Stakeholder Analysis Canvas

How Do I Use the Stakeholder Analysis Canvas?

If you want to sell a product or service to a commercial customer or a consumer group (e.g. a family), or in case you want to receive the (internal) approval for a project, you most often need to deal with several people in different roles who have a stake in the decision regarding the purchase respectively the approval. The Stakeholder Analysis canvas helps you find out:

1. Who are the decision makers?
2. Which roles and functions do they take over in the decision making process?
3. How do you convince these people?

For more information, see Data Strategy Design.

Start

First, begin with the most important people of interest and find out who is taking over which role in the decision-making process:

• End users: who are the end users of the product or service at a later point in time? For example, for a marketing KPI dashboard it would be marketing managers.
• Economic buyers: who is paying for the product respectively the service? Sticking with the marketing KPI dashboard example: the head of marketing is providing a share of her marketing budget.
• Decision makers: who is deciding about the purchase respectively the project approval? This can be, for example, the management board in case the costs exceed a certain limit.

In doing so, one person or position within a company can take over more than one role simultaneously and one role can also be shared by more than just one person. Place a note for each person or position in the respective field.

Third Party Influence

Besides the decision-makers who are directly affected, there is another group of people who can have a positive or negative influence on the decision. This might be because of objective or subjective reasons.

• Recommenders: internal experts or external consultants who assess a product, service or project based on objective criteria. This can be for example by order of the management board or the department leadership. They are examples for recommenders. Independent media also fall into this category. These publish professional articles about a product and take over a neutral perspective.
• Influencers: influencers have a positive attitude about a product, service or project. They support the undertaking because they either have their own positive experiences with it or they are hoping for a personal advantage.
• Saboteurs: the influencers’ opposite are the saboteurs. They have a negative attitude towards the undertaking. This might be because of a bad personal experience or because of following their own interests.

Completion

After you have identified all relevant people respectively positions you might want to prioritize them. Ask yourself:

• Who is going to use the product or the service most frequently / most intensely?
• Who is going to provide the biggest share of the budget?
• Who is going to take the final decision?
• Who is paid the most attention by the end-users, economic buyers, and decision-makers?
• Who shows the biggest commitment in his / her support?
• Who is most fiercely opposing the undertaking?

Outlook

Finally, think about how you can convince the respective people of your undertaking. Use the Analytics Use Case canvas to find out which are the people’s objectives and which are their pain points.