Key Insights on Data Centers from DICE Southwest 2025

The excitement was definitely in the air during last week's DICE Southwest 2025 event in Phoenix. Industry executives from all parts of the data center ecosystem gathered for two days of frank discussions reflecting on what to expect in this fantastic growth sector, which is seeing data centers built in new locations across the Southwest at an astonishing pace. Bisnow brought together this incredible collection of people who are making real decisions that shape our digital infrastructure landscape.

Building for the Long Haul: The Evolution of Mega Projects

If there is one thing that came through loud and clear during the opening keynote, it's that we are seeing an absolute transformation in how data centers are conceptualized and distributed. "We're all learning this asset class together," said one of the panelists from a large investment firm, trying to express the fact that even the most experienced are starting to learn something new.

Campus-scale data center development is the new reality, and it requires strategic planning, which has become increasingly complex. Construction teams have to respond in time frames that we would have deemed impossible five years ago and confront supply chain challenges and labor constraints that have still been upended due to the pandemic. 

What stood out was the emphasis on strategy versus speed. Some builders admitted that they had been stung by pushing speed without strategy. A construction executive, during the development panel, said, "Fast isn't worth anything if your workforce planning is a flop three months in a row." This continues the trend we are seeing at Kwant, with the forward-thinking contractors who are investing in systems and processes to scale their work across multiple sites, rather than quick fixes or solutions for one-off projects.

The Human Side of Automation: Technology as an Enabler

One of the most invigorating conversations was during the technology innovation panel. Dan, from Doxel, focused on the usual shallowness of AI hype and took a view that pretty much aligned with everyone in the room. "The story around automation eliminating people misses the point completely," he said. "We're creating technology that helps skilled people do ten times the amount of work."

He presented examples of professional administrators using Doxel’s computer vision system to monitor the progress of large project areas that would be physically impossible for a single person to cover on a day-to-day basis. The outcome was not layoffs—rather, they had the same amount of people doing more of the work with less stress and at a higher quality level.

This point of view aligns perfectly with everything we created at Kwant. Our platform was never about replacing the expertise of human judgment - it is about providing construction professionals with real-time data to make better decisions, and quicker! If contractors can understand who is in their work site, how they're working and how patterns grow over time, they can do things to keep their teams safe, and in turn improving productivity positively for these companies (and various stakeholders).

Creating Repeatable Success: The Standardization Challenge

A project executive from a leading general contractor asked a question that ultimately defined much of the event: "We know what worked on our last three data hall builds. The real question is: how do we standardize that success so that it is not tied to having the same exact team every time?"

This prompted a very interesting conversation about the tension between standardization and customization. A few panelists offered researchers' war stories about systems that worked famously in one region but did not work at all in another region due to different labor markets, building code regulations, or client expectations.

What resulted was a consensus on flexible standardization- core processes that stayed the same, but allowed for regional flexibility. This was the exact problem Kwant's Workforce OS platform was built to solve. By centralizing workforce onboarding, safety checks, access management, and real-time analytics in one system, contractors could maintain standardization, while site teams could have the flexibility to adhere to local conditions.

The Labor Question: Building Tomorrow's Workforce Today

A data center conference wouldn't be a data center conference without properly addressing an ongoing labor shortage. Many events have pointed out the challenges in the labor pool, few have actually gone the next mile and focused on actual solutions. 

Another highlight was two competitive contractors, together, describing how they openly work together for workforce development in the Phoenix metro. Instead of trying to take people from each other, they brought the local community college into the mix to establish a training program that is creating a pipeline of talent to fill skilled roles for data center construction.

A different speaker mentioned the latent capacity of veterans entering civilian life. "These are disciplined workers who understand how to follow mission parameters and security clearance. They're ideal for this industry," she said. Some members of her audience nodded, suggesting this thinking is gaining population traction. 

At Kwant, we are especially proud to support contractors like QTS, who have made workforce development a strategic goal. By offering better insight into how teams really engage with their time on site, we help contractors find more readily available opportunities to pair less experienced workers with veterans for the greatest knowledge transfer, while still getting the work completed.

Security and Safety: The Foundation of Everything Else

Maybe one of the most technical or practical discussions of the whole conference was run by folks from Assa Abloy and Meta, who both spoke about the details of physical security and access control. What made it valuable was not just the technical elements, but the timing considerations.

"It is not something you just add at the end," the Meta presenter emphasized, "The best projects we have seen had an appointed security and access lead from the very first day of construction planning." This identification prevents the all-to-frequent situation where security systems do not work with other building systems, or require expensive rework as it compromises the security offered.

The Assa Abloy team walked us through recent innovations in credential management that afford greater access control granularity and reduced bottlenecks at entrances. They presented a case study of properly implemented access systems actually saving nearly 40 minutes of daily startup time per worker, and when multiplied by hundreds of people, that's a lot of productivity!

It resonated with our experience at Kwant. We've lived the thoughtfulness of access control integration on the data center projects in Phoenix and Reno, and the impact on site operations, when security and productivity are working together rather than against each other, is palpable.

Looking Ahead: The Southwest's Data Center Future

The closing panel brought together economists, regulated utilities, and regional officials to discuss the region's continued prospects for data center growth. While the panelists did discuss concerns related to water usage and power capacity, the general consensus was on the overall positive outlook for the Southwest as a key data center market.

"The natural disaster risk is relatively low, we have a developing renewable energy supply chain, we have relatively business-friendly regulations, and those things keeps this region at the top of selection lists," one development director said. However, several panelists did emphasize that the industry must continuously improve its sustainability efforts to remain trusted in the eyes of the community.

As someone who collaborates with the teams constructing these critical facilities, I came away feeling invigorated about both the challenges and the opportunities one faces. The growth of data centers is generating thousands of jobs and billions of investment dollars across the Southwest. Getting it right takes deliberate planning and the right tools. We at Kwant are excited to keep supporting the amazing people who are building these digital infrastructure projects.