction and escape all responsibility. 

Either way, they make money, while you always lose.

Spray and Pray: A Controlled Path to Failure

The default corporate approach to transformation is to crowdsource use cases, prioritise them by committee, and allocate budgets based on consensus. This is what I call spray and pray. It’s a portfolio of supposedly risk-averse, disconnected initiatives that signal motion but produce no impact. Committees gravitate toward politically safe options—sevens on a scale of one to ten. Sevens don’t win. They just help avoid blame when things turn out mediocre.

Crowdsourcing sounds democratic. But unless every participant has domain expertise, independent judgment, and access to the same information, Condorcet’s jury theorem guarantees failure. In practice, these conditions are never met. The outcome is consensus driven groupthink mediocrity.

Boiling the Ocean: The Illusion of Ambition

At the opposite extreme is boiling the ocean—attempting sweeping, technology-first transformations with no grounding in customer value. This is tech consumerism disguised as strategy. Moving to the cloud, buying a new ERP, or adopting the latest AI tool might make you look busy. But if it doesn’t create measurable value for your customers, it’s a distraction and guaranteed waste of resources.

Being an early adopter is often glorified. It means you’re a participant in an unpaid drug trial or beta test. The software may be new, but the value creation logic is not. As Charlie Munger noted, the benefits of increased efficiency flow to the vendor of new technology and eventually to the consumer, but definitely not to you. Unless you’re creating and capturing proprietary differentiated value, you’re just funding someone else’s business.

Fear, Novelty, and the Emotional Antipatterns

These failures aren’t just cognitive. They are evolutionary, subconscious and emotional. When faced with complexity and uncertainty, leaders regress to the most basal of human responses. The inner reptile avoids risk, delays decisions, and clings to orthodoxy. The inner monkey reacts emotionally, chases trends, and mistakes activity for progress.

Together, the reptile and the monkey can end up dominating the boardroom. They drive decisions not from first principles, but from fear, ego, and FOMO. The result: spray and pray portfolios, boiling-the-ocean transformations, and millions wasted on initiatives with no clear customer benefit. The unaccounted for and often ignored opportunity costs often run into billions.

Thinking Like a Producer

The antidote is not more frameworks or consultants. It is first principles thinking. Start by saving. Eliminate initiatives that don’t directly tie to customer impact. Stop acting like a tech consumer. Start thinking like a producer.

Technology is a means, not an end. The only transformation that matters is the one your customer feels. Work backward from that. Avoid crowdsourced decision-making for strategic priorities. Make fewer decisions. Make them more deliberately. Focus on depth, not breadth.

Groupthink thrives where accountability ends. Break the cycle by aligning incentives, eliminating noise, and rigorously focusing on value creation. Digital transformation does not fail because it is hard. It fails because it is misunderstood.

You don’t need another vendor pitch. You need clarity, courage, and conviction. Everything else is noise.

About the Author

Ritavan is an operator, investor and author of Data Impact, with peer-reviewed publications and an international patent. Over the past decade, he has built or scaled, data-driven solutions impacting billions. His mission: replace vague digital transformation narratives with clear, outcome-focused frameworks that help legacy businesses create real, measurable value.

Learn more at ritavan.com

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

8 January 2026

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Vertiv expects powering up for AI, Digital Twins and Adaptive Liquid Cooling to shape future Data Centre Design and Operations

Data Centre innovation is continuing to be shaped by macro forces and technology trends related to AI, according to a report from Vertiv, a global leader in critical digital infrastructure. The Vertiv™ Frontiers report, which draws on expertise from across the organisation, details the technology trends driving current and future innovation, from powering up for AI, to digital twins, to adaptive liquid cooling.

“The data centre industry is continuing to rapidly evolve how it designs, builds, operates and services data centres, in response to the density and speed of deployment demands of AI factories,” said Vertiv chief product and technology officer, Scott Armul. “We see cross-technology forces, including extreme densification, driving transformative trends such as higher voltage DC power architectures and advanced liquid cooling that are important to deliver the gigawatt scaling that is critical for AI innovation. On-site energy generation and digital twin technology are also expected to help to advance the scale and speed of AI adoption.”

The Vertiv Frontiers report builds on and expands Vertiv’s previous annual Data Centre Trends predictions. The report identifies macro forces driving data centre innovation:

  • Extreme densification – accelerated by AI and HPC workloads; gigawatt scaling at speed – data centres are now being deployed rapidly and at unprecedented scale
  • Data centre as a unit of compute – the AI era requires facilities to be built and operated as a single system
  • Silicon diversification – data centre infrastructure must adapt to an increasing range of chips and compute

The report details how these macro forces have in turn shaped five key trends impacting specific areas of the data centre landscape.

1.         Powering up for AI

Most current data centres still rely on hybrid AC/DC power distribution from the grid to the IT racks, which includes three to four conversion stages and some inefficiencies. This existing approach is under strain as power densities increase, largely driven by AI workloads. The shift to higher voltage DC architectures enables significant reductions in current, size of conductors, and number of conversion stages while centralising power conversion at the room level. Hybrid AC and DC systems are pervasive, but as full DC standards and equipment mature, higher voltage DC is likely to become more prevalent as rack densities increase. On-site generation, and microgrids, will also drive adoption of higher voltage DC.

2.          Distributed AI

The billions of dollars invested into AI data centres to support large language models (LLMs) to date have been aimed at supporting widespread adoption of AI tools by consumers and businesses. Vertiv believes AI is becoming increasingly critical to businesses but how, and from where, those inference services are delivered will depend on the specific requirements and conditions of the organisation. While this will impact businesses of all types, highly regulated industries, such as finance, defence, and healthcare, may need to maintain private or hybrid AI environments via on-premise data centres, due to data residency, security, or latency requirements. Flexible, scalable high-density power and liquid cooling systems could enable capacity through new builds or retrofitting of existing facilities.

3.          Energy autonomy accelerates

Short-term on-site energy generation capacity has been essential for most standalone data centres for decades, to support resiliency. However, widespread power availability challenges are creating conditions to adopt extended energy autonomy, especially for AI data centres. Investment in on-site power generation, via natural gas turbines and other technologies, does have several intrinsic benefits but is primarily driven by power availability challenges. Technology strategies such as Bring Your Own Power (and Cooling) are likely to be part of ongoing energy autonomy plans.

4.          Digital twin-driven design and operations

With increasingly dense AI workloads and more powerful GPUs also come a demand to deploy these complex AI factories with speed. Using AI-based tools, data centres can be mapped and specified virtually, via digital twins, and the IT and critical digital infrastructure can be integrated, often as prefabricated modular designs, and deployed as units of compute, reducing time-to-token by up to 50%. This approach will be important to efficiently achieving the gigawatt-scale buildouts required for future AI advancements.

5.          Adaptive, resilient liquid cooling

AI workloads and infrastructure have accelerated the adoption of liquid cooling. But conversely, AI can also be used to further refine and optimise liquid cooling solutions. Liquid cooling has become mission-critical for a growing number of operators but AI could provide ways to further enhance its capabilities. AI, in conjunction with additional monitoring and control systems, has the potential to make liquid cooling systems smarter and even more robust by predicting potential failures and effectively managing fluid and components. This trend should lead to increasing reliability and uptime for high value hardware and associated data/workloads.

Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries, delivering critical digital infrastructure solutions to data centres, communication networks, and commercial and industrial facilities worldwide. The company’s comprehensive portfolio spans power management, thermal management, and IT infrastructure solutions and services – from the cloud to the network edge. This integrated approach enables continuous operations, optimal performance, and scalable growth for customers navigating an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Find out more at Vertiv.com.

  • Data & AI
  • Digital Strategy
  • Infrastructure & Cloud

Author

Jalal Charaf

Published

20 November 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Jalal Charaf, Chief Digital & AI Officer of the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) and Managing Director of Ecole Centrale Casablanca on how Africa can seize its moment to lead on data

In today’s world, data is not just about numbers and technology; it shapes how people live, how governments plan, and how businesses grow. It influences who gets a loan, who receives medical care, and who has access to education. That’s why control over data, called data sovereignty, is becoming one of the most important sources of power in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, Africa is still on the margins of this new reality. Although the continent is home to over 1.4 billion people, 18% of the world’s population, it provides less than 4% of the data used to train today’s most powerful AI systems. Most African data is stored in foreign data centres, beyond the reach of African laws and courts. This is no longer just a ‘digital divide’, it’s a dependence on outside systems that don’t fully understand or represent African realities.

What’s Holding Africa Back?

There are several key reasons why Africa remains largely underrepresented in the global digital economy.

First, representation. Most AI systems are built on data from outside Africa. As a result, they often misjudge or misrepresent African realities, whether it’s credit scoring, medical diagnostics, or speech recognition. The absence of African data creates blind spots that affect real lives.

Second, infrastructure. Africa captures less than 1% of global cloud revenue and has limited data storage and processing capacity. This forces governments and businesses to rely on distant cloud providers. Outages, costs, or policy shifts in other countries can suddenly disrupt services at home.

Third, governance. With 29 different national data protection laws, Africa lacks a unified approach to managing data. In contrast, the European Union negotiates data rules as a single bloc. Africa’s fragmented regulatory landscape makes it harder to attract investment or protect citizens’ rights.

Momentum is Building

Despite these challenges, there are reasons to be hopeful. Africa’s data centre market is expected to grow by 17.5% in 2025, thanks to rising digital demand and support from investors focused on environmental and social goals.

Several major projects are already underway. Microsoft and G42 (a technology group from the UAE) are investing $1 billion in a geothermal-powered data centre in Kenya. Equinix, one of the world’s largest data infrastructure companies, plans to spend $390 million expanding into West, South, and East Africa. By the end of this year, Rwanda and Zimbabwe will join the list of countries with carrier-neutral data centres, bringing the total to 26.

A Blueprint in Morocco

Morocco offers a model of what digital sovereignty can look like. In June 2025, a consortium led by Nexus Core Systems announced a 500-megawatt, renewables-powered AI infrastructure project on the Atlantic coast. Phase one, with 40 MW of NVIDIA’s Blackwell AI chips, will go live in early 2026, exporting compute power across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Critically, this infrastructure is under Moroccan jurisdiction, not subject to U.S. laws like the CLOUD Act. The project proves that African countries can host cutting-edge data systems while protecting their own legal and strategic interests.

How Africa Can Lead

To turn early momentum into lasting sovereignty, African governments, institutions, and partners must work together across four pillars:

  • Data creation and curation. Countries should invest at least 1% of GDP in digital public infrastructure, such as national ID systems, crop mapping satellites, and open data portals. These systems ensure that African data reflects African lives.
  • Compute and storage. Regions with access to renewable energy can build local ‘green AI corridors’ linked by neutral internet exchanges. This keeps data close to where it’s generated and cuts dependence on foreign servers.
  • Policy and regulation. The African Union should lead a continent-wide Data Sovereignty Compact, a framework to harmonise data protection, localisation, and AI ethics. A unified legal environment will attract investment and support responsible innovation.
  • Talent and research. African universities and public agencies should develop homegrown AI talent. Governments can require that models trained on African data are hosted locally. Research must be rooted in African languages, priorities, and realities, not just imported standards.

A Role for Everyone: From Governments to Global Partners

Governments should commit at least 10% of their ICT budgets to data sovereignty and adopt AU-wide standards. Local cloud facilities and fibre infrastructure deserve long-term funding, not just short-term pilots.

Private industry must shift from short-lived cloud credits to permanent, on-the-ground investment. Companies should publish annual data localisation reports and follow the example set by Nexus Core Systems.

Development finance institutions (DFIs) should support 20-year infrastructure partnerships, not just one-off tech grants. According to the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, every $1 invested in data systems brings $32 in economic return. That’s a smart investment.

Universities, civil society groups, and non-profits also have a responsibility. Open data repositories, civic tech labs, and ethical data governance initiatives must be scaled up to support innovation that’s inclusive and local.

A Strategic Opportunity: OpenAI for Countries

OpenAI has recently launched an initiative called OpenAI for Countries, designed to help governments build local data centres, train AI systems in national languages, and support start-ups in their own ecosystems. The program is looking for ten partner countries in its first phase. This initiative aligns well with Africa’s goals for sovereign data and democratic AI development.

Africa’s Moment to Lead on Data

Africa has everything it needs to become a global leader in digital intelligence. Its young population, growing tech talent, and renewable energy potential are powerful advantages. But sovereignty will not be handed over, it must be built.

We must act now, before the rules of the digital world are written without us. Morocco’s Nexus Core project shows what’s possible when ambition meets action. It’s time for the rest of the continent to follow suit, and shape a future where Africa owns its data, tells its stories, and sets its own course.

  • Data & AI
  • Digital Strategy

Author

Nell Walker

Published

14 November 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

The buzz of DPW Amsterdam draws in the most innovative minds across the industry. They’re there to have riveting conversations…

The buzz of DPW Amsterdam draws in the most innovative minds across the industry. They’re there to have riveting conversations with their peers, to inspire, to teach and learn in kind. And they’re there to keep an eye on an industry that doesn’t stop changing for the better.

This is a big part of the appeal for Fraser Woodhouse. Woodhouse leads the digital procurement team within Deloitte in the UK. His team historically focused on large-scale transformations, providing a backbone for suite implementation. Increasingly, however, it’s turning its attention to helping clients navigate a plethora of technology solutions. The goal is to help them build and scale, and take advantage of some of the more niche functionalities available. These are things that can be highly daunting for many customers, which is why Deloitte is there for support.

“We’re helping clients ask the big questions,” Woodhouse explains as he sits down with us at DPW Amsterdam 2024. “How do you connect the technology in a way that allows data to flow from one system to another? How do you deal with processes that are connected to solutions which all have their own release cycles? How do you approach change management? That underpins so much of where the value is going to be achieved, and a lot of the providers will be focusing on it. They just might not have the same capability that Deloitte can provide.”

For Woodhouse, getting involved with procurement was a total accident. He even left the sector at one point, but his strong foundational knowledge – and the exciting landscape procurement is enjoying right now – lured him back in. “It changes faster than I can get bored with it, that’s for sure,” he explains. “Procurement is fascinating.”

Aspiring to greatness

Especially now, with constant conversations around genAI, 10X, and beyond. Procurement is only becoming more interesting, more enticing, drawing young professionals in to fill gaps in the talent pool. 10X was actually the theme of DPW Amsterdam this year, a notion that’s on everyone’s lips. And for Woodhouse, it’s absolutely something to aspire to.

“Aiming for 10X is sensible. You just have to consider your timescale. I’d caution against running before you can walk, but a culture of experimentation is important. Running small-scale pilots can help you hone in on where you really want to see value, or where value is likely to be generated. Starting with requirements is a fundamental thing at the moment, but you shouldn’t underestimate how long that will take. And it’s a continuous consideration, because requirements change. Just keep trying to refine your solution in order to take advantage of everything that’s out there right now.”

Fotograaf: MichielTon.com

Having the wrong mindset is one of the major barriers to adopting 10X thinking. It all starts with the company’s culture, and whether that’s one of growth or not. “I imagine most of the people here at DPW Amsterdam have already made that mental shift,” says Woodhouse. “Last year, people were still trying to understand how they, as big companies, could utilise startups. That’s changed now, and it’s amazing to see companies that were startups three years ago working with all these big enterprise customers. 

“They have scaled and grown in partnership with those customers. Mindset is so important, and having the wrong one will only create barriers and missed opportunities.”

Always improving, never slowing down

When it comes to the advantages that technology has brought to procurement in the last few years, the list is endless. Procurement has gone from an overlooked segment of any given organisation, to having a seat at the table and helping make major business decisions. 10X thinking – whether it goes by that name or not – has been spreading across the segment and fuelling businesses to aim higher.

“The layers of automation have really improved,” says Woodhouse. “A year or so back, there were a handful of use cases that you could truly automate, but now you can do it at a much larger scale. Another big change is around security concerns. There are more tried and tested case studies to draw upon now, and solutions are more readily available. You don’t necessarily have to be a pioneer, because someone else has already taken that first step.”

The question of data

Something else that holds businesses back, despite the innovation at their disposal, is an element that can be harder to change: poor quality data. When trying to implement advanced technology solutions, bad data can make or break their success.

“It’s always useful to focus on that and have a dedicated work stream,” Woodhouse advises. “You need someone who really understands data. I think there’s a tendency to try to boil the ocean before you even get going in your transformation, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Cleaning up your data before you start, and having a fresh foundation will help you make decisions on what to implement on top of that good data. 

“Doing all of that is obviously hugely beneficial, but it’s going to slow you down, in many cases. There are ways around that, like embedding the cleanup of data within the new processes. Data is important – we shouldn’t underestimate that – but there are different approaches to solving the issue of poor quality data, like buying it or using genAI to restructure your data into something more powerful. Either way, you need a strategy.”

Novel thinking 101

Some businesses fall into the trap of thinking that they can’t achieve specific things because their data isn’t in the right position, but novel thinking around data can allow them to still drive forward. “You’ve just got to focus on it. You can’t assume the data’s going to fix itself,” Woodhouse adds. 

Novel thinking is certainly something that can be seen at DPW events, and DPW Amsterdam 2024 was no exception. People congregated there to learn, to share stories, to inspire. For Woodhouse, the magic of the digital procurement sector right now is that everybody recognises that their journey has no end. While that may be daunting, it’s a positive thing and keeps procurement professionals striving for more.

“It’s a continuous improvement journey, and I think the best-performing organisations will recognise that, and invest in the business capability to continue that journey,” Woodhouse concludes. “That’s how you get proper value. I love hearing about how people frame problems differently, and how they approach the solutions.”

  • Digital Procurement

Author

Nell Walker

Published

Estimated Read time

7Mins

“I’m overwhelmed,” are Matthias Gutzmann’s first words when asked about DPW Amsterdam 2024. At the end of the bustling two-day…

“I’m overwhelmed,” are Matthias Gutzmann’s first words when asked about DPW Amsterdam 2024. At the end of the bustling two-day event, we sat down with Gutzmann, the company’s founder, and Herman Knevel, DPW’s CEO, for a debrief. Gutzmann also quite rightly pointed out that the final word on summarising those 48 hours is in the hands of the sponsors and attendees, but if the countless conversations we had with said sponsors and attendees are anything to go by, it was the best DPW event yet. And Gutzmann and Knevel agree.

“I really think that’s the case,” says Gutzmann. “We almost doubled the number of exhibiting startups, we had over 120 sponsors, more startup pitches than ever, and all the feedback I’ve heard so far has been amazing. There are always things you can do better, but I’m absolutely happy.”

Across the 9th and 10th of October, DPW Amsterdam welcomed over 1,300 attendees through its doors at Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam. Those attendees arrived from 44 countries across 32 industries, and the event itself featured 72 sessions with 140 speakers across five stages. It’s abundantly clear that people are deeply passionate about DPW.

“On day one, it was already packed at 8:30 in the morning,” Knevel states. “The energy in the room was contagious, and the numbers speak for themselves. The startups, the innovators, the corporates, the mid-market – everybody who’s here has a genuine interest in what these guys are bringing to the procurement space.”

Reconnecting with the vision

Gutzmann describes that intangible energy as “bringing a little bit of joy back to procurement”. For many years, procurement was a very ill-defined concept – almost as ill-defined as the role of CPO. The shift has been a quick one, accelerated further by the COVID-19 pandemic, and events like DPW Amsterdam are part of the reason why. CPOs having somewhere to go, to meet, to learn about the procurement landscape is vital, hence that inspiring energy that permeates every DPW event.

“A lot of people are missing that vibe,” Gutzmann continues. “It’s why I founded DPW. I was inspired by Mark Perera [Chairman of DPW], who I worked with at Vizibl, and had great technology while also being so inspiring. I realised we needed to connect founders with CPOs. I think every CPO should talk to one startup founder per week, at least. It’s important that we listen to their vision.”

Striving for 10X

The core of those visions for the 2024 event revolves around the concept of 10X, the idea being that you set targets for your business that are 10 times greater than what you think you can realistically achieve. It keeps people ambitious, always striving for greatness, and it’s especially prevalent in startup culture – hence Gutzmann’s belief that CPOs should be connecting with them more.

“Deciding on 10X for this year’s theme was serendipity,” says Knevel. “The term came along and Matthias said, ‘this is it – this is what we need in procurement’. This is what the industry needs, and we’re exploring it, diving deeper.”

“Last year’s theme was ‘Make Tech Work’, which was all about getting the basics right in order to scale,” Gutzmann continues. “This year we said, ‘how can we take it further?’ We are entering the biggest wave of AI yet. That technology is giving us the opportunity and the possibility to scale outcomes. The world around us is changing so fast, so we need to be more agile, scalable, and faster in procurement. It’s a very ambitious, maybe lofty theme, but it’s a mindset more than anything else.”

“It’s the mindset that drives innovation and speed,” Knevel adds. “That’s really important in this age of procuretech and supply chain tech.”

When it comes to honing that 10X mindset, it’s all about having a purpose in mind. A lot of the procurement professionals we spoke to at DPW Amsterdam called this a ‘north star’, which is the phase Gutzmann uses too. “That’s where it starts. There’s so much procurement can do. There are so many problems in the world, and I believe procurement can be the solution to many of those. So I think it starts with the CPO and their leadership, their vision. You also have to embrace startup innovation, be more experimental in the way you work, instigate new ways of working, and be bold in your thinking. You also have to remember it’s okay to fail.”

Growing DPW

Something that’s particularly impressive about DPW Amsterdam 2024 is that it’s actually the second of the year. Back in June, DPW ventured into the North American market with an intimate summit held in New York City, which CPOstrategy was fortunate enough to be invited to. Planning one wildly popular event a year is one thing, but venturing into a whole new part of the world with an additional one is incredibly dedicated.

“I’m a bit more conservative when planning ahead, so there probably wouldn’t be a New York event without Herman encouraging me,” says Gutzmann. “I’m glad he said ‘let’s go for it’. It was a short-term plan, but it was ultimately very successful and the right decision.”

Knevel adds: “The feedback we got from sponsors and delegates was quite impressive. They were asking for more. And it’s not just Matthias and myself – we have a great team here. This is a massive production, but we made the jump and it’s paid off.”

Inspiration for 2025

When it comes to the lessons Gutzmann and Knevel have learned in response to this event, it’s more about narrowing down the influx of ideas DPW gives them. By the time we spoke with them at the end of the Amsterdam 2024 event, their heads were spinning with inspiration.

“I have so many ideas,” says Gutzmann. “Every year we reinvent the show, so we never rest. We’re always asking what we can do better. How can we improve? I think this year we maxed out the number of sponsor stands that are possible to have. We doubled the number of under-30 attendees. There’s the potential to go a little deeper on the talent side, connecting students with the corporates and building a proper program around that.”

There was also the Tech Safari this year. The idea was to make the expo hall easier to navigate, since it was more crowded than ever this year. Members of the DPW team acted as ‘super connectors’ to help attendees find the right solutions and help startups find new customers. The aim was to simply make it easier for everyone involved to find what they’re looking for in small groups,enabling them to find who they wanted, talk to them, and ask questions. It turned out to be an amazing interactive experience for people, making sure they felt thoroughly looked after and valued.

“Plus there’s an opportunity to cater more to the corporates coming in,” Gutzmann continues. “Perhaps we will build a custom program for them around the event. Some of them are already coming in with teams and doing annual leadership meetings outside of the venue, but I think there’s scope to show them solutions and do some workshops within the event. We can also do more with day zero, where we have site events. There’s much more we can do.”

Giving CPOs what they want

As for the broader future of the event, DPW’s heart lies in Amsterdam and will continue to do so. The organisation is building its team even further and putting strategies in place for future events, allowing it to move forward. “We follow the demand of what our customers want,” Knevel says. That’s what really drives DPW and how the event is themed and set up. The organisation listens to CPOs so it can give them exactly what they need, and what will help the industry level up further and further. 

“There are things we’re still developing,” says Gutzmann. “For example, the podcast studio [something introduced in its current form for 2024] is something Herman is very passionate about, so it was great to test it out here. There’s more we can do with that. We have so many ideas and it’s important to engage our amazing team on these ideas and see what they think along the way.”

“We’re ideating a lot,” Knevel adds. “And we’re asking our ecosystem what we should do more of.”

“Ultimately, we’re bringing in the voice of the customer to make sure we’re giving them what they want and need,” Gutzmann concludes. “That’s the whole purpose of DPW.”

  • Digital Procurement