How stakeholder relations shape data center success

Finland is global hotspot for data center investments due to affordable energy, strong grid, and cold climate. But this unique operating environment comes with specific national characteristics: companies are expected to engage openly throughout all phases of a project and just technical excellence and financial strength do not guarantee success. Ensuring stakeholder support on national and local level is a decisive success factor of data center investment. 

Data center projects involve a wide range of stakeholders: municipalities, local residents, landowners, regulators, energy providers, national authorities, media, NGOs, and political decision-makers. Each of these groups has different expectations, concerns, and degrees of influence over a project’s progress

Questions around land use, energy consumption, emissions, national security, and local benefits emerge early in the project, often long before construction begins. Concerns can extend all the way to impact on hunting permissions, cross-country skiing routes or visual and architectural features of the data center. If these concerns are not addressed proactively and transparently, even a well-planned project can stumble on delays, resistance, or reputational damages leading to additional costs.  

For data center projects to gain enduring support from the community, engagement must go beyond reactive information sharing. When communities are involved from the day one and the investment adds value, local development or employment, the local community can become even an advocate for the data center project. Building trust requires proactive and meaningful local stakeholder participation. 

For Miltton, data centers are long-term societal projects – not only real estate or infrastructure developments. Our stakeholder relations roadmap guides stakeholder engagement in every phase of a data center project.

Our approach combines

• Strategic communications and narrative building
• Public affairs and regulatory engagement
• Local stakeholder mapping and dialogue
• Community relations and trust-building
• Issues management and reputation risk prevention

Well-managed stakeholder relations help mitigate changes in the operating and political environment, strengthen the company’s brand, and increase the project’s attractiveness.