Scaling datacenter construction at the speed of demand

The Challenge

When Marc Famularo joined DataBank as Project Controls Manager, the demand to build data centers was intense — and growing every day. Failure to keep up meant fumbling a historic opportunity for his new employer. 

“The schedule is always accelerating, and the question is always, ‘If you're going fast, how can you go faster?’” Marc says. 

But what really frightened Marc wasn’t moving too slowly. What scared him was moving too fast — without a clear view of the road ahead. 

DataBank was staring down a pipeline that would double the company’s portfolio. But as projects went live, teams struggled to keep track of costs, schedules and potential risks, making it difficult to see dangers in time to act on them. 

Critical data was scattered across emails, spreadsheets and meeting notes, forcing teams to spend hours piecing together an actual picture of project health before they could make decisions. 

Marc knew that delayed decisions could quickly turn into missed schedules, cost overruns and operational blind spots. To keep DataBank growing at the speed the market demanded, he needed to eliminate what he called the “manual tax” before it turned the company’s pipeline into a train wreck.

That “manual tax” was eating up time across the organization.

Instead of managing projects, teams were wasting hours assembling information from disconnected systems just to understand what was happening across the portfolio. Without easy access to that data, the team often relied on memory and hunches, creating potential inefficiencies that would repeat with each new project. 

And delays in compiling the data meant the team was usually making decisions based on yesterday’s intelligence. 

“Real-time information is critical,” said Famularo. “Any delay in information is a delay in identifying opportunities or risks.” 

To scale effectively, Marc needed to get DataBank’s people out of the data-curation business and back to building data centers. 

The Solution

As Marc searched for solutions, he quickly realized that DataBank didn’t need another vendor or piece of software. They needed a partner capable of scaling alongside the speed and complexity of today’s data center market. 

Marc chose Procore as the single source of truth that would allow DataBank to scale its portfolio with organic, repeatable precision. 

“We wanted a partner that adapts with us,” Marc says. “As our portfolio grows, we need a team that scales, brings in AI capabilities, and remains proactive. It’s a symbiotic relationship.” 

Using Procore, Marc helped establish a more finance-focused project controls methodology that aligned budgets, forecasts and cost controls directly with DataBank’s long-term growth plans. 

“We benchmark against the current year and the next 3 to 5 years to ensure we are trending where we planned,” Marc says. “We strive to be predictable and stay on track with our execution goals.” 

Procore’s analytics capabilities also gave the company new ways to benchmark, filter and interpret data across the portfolio. 

“Analytics is the X variable,” Marc says. “It allows us to slice and dice data in ways that supplement standard modules, giving us a different lens. It helps us see things we haven't seen before and leads to new ideas for looking at numbers or schedules. Being able to filter and sort the data helps us execute more effectively.”

The Results

• Centralizing data into Procore enabled the company to double their data center footprint
• Supported 2x portfolio growth by replacing scattered spreadsheets with a scalable digital infrastructure
• Faster decisions based on real-time field data enables proactive risk and budget protection
• Automating data curation helps eliminate the manual tax, shifting team focus to active construction delivery
• Moved from fragmented pillars of information into a single cloud platform, allowing for predictable project execution

Faster, More Consistent Portfolio Expansion 

The transformation changed the physics of how DataBank builds — and the speed at which it can turn over the keys. Instead of chasing information across fragmented platforms, DataBank now works from a shared, real-time view of each project. 

"The speed of getting things done now happens organically," Marc says. "We spend less time curating information and more time managing the project, which in turn gets things done faster." 

With Procore in place, teams can identify risks earlier, move faster with more confidence and maintain more consistent processes as DataBank’s portfolio expands. 

And most importantly, they can keep up with data center demand without fearing unseen pitfalls in their path. 

That gives DataBank a substantial advantage in capitalizing on the opportunities in the rapidly expanding category — especially when other firms are content to stay siloed. 

For those builders, Marc has a simple but urgent question: 

"Why not?" he asks. "What’s the risk in moving to a single source of truth that keeps you aligned?” 

“Transitioning to Procore has helped us keep everything in one place, moving forward with a confident, accurate plan every day.”