The Stakeholders

The identification and management of all stakeholders in a project is an essential prerequisite for the success of the project itself; that’s the reason why this process is included in the UNI ISO 21500 Standard in the group of initiation phase.

But what is the definition of stakeholders?

A stakeholder or interested party is a person or a group of people or an organisation that:

– has an interest of some kind in the project;

– can influence the project or be influenced by it;

– participates or would like to participate in the project;

– may bring value, positive or negative, to the project;

– may have responsibilities with regard to the project which, in turn, must fulfil its expectations.

At Colloi Plus, in order to correctly classify stakeholders, we use the methodology that is based on dividing them into four main communities, according to the type of prevailing interest: investors, buyers, suppliers and influencers.

Investors whose primary interest is profitability; the realisation of the event is a means to achieve their business goals. The investor category includes financiers, sponsor and top management.

Buyers whose main interest is quality, using the event for recreational, educational or experiential purposes. Customers, prospects and users are part of the buyer category.

Suppliers whose main interest is the project as a whole, providing services/products in terms of time, cost and quality. The supplier category includes the meeting & event manager, business partners and suppliers.

Influencers whose overriding interest is to participate in the project, although they are not a contracting party; the event is for them a tool to support their objectives. The influencer category includes authorities such as public administrations, the media and other communities such as associations.

The management of communication with all stakeholders is essential: it mainly concerns the creation, collection, distribution, archiving, extraction, accessibility and exploitation of information about the project. Incorrect communication management is one of the main causes of project failure; therefore, it is essential to identify, analyse and solve communication problems in a timely manner.

In conclusion, all project stakeholders are important. In fact, they are central to every project, since (Pirozzi, 2014):

– they are both the actors and the beneficiaries;

– they are the critical success factor, both in achieving the results and in validating, at various levels, the fulfilment of their needs and expectations.