Stakeholder management is the process of identifying, evaluating, and managing the interests of all the people or organisations who play a role in the outcome of a business project.
It is an important part of business analysis because it makes sure that the project will meet the goals of everyone involved, not just the project sponsor and the business analyst.
Advantages of Effective Stakeholder Management
Effective stakeholder management has several benefits, such as:
- Better communication: Stakeholder management ensures that everyone involved knows how the project is going, and that their needs are being met. This helps the project team, and the clients understand each other better and avoid misunderstandings and conflict. It also helps to build trust and a good relationship between them.
- Lower risk: Stakeholder management can help make it less likely that a project will fail by finding and fixing possible problems. This is done by making backup plans for things that might go wrong and by preventing problems from happening before they happen.
- Better Managing of Expectations: Projects can fail when stakeholders have unrealistic standards. People often think that a project will take less time and cost less money than it actually does. Stakeholders (Project sponsors) can get angry if the project runs behind schedule or costs more than planned.
- Happier stakeholders: Is there a chance that you’ll be able to make everyone happy? Quite unlikely. However, you have a greater chance of keeping stakeholders happy and pleased if they’re actively involved in the project. Less stress for your clients means less stress for you, the business analyst.
- Improved decision-making: By understanding the needs of all parties, the business analyst is able to make better choices for the project. When this is done, resources are used more efficiently, and the project also has a much greater chance of meeting the goals of the entire organisation.
When stakeholders see that their needs are being met, they are more likely to support the project and its goals. This leads to increased morale and production. Also, it increases the chance that the project will be successful.
Summary
Stakeholder management is a critical component of business analysis. It is very important, especially because stakeholders are different people with different personalities. It is the duty of the business analyst to manage these different personalities properly. Stakeholder management can make the project successful if effectively done. When not effectively managed, stakeholder management can also break the project.
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