NTT's Alex Bennett: Turning AI Ambition into Execution

While many operators in the data centre industry have growth strategies, Alex Bennett, Global Strategy Realisation & Transformation Director at NTT Global Data Centers thinks that fewer have mastered the challenge of delivering at speed.

As AI reshapes infrastructure requirements around the world, he believes that the industry's biggest differentiator is execution.

Speaking during a Live Talk at Data Centre LIVE, Alex said: "The AI demand is well documented, as is the natural constraints of power, land, supply chain, but it's the ability to execute.

"To make decisions at pace, to adjust your operating model, to think a little differently, to work on different solutions for your clients.

"Execution is a different discipline – behavioural change and decision structure. Decisions are really critical."

Building a global operating model

NTT Global Data Centers has spent recent years transforming from a collection of regional businesses into a unified global organisation.

Today, the company operates more than 170 data centres worldwide, supporting enterprise, cloud and hyperscale customers.

Alex's role focuses on ensuring strategy translates into commercial delivery and operational success across that global business.

A major part of that work has involved integrating businesses worldwide, while preserving the regional expertise customers rely on.

"The challenges of operational transformation were significant. It's very difficult to integrate into a global company," he said.

Although the integration has been successful, he explained that bringing together different regulatory environments, commercial models and operational practices into one organisation required significant organisational change.

While that took time, the result was a business better equipped to support multinational customers with consistent service across regions.

Turning strategy into results

With AI investment booming, Alex believes organisations need to focus as much on operational capability as they do on strategic planning.

He said: "I don't think the industry is short of strategy or strategic minds, and it's not short of ambition.

"I think it needs to balance that with operational discipline, execution discipline and decision making, and focusing on the outcomes."

NTT Global Data Centers' Alex Bennett spoke on the AI Data Centre Debate panel at Data Centre LIVE: read here.

Alex also argued that successful growth depends on investing beyond land and power.

Building a global organisation requires investment in people and operational structures that enable teams to make informed decisions consistently.

Preparing for the next phase of growth

NTT Global Data Centers' move to a global operating model has strengthened its ability to serve customers operating across multiple regions, allowing the business to deliver infrastructure at greater scale.

Looking ahead, Alex expects that platform to support the company's next stage of expansion.

"Unprecedented growth for NTT, based on the back of our globalisation – there's incredible opportunity," Alex said.

"But of course, there's the opportunity to do it with prudence, structure and client-centric focus, to make sure we deliver continued scale of data centre infrastructure that we've never done before, keep it operationally sharp and make sure it's the quality required for the AI environment we live in today."