DC BLOX
off-site . We are no longer selling services to facilities managers or CFOs , we ’ re selling into CIOs and CTOs . You ’ ve got to understand strategic IT – it ’ s not just a realestate business anymore .”
DC BLOX engages in the markets and contributes to them , too , minding local social and environmental concerns , to ensure the business maintains a higher purpose .
“ In every market that we go into , we attempt to use local contractors . When you build a data centre , there ' s lots of different contractors you use . We try to take a percentage of our entire construction cost and say , ‘ who are the disadvantaged and minority-owned businesses here that can help provide us services ?’. We want to help the community and help them grow their business .
“ Every market that we have is passionled by the executives and the people that we put there . So we hire local people with a connection to the community ,” said Uphues .
There are many wide-ranging causes that DC BLOX supports , including women ' s shelters , food banks , and tech infrastructure – in the form of giving away thousands of computers through partner organisations and volunteering to help where needed .
“ A laptop means the world to somebody when they have connectivity to explore it . This group then provides training classes to them , partnering with school systems . Our values are foundational to how we serve our markets and have a real impact on our culture .”
According to Uphues , the pandemic has taught us all that there ' s a lot to be said about having personal connections to the people with whom you work .
“ It ' s taught us how to be more interconnected and stay that way . The growth of the cloud internet is happening everywhere . The remaking of the interstate and the additional capacity that is available is helping us to stay connected to each other locally and globally ”. sustainabilitymag . com 61