The BRM Discipline rests on solid research-based foundations verified and enhanced over a decade of successful implementations in leading organizations across the world. Proven to be equally effective for a wide range of internal providers (business partners) including IT, Human Resources, Finance, Legal, external service providers, CRMs and others. The Practice of Business Relationship Management embodies a set of competencies (e.g. knowledge, skills, and behaviors) to foster an effective business value-producing relationship between a provider and its business partners. These competencies can be leveraged through and organizational role, a discipline (e.g. all business partner facing provider roles should be skilled in Business Relationship Management), and an organizational capability (e.g. a provider organization should be effective in shaping and channeling demand to the highest business value opportunities). The BRM Role is a crucial link between a provider and the business acting as a connector, orchestrator, and navigator between the provider and one or more business units.

1. Business Relationship Management
as a Role, a Discipline, and an
Organizational Capability
Presented by Svetlana Sidenko
MsC (Admin) PMP® , ITIL® Expert, CGEIT®
ITSM®, ISO 20000 Management Consultant
TIPA® Lead Assessor, COBIT® 5, ISO 27002
PRINCE2® Practitioner,
Certified Process Design Engineer(CPDE) ®,
Change Management Registered Practitioner
President of IT Chapter
www.itchapter.com
https://ca.linkedin.com/in/ssidenko

2. To start with: short survey about YOUR
organization….
1.Is IT critical to the success of YOUR business?
A. Yes
B. No
2.Is the business in YOUR organization able to effectively and efficiently communicate what they need?
A. Absolutely, at all times
B. Yes, most of the time
C. Hmmm…Sometimes
D. No, never
3. Is YOUR IT department getting enough information in order to support strategic business needs?
A. Certainly, always.
B. Usually we are informed sufficiently
C. Often we do not get sufficient information or learn about business initiatives at the last minute
D. We struggle. Business never gives us enough of information
2

3. To start with: short survey about YOUR
organization….(continued)
4. Is business in YOUR organization seeking IT help outside of YOUR IT organization?
A. Yes
B. No
5. If the business needs support and is not getting help internally, business is getting frustrated
with it’s own IT department. Business must get help elsewhere. In YOUR organization, do
they:
A. Utilize outside resources
B. Hire their own IT resources to perform the work they need
C. Use their budget to purchase services from unauthorized providers (“Shadow IT”)
D. Outsource IT to global or local providers
E. All of the above
3

4. Signs of broken business
and IT relationship
• Interpersonal problems
• “Us” and “them” mentality
• “Blame game” and finger pointing
• Defensiveness
• Non-constructive criticism from both
sides
• Failure of both IT and business team
members to communicate critical
information
• IT is not invited to important
business meetings
4
Results : failure to reach expected business outcomes

5. Inevitable shift
Today, with the pervasive and ‘user friendly’ nature of IT, and available access to
global sourcing opportunities, IT functions and capabilities are converging with
the business and the Business Relationship Management has to help pave the
way for inevitable shift.
5

6. Let’s start with
Business Relationship Management
Year 2005: ISO/IEC 20000 defined Business Relationship Management
as a process with main objective of “…establishing and maintaining a
good relationship between the service provider and the customer based
on understanding the customer and their business drivers”
Year 2011: ITIL® 2011 Service Strategy defines Business relationship
management as “the process that enables BRMs to provide links
between the service provider and customers at the strategic and tactical
levels. The purpose of these links is to ensure that the service provider
understands the business requirements of the customer and is able to
provide services that meet these needs”
Year 2012: CobiT® 5 defines “Manage the Relationship” Process as a
formalized and transparent way of ensuring common “focus on
achieving a common and shared goal of successful enterprise outcomes
in support of strategic goals and within the constraint of budgets and risk
tolerance. Base the relationship on mutual trust, using open and
understandable terms and common language and a willingness to take
ownership and accountability for key decisions”
6

7. Business Relationship Management Institute
BRMI Incorporated in March 2013 with a mission to:
“Define, inspire, value, and promote the key traits of effective Business
Relationship Management”
This mission is fulfilled through:
A learning community of BRM professionals
A Wiki collaboration platform
BRM Interactive Body of Knowledge™
Professional BRM training, development and certification
BRM research and publications
7

8. BRM as a Role, a Discipline and Organizational
Capability
8
An Organizational Capability is everything it takes, both visible and behind
the scenes, that makes producing a good or providing a service possible,
meaning having people with the right competencies to play the roles
required by defined processes, and armed with useful techniques and
tools, all backed by management systems that create incentives for
performance and improvement.
• As a role, the Business Relationship Manager is a connector and translator
between a provider organization and a business unit
• As a discipline, Business Relationship Management embodies a set of
competencies (knowledge, skills, behaviours) that foster productive, value-
producing relationships between a provider and the business units they serve

9. Business Relationship Management definition
“Business Relationship Management stimulates,
surfaces and shapes business demand for a
provider’s products and services and ensures that the
potential business value from those products and
services is captured, optimized and recognized.”
Source: BRMI Institute
9

10. BRM metaphors
10
BRM$as$navigator)
BRM$as$connector)
BRM$as$orchestrator)

11. Typical BRM role
11
Sits at intersection of service provider and business
partner
Stimulates, surfaces and, shapes business demand
for maximized value
Member of both business and provider
management teams

12. The “House of BRM”
12
Demand''
Shaping'
Exploring'
Servicing'
Value'
'Harves8ng'
Clarity'of'the''
BRM$Role$in'the'context'of'the''
Provider'Strategy$and$Opera2ng$Model$
BRM$Competencies$
• Strategic'Partnering'
• Business'IQ'
• PorAolio'Management'
• Provider'Domain'
• Powerful'Communica8ons'
• Business'Transi8on'Management'
The ‘‘roof’ protects the integrity of the
BRM role
The ‘pillars’ define the BRM
space in terms of Core
Disciplines
The ‘foundation’ supports the
execution of the role

13. Aspects to consider…
13
Clarity(of(the((
BRM$Role$in(the(context(of(the((
IT(Strategy$and$Opera2ng$Model$
In#the#Strategic#Context#
#
In#the#Cultural#and##
Poli4cal#Context#
#
In#the#IT#Opera4ng##
Model#Context#
Business Transition
Management
Portfolio Management
Program
Management
Ini$a$ves)
Governance) Service Mgt. Services(
Processes'
Organiza(on* Metrics(

14. It takes two to tango
"It takes two to do the trust tango-the one who risks (the trustor) and the one who is trustworthy (the trustee);
each must play their role”
-Charles H. Green, The Trusted Advisor
You can sail on a ship by yourself,
Take a nap or a nip by yourself.
You can get into debt on your own,
There are a lot of things that you can do alone!
But ...It takes two to tango!
Al Hoffman and Dick Manning, 1952
14

15. Business Demand Maturity and Provider Supply
Maturity
15
Time%
“Tac)cal”%BRM%“Strategic”%BRM%
Business'
Efficiency'
Level'1'IT'Focus%
• Provide%basic%systems%and%services%
• Stabilize%opera)ons%and%support%
• Improve%service%delivery%
• IT%management%fundamentals%
Business'
Effec5veness'
Level'3'Business'Needs%
• Business%growth%and%Innova)on%
• Rapid%reconfigura)on%capability%
• Market%informa)on%
• Business%integra)on%orienta)on%
Level'3'IT'Focus%
• Con)nuous%strategy%and%planning%
• Converge%business%and%IT%
• Expand%and%extend%infrastructure%
• Enable%flexibility%and%agility%
• Embrace%‘Consumeriza)on%of%IT’%
Demand'
Supply'
!%%
Level'
"%%
Level'
Level'
#%%
Support%Improve%Innovate%
Value%
Level'2'IT'Focus'
• Establish%common%IT%infrastructure%
• Build%IT%credibility%
• Improve%solu)on%delivery%
• Establish%Enterprise%Architecture%
• Respond%to%‘Consumeriza)on%of%IT’%
Level'2'Business'Needs'
• Business%network/process%redesign%
• Enable%business%and%partnerships%
• Management%informa)on%
• Process%orienta)on%
Level'1'Business'Needs%
• Founda)on%systems%
• Cost%savings%
• Opera)onal%informa)on%
• Func)onal%orienta)on%
A tool for calibrating supply and demand maturity, and BRM role

16. Climbing maturity levels
Credibility = Expertise + Trustworthiness
The elements of trust:
Similarity
Prolonged positive interactions
Appropriate behaviour (in business partner’s eyes)
Consistent behaviour – do what you say you will do!
16

17. Trust can be earned
Not by expertise alone…
We view as experts those we trust
But we don’t necessarily trust experts!
17
…But by relationship management
Active listening
Creating positive interactions with business partners
Helping business partners become self-sufficient
Teaching and coaching
Responding well in difficult business partner encounters
Avoiding defensiveness
By building a multiyear capability roadmap and delivering or showing results against that roadmap

18. Broken relationship can be repaired
In case if the problem is in lack of business partner trust due to prior bad IT experience…
But they may not tell you that – it’s hard to diagnose….
Can’t be resolved by saying “it wasn’t me”
Can’t be resolved by improving technical performance
You must build back the relationship:
Start small;
Have positive interactions;
Give help and jargon-free information;
Locate near your business partners and see them often.
18

19. The Strategic Partnership role
Partnership gets a lot of lip-service:
We want to be loved for what we’re doing now
We want them to change, not us
We want them to give it to us; we don’t want to earn it
19
Partners add value by:
Seeing opportunities that business partners don’t see or want to see
Selling the business partner on the opportunities
Knowing when to cajole
Knowing when to confront
Knowing when to give in
In short, by political behaviour

20. Business Relationship Management Competencies
20
BRM DNA™
Develop
Nurture
Advance

21. Relationship Maturity
21
LEVEL 4
TRUSTED
ADVISOR
Cooperation based on
mutual respect and
understanding
LEVEL 3
SERVICE
PROVIDER
The routine is
routine; innovation
is a challenge
LEVEL 5
STRATEGIC
PARTNER
Shared goals for
maximizing value,
shared risks &
rewards
LEVEL 2
ORDER TAKER
Frequent
misperceptions
build distrust &
reactive course-
changes
LEVEL 1
AD HOC
Loudest-in, first-out
Embrace Business
Value Realization
Engage Provider
in Strategic Thinking
Embrace BRM Role &
Service MGMT
Embrace the Reality of
Existing Capabilities
Embrace Continuous
Improvement
Portfolio & Transition
MGMT Excellence
BRM & Service
MGMT Excellence
Establish Demand
MGMT Discipline
Our business partners
understand our capabilities,
works with them, and
helps improve them
We work together
with our business
partners to survive
and prosper
Our business partners help
set priorities, but we are
always behind
We are asked to be predictable
but there is no way to forecast
demand so we know we
disappoint our business partners
more often than not
I’m too busy to think about
anything other than
being too busy
My Provider is
integral to business
success and growth and
helps me succeed
My Provider is
helpful and reliable
My Provider prevents me
from making big mistakes but
I’m not always sure of the
direction we’re heading
I engage my Provider when
I need something so they
stay out of my way when I
don’t need them
If I’m lucky enough to get my
Provider’s attention, the
result costs too much,
delivers too little, and
takes too long
Essential Role of ITSM

22. The BRM role in practice
Seniority – and level of business executive with whom the BRM partners.
Purpose – especially in the balance of focus between supply (the view from the
Provider out to the Business Partner) and demand (the view from the Business Partner
back to the Provider).
Title – e.g. Business Partner Director, Account Manager, etc.
Supply side focus – e.g. IT, HR, Finance, Line of Business, etc.
Demand side focus – e.g. Line of Business, Business Process, Geography.
Team size – from sole practitioner to leader of a team of 10+.
Numbers of BRMs per enterprise – from 1 to 100s.
Career trajectory – often moving from major project or program management role to
leadership role in Provider domain (e.g. to CIO).
22
Varies widely from organization to organization…

23. Common BRM reporting and organization
structures
Reporting relationships
• Solid line to Provider lead, dotted line to Business Partner lead
• Dotted line to Provider lead, solid line to Business Partner lead
• Some BRMs report to Provider Strategy and/or Architecture lead, PMO, etc.
BRM staff
From none (BRM as individual performer)
To multi-level
• BRM Lead
• BRM Manager
• BRM Analyst
To small supply team (e.g., mini-CIO organization, ‘Shadow’ provider organization)
23
With many variations!

24. How The BRM role aligns with Business Partners
24
81%$
22%$
11%$
3%$
By$business$unit$
By$business$process$
Other$
By$geography$
0%$ 10%$ 20%$ 30%$ 40%$ 50%$ 60%$ 70%$ 80%$ 90%$
By$business$unit$ By$business$process$ Other$ By$geography$
BRMs are typically organized by Business Unit or Business Process
Source:((BRMI(survey(of(47(Business(Rela7onship(Managers(from(9(countries(

25. Relationship Manager career paths
Gartner predicts that the percentage of IT personnel dedicated to relationship management and change leadership
functions will reach nearly 20 percent by 2016.
Diane Morello, “IT Professional Outlook, 2012 to 2016: Prepare for a Future Unlike the Past”
Optimally, BRMs have the role as a full time position
Heads of provider organizations (e.g., CIO) fill the BRM role for the enterprise as a part time role
Where Do Successful BRMs Come From?
• ITSM
• Business Analysis
• Portfolio Management
Business background, with provider acumen, or provider background with business acumen?
• Both
What types of career progression are available to the BRM?
• Path to CIO or head of provider function
• Path to Business Leader
25

26. The Skills
Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA)
SFIA defines 96
professional IT skills,
organized in 6 categories,
each of which has several
subcategories. It also
defines 7 levels of
attainment, each of which
is described in generic,
non-technical terms
26

27. In conclusion…some important points
BRM is critical organizational capability
The BRM role can be tactical or strategic – but not both
Provider supply maturity is the key factor in determining type of BRM role
Not all BRMs in an organization will be of the same type
Business units that have greater maturity will look to the BRM role to be more
strategic
Those units with less maturity will look for tactical help from the BRM
Business demand maturity is a factor in determining how the BRM role is deployed
ITSM plays essential role is growing the Relationship Maturity
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28. To learn more about Business Relationship
Management
BRMI Interactive Body of Knowledge
http://brminstitute.org/
Concepts
Processes
Templates, Forms, Diagrams
Community Support
BRMP® Foundation Certification course - 3 days + exam
http://itchapter.com/training/business-relationship-management-professional-
brmp-montreal/
28

29. –Bertie Charles Forbes, founder of Forbes magazine
“If you don't drive your business, you will be
driven out of business…”
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