Stakeholder management: the key to supported solutions
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As a Business and Information Analyst, you translate the needs of the organization into concrete solutions. In doing so, you deal with diverse stakeholder interests. Stakeholders have great influence on the success or failure of a project. Yet in practice, stakeholders are not always properly involved.

In this blog, Wendy Groven - Hogenboom, Business and Information Analyst, explains what stakeholders are, why stakeholder management is so important within IT projects and the analyst's role in it.

What is a stakeholder?

A stakeholder is a group or individual directly or indirectly affected by the change, need or solutions within a project. Think of end users, product owners, managers, but also functional administrators, testers, security officers, suppliers and other stakeholders. They each represent their own perspective and interests.

It is precisely this diversity that makes stakeholder management complex. Where the user is primarily looking for ease of use, security focuses on risks and compliance, while the business is looking for quick value creation. The trick is to properly take all these interests into account.

Why stakeholder management is crucial

Stakeholder management contributes to acceptance, effectiveness and success. Without the right alignment, expectations can diverge, resistance arises or the solution does not align well with practice. These are the main reasons why stakeholder management is important:

  • Clear and complete requirements
    Help stakeholders get the right needs and requirements to the surface.
  • Higher acceptance rate
    Involvement leads to more support and less resistance.
  • Preventing surprises
    Timely coordination prevents late adjustments and discussions.
  • Better decision-making
    Multiple perspectives make for more complete and realistic choices.
  • Expectation management
    Everyone knows where they stand: what, when and why.
  • Time and cost savings
    Early coordination often eliminates the need for costly adjustments later in the project.
  • Successful transition
    Change is better managed, for example with a change model such as ADKAR.

The role of the BIA in stakeholder management.

The Business and Information Analyst (BIA) acts as a bridge between business, IT and users. It is precisely in this connecting role that stakeholder management is essential. The BIA ensures that the right people are involved at the right time, that their input is included and that choices are widely supported.

Duties of the BIA:

  • Identify Stakeholders
    Who has an interest in the project, who has influence, who uses the system? The onion model helps make this visual. The model visualizes the different layers of stakeholders and their influence on the project.
  • Analyze interests and expectations
    Who wants what, what goals are at play, where are potential conflicts. Useful tools for this are the RACI matrix and the influence-interest matrix.
  • Building and maintaining relationships
    Trust is key. The BIA is often the point of contact and ensures that stakeholders know where they stand.are potential conflicts. Useful tools for this are the RACI matrix and the influence-interest matrix.
  • Requirements retrieval
    Through interviews, workshops and observations, desires, requirements and expectations are retrieved.
  • Support change management
    Guide stakeholders through the change brought about by the project, for example using Prosci's ADKAR® model. 
Wendy

In conclusion

Stakeholder management is not a prerequisite, it ís the project. Without proper coordination, you may deliver a technically good product, but one that falls short in terms of content.

The BIA plays a key role in this. By actively listening, connecting interests and managing expectations, the likelihood of a supported and successful solution is increased.

Want to spar about stakeholder management within your project? Feel free to contact me, I'd love to think with you.

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