Your Challenge
The business does not view IT as a strategic partner. Many CIOs are not invited to participate in organization-wide strategic planning and decision making.
The organization turns to shadow IT because they do not communicate with IT.
Organizations can’t get the budget for a Business Relationship Manager (BRM).
Our Advice
Critical Insight
Successful relationships drive successful IT organizations. For every 10% increase in relationship satisfaction, your business satisfaction with IT increases by 10%.
64% of CEOs believe that IT’s understanding of business goals needs improvement.
How you structure business relationship management will dictate how it functions. Build detailed job descriptions and process activities for your BRM to drive value.
Impact and Result
Create a custom organizational structure with a BRM organizational design, job description and competencies, task descriptions, and job evaluation criteria.
Use our customizable presentation guide and talk track to build understanding and validate business partner feedback from the CIO Business Vision survey. Align and prioritize your efforts based on the results.
Implement a job shadowing program easily with our step-by-step deliverables and templates, including emails, checklists, goals, and results update templates.
2. Info-Tech Research Group 2Info-Tech Research Group 2
This Research is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:
This Research Will Assist: This Research Will Help You:
This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:
This Research Will Also Assist: This Research Will Help Them:
Our understanding of the problem
CIOs Identify the need for implementing a business
relationship management function within your
organization.
Define the responsibilities and competencies
required for your business relationship
managers.
Create clear expectations for your business
partners for the BRM program.
Business Relationship Managers Identify engagement strategies for a variety of
stakeholders at different levels of satisfaction.
Create an action plan to address stakeholder
needs by leveraging your CIO Business Vision
results.
Drive measurable improvement in relationship
satisfaction through targeted planning and
communication.
3. Info-Tech Research Group 3Info-Tech Research Group 3
Resolution
Situation
Complication
Info-Tech Insight
Executive summary
• IT doesn’t have a view of business needs, strategy, and expectations,
which is forcing IT into a reactive position.
• Relationship satisfaction is the #1 predictor of overall business
satisfaction with IT, yet many CIOs do not treat relationship management
as a priority.
• Competing priorities and high demand on IT often mean that relationship
management is done in an ad hoc manner. This puts IT in a highly
reactive position rather than a proactive one.
• When a Business Relationship Management (BRM) function is in place,
organizations struggle to structure it in a way that will drive measurable
results.
Leverage Info-Tech’s diagnostics and deliverables to see dramatic improvements in your overall business satisfaction through
effective relationship management. This blueprint will provide three core customizable deliverables that you can use to launch
or optimize your BRM program. These include:
1. Organizational Structure: Customizable BRM organizational design guide, job description & competencies, task
descriptions, and job evaluation criteria.
2. CIO Business Vision Communication and Discussion Guide: Use our customizable presentation guide and talk track
to build understanding and validate business partner feedback from the CIO Business Vision survey. Align and prioritize
your efforts based on the results.
3. Job Shadowing Handbook: Implement a job shadowing program easily with our step-by-step deliverables and
templates, including emails, checklists, goals, and results update templates.
1. Successful relationships drive
successful IT organizations. For every
10% increase in relationship
satisfaction, your business satisfaction
with IT increases by 10%.
2. 64% of CEOs believe that improvement
is required around IT’s understanding
of business goals.
Adding a strategic business relationship
manager when you are in firefighting mode
is not going to work. Focus first on
improving communication and service to
set BRM up for success.
4. Info-Tech Research Group 4Info-Tech Research Group 4
Business Relationship Management (BRM)
Effectively managing relationships that are critical to business satisfaction with IT
and perception of the value that IT provides.
Taking an ad hoc approach does not work for 95% of organizations. You need a formal BRM
strategy to get ahead.
Many CIOs are not invited to participate in organization-wide strategic planning and decision making. The
business isn’t interested in strategic IT planning.
The business does not view IT as a strategic partner
Relationship management has significantly more impact on satisfaction than improvements to core services. This is
an opportunity ensure that IT is focusing efforts on high value solutions and that business partners understand the
full spectrum of what IT is responsible for.
We don’t have capacity to focus on relationship management
BRM can be a full-time job or a role that an existing staff member fulfils. When selling the idea, it’s essential that
you use data both to drive the discussions and post-implementation to demonstrate the full value of BRM.
I can’t get the budget for a Business Relationship Manager
1
2
3
Many of the people we’ve worked with have faced these BRM issues. Have you?
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Relationship management is the #1 driver of business
satisfaction with IT
30%
50%
70%
90%
30% 50% 70% 90%
ITSatisfactionScore
IT Relationship Satisfaction Score
Info-Tech Diagnostic Programs n = 308 organization
IMPACT OF RELATIONSHIP SATISFACTION
ON BUSINESS SATISFACTION WITH IT
Relationships can make or break an
IT department’s success.
In a study of 308 organizations, Info-
Tech found that for every 10%
increase in relationship
satisfaction, business satisfaction
with IT increased by 9.99%.
Can you afford to have 10% lower
satisfaction?
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The majority of business partners believe relationships with IT
need to improve
of CIOs/CEOs are
misaligned on the
target role for IT.
of CEOs believe that
business goals are
going unsupported by
IT.
47%
A successful business relationship manager will create business and IT alignment
by understanding business needs and driving solutions and services that provide
real value to their partners and to the end customer.
of CEOs believe that
improvement is
required around IT’s
understanding of
business goals.
64%
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What is Business Relationship Management?
• Business relationship management is an
organizational capability essential for
increasing business satisfaction with
IT, aligning business and IT strategy, and
improving the quality of services provided
by IT.
• At its most basic level, business
relationship management is about
improving service delivery and
communication. As the BRM capability
advances, the roles becomes increasingly
strategic.
• Whether you have a position in your
organization called business relationship
manager or if it is a role that individuals
play, it’s essential that you have a
purposeful strategy for how you will
approach and build relationships with
your business partners.
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2
3
4
5
CORE BENEFITS OF BRM
Significantly improved business
satisfaction with IT
Increased alignment between IT and
business partners
Service delivery is in line with
business requirements and
expectations
Drive innovation through in-depth
knowledge of business needs and
processes
Successful project delivery on time,
on budget, and delivering expected
value
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Info-Tech leveraged COBIT and ITIL best practices to define
four categories of BRM responsibilities that drive results
SERVICE MANAGEMENT:
Involved in defining new or
changed services, in defining
SLAs, and ensuring business
partners are getting value
from services.
STRATEGY &
GOVERNANCE: Work
collaboratively to understand
current and future business
needs. Participate in
business and IT strategic
planning to ensure alignment
and that IT is focusing on the
highest value initiatives.
COMMUNICATION:
Responsible for
identifying and evaluating
effectiveness of
stakeholder
communication, reporting,
and acting as a facilitator
and translator for IT and
business partners.
INNOVATION: Leverage
business knowledge to
identify opportunities to
optimize business
processes or services to
improve efficiency and
drive ROI.
BRM FOCUS AREAS
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For the best results, align your BRM efforts with your department’s maturity level. If you are currently
in a highly reactive position, you need to focus on stabilizing your relationships, improving communication,
and delivering services. Once stabilized, you should expand the responsibilities to be more strategic. To
successfully move up the ladder, Info-Tech has identified three distinct levels of BRM.
Innovator
Transforms the Business
Business Partner
Expands the Business
Trusted Operator
Optimizes the Business
Firefighter
Supports the Business
Unstable
Struggles to Support
BUSINESSSATISFACTION
LEVEL 1: BRMs should focus on
stabilizing the relationship between
business and IT. They should spend 80-
90% of their time on Communication
and Service Management.
LEVEL 2: Focus on working
collaboratively with business partners to
align strategy and improve project
success.
LEVEL 3: Leverages positive relationships
to seek out opportunities to drive business
value through innovation. Level 3 BRMs
should spend 70-80% of their time on
Strategy & Governance and Innovation.
BRM LEVELS 1, 2, 3
Leverage relationship management as a tool to increase
overall satisfaction with IT and go from firefighter to innovator
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Invest in building relationships with your stakeholders and
drive improved satisfaction across all IT services
OverallITSatisfaction
Perceived Value of IT
Firefighters Operators Innovators
Relationships are 24% stronger
among Innovators than Operators.
Operators score a 71% average
in relationship satisfaction.
Relationships are 22% weaker
among Firefighters than Operators.
Info-Tech Business Vision Survey
N = 21,367
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Launch a BRM program in three steps
MEASURE BUSINESS
SATISFACTION
LAUNCH BRM PROGRAM
DESIGN YOUR BRM
ORGANIZATION
LaunchCIO
BusinessVision
survey
Reviewresults
andidentifyBRM
opportunities
CustomizeBRMjob
descriptionand
activities
Go or No-Go
Decision
DefineBRM
levelrequired
Identifyrequired
competenciesand
selectBRMcandidates
DefineBRM
organizationalsketch
Launch BRM
Program
IdentifyBRM’sroles
incriticalprocesses
Initiateandrunajob
shadowingprogram
forBRMs
Prioritizeinitiatives
Monitorandreport
onoutcomes
Facilitateadiscussion
fordepartmentalBV
results
12. Info-Tech Research Group 12Info-Tech Research Group 12
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with new technologies
Make the right technology
purchasing decisions – fast
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projects, on time and
within budget
Manage business expectations
Justify IT spending and
prove the value of IT
Train IT staff and effectively
manage an IT department
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