10 tools you should avoid as a Product Manager

According to a Geneca survey, 78% of respondents desire more connection and engagement from their stakeholders. But how to achieve this?

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When your organization is managing important projects, it’s essential to keep all your stakeholders in the loop. However, that’s not always easy. You may have a wide range of parties involved, perhaps spread over a wide geographic area.

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There’s an easy way to engage everyone effectively. Stakeholder management software exists specifically to help organizations keep all parties informed and involved. In this article, I’ll review the top tools available in this niche and help you decide which is the best option for your specific needs.

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1. Wrike

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Providing a single source of truth for stakeholders

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Wrike keeps stakeholders in the loop on every project.Wrike is a project management solution that can be customized to meet the needs of all stakeholders in your organization. It offers real-time commenting, live editing, dynamic reports, and notifications.The platform acts as a single source of truth so that all stakeholders are kept up to date with progress and activities.

Information can be shared with stakeholders at any time. Managers can get real-time updates and see potential roadblocks before they happen. They can also drill down to individual tasks or zoom out for a bird’s-eye view of the entire project portfolio.

This tool integrates with major business platforms such as Salesforce, Google Drive, Jira, and Slack.

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2 BQE Core

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Best for back-office automation

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BQE Core lets stakeholders know exactly how projects are progressingBQE Core is a work management system that organizes information and automates repetitive tasks. Built to meet the needs of professional services firms, it ensures that all stakeholders remain engaged and informed.The software aims to help firms improve cash flow through improved billing processes.

It also enhances project management and provides facilities for analyzing performance in detail.Information can be extracted from third-party systems and integrated into management reports.

BQE Core also helps to optimize, automate, and simplify HR tasks.This tool integrates with platforms such as Intuit and MYOB.

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3 Totango

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Best for stakeholder success plans

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With Totango, you can create a success plan and review progress towards key goals.Totango offers stakeholder engagement features to help you identify, align, and engage with key project stakeholders. You can track and analyze their needs and expectations in real-time, so you can drive retention, minimize churn, and deepen your relationship.Thanks to the engagement metrics, you can identify accounts with a high risk of churn due to a lack of stakeholder engagement.

You can also create a mutually-agreed success plan, then deliver quarterly reviews on progress achieved. The software allows you to see how your team is engaging with stakeholders and key contacts. Armed with this information, it’s possible to create campaigns that enhance stakeholder engagement.

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4 Insightly

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Best for a complete view of stakeholder engagement

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Insightly helps you add new stakeholders with ease.Insightly is a SaaS-based solution that helps organizations manage all their data in one place. It also assists with building stakeholder relationships, accelerating sales, and delivering projects on time.Features include contact management, relationship linking, lead management, and email tracking.

You can also use the system for project management, workflow automation, and opportunity management.Internal stakeholders can gain real-time access to key business metrics in just a few clicks. They can analyze information such as job placement rates, average salary data, and interview success ratios.

This tool integrates with popular business tools such as Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Dropbox, and Box.

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5 StakeTracker

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Best for a secure, online stakeholder management system

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StakeTracker helps a wide range of organizations manage stakeholders.StakeTracker is a web-based, SaaS application that helps organizations stay on top of their projects by managing all communications centrally. The software facilitates planning, recording, documenting, and reporting on communications and interactions with shareholders.

Designed in collaboration with stakeholder engagement practitioners, StakeTracker reduces the time needed to mine, cross-reference, and collate the information needed to generate reports. It documents stakeholders’ interests, issues, and concerns, as well as tracking commitments.

In addition, the software provides feedback on how issues are addressed and resolved. Project team members can coordinate consultation events, assign tasks, share information, and follow up as necessary. There is no publicly available information on integrations.

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6 Thryv

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Best for small business stakeholder management

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Thryv helps you keep track of all stakeholders in your project.Thryv is an integrated business management solution that helps small businesses with essential business functions. Using this platform, you can improve stakeholder relations and manage contacts effectively.The software allows stakeholders to monitor progress using the client portal.

This makes it easy to get buy-in from many different contributors.Based in the cloud, Thryv can also be used to run marketing campaigns, send emails, and manage social media communications.

Thryv can also be used to manage team schedules, sync calendars, and book appointments.This tool integrates with multiple third-party applications, including Slack, Gmail, QuickBooks, and MailChimp.

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7 Jambo

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Best for faster stakeholder engagement

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Jambo allows stakeholders to dig down into the detail.Jambo is a cloud-based stakeholder relationship management system. It aims to be the fastest way for organizations to manage their stakeholder information, stakeholder communications, and stakeholder engagement projects.Using the software, you can quickly log records of contact with stakeholders and design smart workflows.

Features include tag-based search, email integration, and instant save capabilities.You can track stakeholder issues and understand their impact, as well as monitor the progress of stakeholder commitments. The reporting features allow you to show the entire history of stakeholder engagement visually.There is no publicly available information on integrations.

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8 Monday.com

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‍Best for combining stakeholder management with project management

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Using Monday.com, you can create a register of all stakeholders.

Monday.com is a popular project management tool that includes stakeholder management capabilities. You can use the stakeholder register template to identify project stakeholders, centralize their contact details, and boost engagement.Features include customizable dashboards to communicate real-time data with stakeholders and get a high-level view of project progress.

You can upload files for review and storage, then use a tag column to filter them according to stakeholder role and status.The automation features help you inform stakeholders when initiatives are complete. Thanks to the smart columns feature, you can classify stakeholders according to their level of interest or power.

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9 Smartsheet

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Best for flexible project management

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Smartsheet offers a useful stakeholder communication plan template.Smartsheet is a popular work management platform that helps you manage projects and automate processes. Designed to be flexible, it offers a rich set of views, workflows, reports, and dashboards. These can be used to capture and track plans, resources, and schedules.

The software includes a number of stakeholder analysis templates for tracking, program management, and communications planning. These can be used to keep all stakeholders fully informed of developments and progress. Enterprise-grade security takes good care of everything from policy access to data flows.

This tool integrates with various popular business tools, including Slack, Docusign, AWS, and Dropbox.

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10 Kintone

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Best for organizing team workflows in one place

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Kintone keeps all stakeholders engaged and involved in key projects.Kintone is a customizable workplace platform designed to manage every stakeholder’s input in a project. You can organize your team’s data, tasks, and communication from one place.The software helps you manage project data to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are up to speed.

You can notify people when their input is needed and share information with multiple parties.With Kintone, you can organize processes and tasks into intuitive workflows. Automated reminders, approvals, and task handoffs ensure you spend less time managing work and more time getting things done.T

This tool integrates with business platforms such as Google Drive, Slack, Trello, and Microsoft 365.

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