What is Stakeholder Management?

The process of stakeholder management is vital to the success of many businesses. When a company has a complex project to deliver, they will frequently have to use outside subcontractors or multiple departments within their firm to complete the project.

These subcontractors or workers are often referred to as stakeholders. They are referred to in this way because, in many cases, they have invested time and money to enable them to tender for and complete their part of the project. In other words, they have a stake in the project. If a project is not delivered in its entirety there is a danger they will not get paid, so they have a big stake in making sure a project is properly completed.

The process of stakeholder management is simply ensuring that everybody understands their role and delivers their part of the project on time and to budget. In other words, it is making sure that everybody involved in the project does their part.Stakeholder Management is Complex

As you can imagine getting stakeholder management right is quite difficult to do. The bigger the project is and the more people are involved the harder it becomes. Key to stakeholder management is timely and effective communication. Over the years, to help people to manage large projects that involve many different people software has been developed.

Stakeholder Management Software

There are several different kinds of stakeholder management software available. Some software simply lists out the tasks, who is responsible for that task and when each task has to be delivered. However, for most large projects this kind of software is not adequate. For larger projects, software that is more sophisticated is necessary.The more sophisticated software packages allow you to communicate complicated information simultaneously to large groups of people. It allows you to create multi-tiered e-mail lists ensuring that everyone who needs a certain piece of information gets it in a timely manner.

The best packages include an event planner and stakeholder mapping to provide you with an at a glance stakeholder management overview and progress reports. You control who accesses what information and when using the software making it far easier to monitor progress and control the project.

To find out more about stakeholder management and the tools you can use to help you visit the Smart QBase website.