IDG Contributor Network: How to maximize stakeholder involvement when acquiring new enterprise software

Conventional wisdom is that stakeholders must be involved when selecting enterprise software. But who are the stakeholders and why must they be involved? How can you maximize that involvement? Note that this is not a technical issue, but a people issue that directly affects the outcome of a software acquisition project.Who are the stakeholders?
Internal users: Employees who make regular use of the system. In most projects, the internal users are the most relevant stakeholders. If they have truly