Stakeholder Management in a Digital Age - From Spreadsheets to Strategic Engagement


By CEO of Ulobby, Sosun Sendi Breitenbach. First published in Best in Brussels' 2025/26 report (find the report here: https://www.bestinbrussels.eu/2025-26-report/).

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In a time when companies face growing demands from politicians, investors, and society at large, stakeholder management as a discipline has moved from being a “nice-to-have” to a strategic must-have. Expectations for reporting and transparency are constantly rising. But how do you manage stakeholders effectively in a digital, fast-moving world with constant information flows across countless sources and where the number of relevant stakeholders expands day by day?

The answer is to treat stakeholder management as a strategic discipline - and support it with the right technology.

Moving beyond the House of Cards mindset

Public Affairs has long carried the aura of something mysterious. A world of closed doors, backchannel deals, and personal networks - something closer to House of Cards than to modern, accountable business practice. And to be honest, after working in this field for several years, it hasn’t been easy to challenge that conservatism. Many professionals in the industry have resisted the move towards transparency, structure, and measurement.

But the old-school mystique is part of the problem. It creates opacity instead of clarity, and personality-driven influence instead of institutional knowledge. And it leaves Public Affairs out of sync with the rest of the business world - where compliance, ESG, risk, and governance have resulted in a move towards transparency, traceability, and digital maturity.

As long as Public Affairs is seen as a black box, it's hard for C-level to fully understand its value  - both for strategy and the bottom line. To stay relevant, the discipline must evolve - beyond the mystique and start demonstrating its impact in ways that everyone across the business can relate to and understand.

From contact lists to digital platforms

Stakeholder management used to be all about personal connections and simple, static tools - sometimes just a spreadsheet with contacts and a few scattered notes.

But today, that’s no longer enough, especially with everything moving so fast:

• More regulations like ESG reporting, EU legislation, and supply chain due diligence
• A complex network of stakeholders - NGOs, regulators, investors, media, policymakers
• Fast news cycles, shifting narratives, and many different channels to get your message out
• Cross-functional teams working with the same or different stakeholders across departments
  

To keep up, stakeholder management has to be flexible, collaborative, and supported by the right digital tools.

The digital transformation of stakeholder work

Stakeholder management isn’t just about who you know - knowing who matters is just the start. It’s about what you know, how you share it, and what you do with it - and  when.

With the right platform, organizations can:

1. Improve governance

One of the most overlooked benefits of digital stakeholder platforms is better governance. When management gains a clear overview of political engagement and stakeholder interactions, it becomes far easier to spot risks early, avoid duplicated efforts, and align communication with overall strategy. This kind of transparency is crucial when politicians, boards, and the public demand more accountability and internal alignment.

2. Centralize knowledge and coordination

In many organizations, vital information about stakeholder engagement is scattered across inboxes, personal notes, or held by just a few people. When those people leave, important context and relationships can be lost. A shared digital platform acts like a collective memory, showing who spoke to whom, when, and what was discussed - making sure no valuable insights are lost and enabling coordinated decisions across the organization.

With the right platform, you can track:

• Meetings and conversations with stakeholders
• The history of your engagement with key contacts
• Upcoming opportunities and risks based on policy timelines

3. Monitor and contextualize in real time

Successful stakeholder management means knowing not just who the key players are, but also what matters most to them right now. Priorities and concerns can change quickly, especially in today’s fast-moving political landscape. Having real-time insight is therefore essential to stay ahead and respond fast.

By linking political monitoring with your stakeholder management in one platform, teams get a clearer picture of shifts in priorities and what drives the agenda. This makes it easier to react quickly and with the right approach, rather than relying on time-consuming manual research across different sources or using data that is outdated or unavailable.

4. Segment and prioritize stakeholders

Digital tools help teams move from broad outreach to targeted, strategic engagement.
By grouping stakeholders by influence, relevance, or alignment, you can:

• Focus time and energy where it counts
• Tailor messages to different audiences
• Measure and adjust based on results

From reactive to proactive stakeholder management

Digital stakeholder management marks a shift in how companies interact with their environment:

• From reactive to strategic: Less firefighting, more foresight
• From siloed to shared: Teams coordinate across functions and geographies
• From informal to accountable: Documentation, structure, and measurable impact

Public Affairs becomes less about the individual consultant with the right phone numbers in their contacts list - and more about the team with the right information, timing, and approach.

The human element is still crucial

No matter the tools or AI involved, one thing remains clear: technology can support, but never replace, real relationships. Influence still depends on trust, timing, and emotional intelligence. The goal isn’t to remove the human touch - it’s to give people more leverage.

When digital systems take care of documentation, insights, and coordination, professionals have more time for what they do best: building trust, shaping narratives, and driving change.

Final thoughts

Stakeholder management in a digital age is about making complexity clear. It’s about knowing who influences what - and how your organization can influence back, transparently and effectively.

When organizations leave the spreadsheet behind and embrace digital tools, they don’t just gain structure - they gain strategic advantage. Digital platforms help you connect stakeholder work to governance, risk, and long-term business goals.

In short: It’s no longer about who you know - it’s about what your organization knows, and how quickly it acts on that knowledge.