When building a business case for a new AI technology or solution, gathering accurate feedback from internal stakeholders is crucial. This template helps you plan and structure stakeholder interviews to collect valuable insights about business problems that AI might solve.

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Why Use This Template

Stakeholder interviews serve several critical purposes in your AI procurement journey:

  • Validate the problem: Confirm that the issue is significant enough to warrant investment
  • Quantify the impact: Gather metrics that demonstrate the business cost of the current situation
  • Build consensus: Engage stakeholders early to reduce resistance later
  • Collect diverse perspectives: Understand how the problem affects different teams
  • Identify hidden requirements: Discover needs that might not be obvious initially

Using a structured approach ensures you collect comprehensive feedback while respecting stakeholders’ time.

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Template Structure

The Stakeholder Feedback template includes:

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1. Stakeholder Impact Map

This section helps you identify which stakeholders to interview based on how they’re affected by the problem:

## STAKEHOLDER IMPACT MAP

### Role Category: [Executive/Direct User/Technical/Process Owner/Support]

### Key Areas of Impact:
- Strategic goals affected
- Budget implications
- Daily workflow disruptions
- Etc.

### Suggested Stakeholders to Interview:
- [Role-specific suggestions]

### Impact Areas to Explore:
- [Role-specific questions]

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2. Meeting Agenda Template

A structured interview format to ensure you cover all important aspects of the problem:

## Meeting Title: [Problem Area] Stakeholder Interview 

### Summary: Gather insights and feedback on [business problem] to inform potential solutions and next steps
### Duration: [30/60] minutes

## Agenda:

### Welcome and Context (5 mins)
- Purpose of the interview
- Focus on problem understanding
- Confidentiality and open feedback

### Current Situation (10-15 mins)
- Current workflows/processes
- Key challenges and pain points
- Impact on daily work

### Impact Assessment (10-15 mins)
- Business impact
- Team/individual impact
- Customer/stakeholder impact

### Future State Discussion (5-10 mins)
- Desired outcomes
- Success metrics
- Potential approaches

### Wrap-up (5 mins)
- Additional insights
- Who else should be consulted
- Next steps
- Follow-up preferences

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3. Meeting Talk Track

Detailed speaking points for each section of the agenda to help guide the conversation effectively:

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How to Use This Template

  1. Identify stakeholder categories relevant to your AI initiative
  2. Create a stakeholder impact map to determine who to interview
  3. Schedule individual or group interviews with key stakeholders
  4. Customize the agenda and talk track for each stakeholder type
  5. Conduct the interviews, taking detailed notes
  6. Synthesize findings to identify patterns and quantify the problem

When interviewing stakeholders, focus on understanding their current challenges without immediately suggesting AI solutions. This approach prevents biasing their feedback and ensures you capture the true nature of the problem.

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Example: Vector Database Stakeholder Interview

Here’s how the template was applied for a company evaluating a Vector Database platform:

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Key Stakeholder Categories for AI Projects

When planning your stakeholder interviews for an AI initiative, consider including representatives from these groups:

Executive Sponsors

Budget holders and strategic decision makers who care about ROI, strategic alignment, and risk management

Direct Users

Day-to-day users affected by the problem who can provide insights on workflow disruptions and practical challenges

Technical Stakeholders

IT, security, and implementation teams who can identify integration requirements and technical constraints

Process Owners

Managers and team leads responsible for affected processes who can speak to broader operational impacts

Support Functions

Legal, procurement, and finance teams who can highlight compliance, budgeting, and vendor management considerations

External Stakeholders

Customers or partners affected by the problem who can provide an outside perspective on its impact

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Best Practices for Effective Stakeholder Interviews

  1. Prepare thoroughly: Customize your questions for each stakeholder’s role and perspective
  2. Listen more than you talk: Aim for the stakeholder to speak 80% of the time
  3. Ask open-ended questions: “How” and “why” questions yield richer insights than yes/no questions
  4. Capture metrics: Collect specific numbers that quantify the problem’s impact
  5. Follow the unexpected: Be willing to explore new angles that emerge during the conversation
  6. Summarize and verify: At the end, recap key points to ensure you’ve understood correctly
  7. Show appreciation: Thank stakeholders for their time and insights

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Next Steps After Stakeholder Interviews

Once you’ve completed your stakeholder interviews, you can:

  1. Create a problem statement that synthesizes the feedback
  2. Build a business case for addressing the identified problem

By following this structured approach to gathering stakeholder feedback, you’ll lay a solid foundation for your AI procurement process and increase the likelihood of selecting a solution that truly addresses your organization’s needs.

Business Case Template

Ready to kick off your buying project? Use our Business Case template to build alignment around your idea.

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