There are some key questions you need to ask when you’re selecting an online engagement platform.
Governments and organisations are increasingly recognising the importance of online stakeholder engagement and management. It enables more stakeholders to participate in deliberative dialogue and improves efficiencies, resulting in more accountability and better outcomes.
A cloud-based online engagement platform helps to deliver online engagement opportunities and strong engagement from your stakeholders. A vital key to your strategy is developing a sound ‘business case’ and undertaking stakeholder analysis and identifying how to reach each stakeholder group effectively.
Both online and offline methods are important, but you also need a place to bring all your communication together to be able to analyse and report on it effectively.
Engagement Hub provides over 25 tools to enable organisations to inform, consult, involve, collaborate and empower their stakeholders.
Engagement Hub is also the only online engagement platform that has a ‘Stakeholder Relationship Management’ Tool built-in. That means that you can track all your engagement in one place – both online and offline and create instant reports to share with your team or to feedback on your consultation.
What does authentic engagement look like?
Ultimately, authentic stakeholder engagement (on the IPA2 spectrum, consult to empower) needs to be an opportunity for conversation and deliberation, where stakeholders have a level of influence over the outcomes. It can’t be a public relations exercise to justify decisions that have already been made!
You need to select software that has a mix of informative tools and consultation or participation tools. You also need to be able to customise these tools and your engagement to tailor it to your project or target audience. Engagement Hub is one of the most flexible platforms – Book a demo with us to learn more about how we can customise the platform to suit your needs.
What to ask when selecting an online engagement solutions?
There are certain key questions to ask when selecting an online engagement platform or software:
Security and Data Security
- How robust are the security infrastructure and practices put in place?
- Who has access to your user data and how is it encrypted?
- Is your platform hosted in a secure data centre in Australia?
- Is the installation of SSL/TLS Encryption included within your licence fee?
Compliance and Accessibility
- Is the platform compliant with government privacy legislation and regulation?
- Does the platform comply with the global web accessibility protocol WCAG 2.0?
- To enable participation by all stakeholders, is a language translator built-in?
Support and Advice
- What level of support is included with your software licence?
- Does the business provide additional expert stakeholder engagement services?
Functionality and Features
- Does the platform meet your objectives?
- Is there an array of versatile tools available to suit different types of consultations?
- Is a stakeholder management tool built-in?
- How collaboratively does the business work with clients to develop new features? And request the development changelog
- How frequently are new features deployed?
Value for Money
- Does the platform provide value for money?
Finally, ask about customisation because without this vital element – your consultation and engagement can’t be truly effective.
Start your online engagement journey today.
Email us to discuss your online engagement software requirements, request a high-level competitor analysis and/or book a demo directly in our calendar now.
