Taking Business Partnering to The Next Level
Business Relationship Management
The BRMIConnect conference in Amsterdam was the 4th and final international BRM conference in 2016. This article is the first part of two that discusses the outcomes of the BRMIConnect,written by Paul Wilkinson, owner and director of Gamingworks, a Baxter Thompson Partner who licences the "Grab-a-Pizza" Business / IT simulation. The conference kicked-off, in my mind, with a refreshing approach of actually asking the audience what they wanted to learn in the conference so that the speakers could align their…
Adopting Different Styles of Engagement
Business Relationship Management
This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to help identify the key styles of engagement with Business stakeholders . It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. In our last post we discussed negotation techniques and how to utilize them, let’s further hone our skills by exploring and adopting different styles of engagement. It's important to recognize and master the different styles of engaging in order to achieve our ultimate goal of influencing…
Negotiation Skills
Business Relationship Management
This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to help identify the key elements in negotiation with Business stakeholders . It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. There are four considerations when negotiating: People Maintaining the relationship and the dialogue is the first priority. This means making allowances for emotions (both yours and theirs) mis-perceptions, mis-communication, and different methods of expression. Discuss the other parties values and perceptions. Acknowledge their concerns, agenda, wants…
The Vocabulary of IT Business Partnering
Business Relationship Management
I come away from reading various consulting surveys that one of the key messages is that: IT stakeholders should partner strategically with Business stakeholders more. This is an easy itch to scratch and something that I have responded to my company's offer of services. However this thinking panders to stereotype roles and ways of (not) engaging. Is the paradigm so simple? Business stakeholders accuse IT stakeholders of not engaging, or the efforts to engage are not credible. IT stakeholders have…
Conflict Management Skills
Business Relationship Management
This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to help manage conflict with Business stakeholders . It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. Now we’re comfortable with the crucial selling skills needed for influence, but what if our interactions don’t go as planned? There are five strategies to dealing with conflict, each of which have merit - this can vary depending on the context in a given situation. Your preference can be determined…
Business Stakeholder Selling Skills
Business Relationship Management
Business Stakeholder Selling Skills This post is an aide-memoire for Business Relationship Managers to ensure that the basics are covered in engaging Business stakeholders with new ideas. It is part of a series of posts on how to influence others. Once we’ve established our personal brand and values, we have successfully established who we are and what we can offer to our relationships in business. The next step is utilizing that influence. Selling an idea or a solution requires homework.…
Managing Your Brand
Business Relationship Management
Managing Your Personal Brand and Value Proposition With an understanding of the skills and traits for influencing in place (see our previous post "The Principles Of Influence") , now we must get back to basics through building and utilizing our “brand” in influencing relationships in business. Your values and beliefs are a critical component of your personal brand and being authentic means acting according to your values and beliefs. You would then have a “consistent brand image”. There should be…
The Principles of Influence
Business Relationship Management
Achieving your goals as a Business Relationship manager begins with clarifying some core principles of what you do and why mastering influence impacts your effectiveness. The goal of the Business Relationship manager is to become a Strategic Partner. In order to do that, you will need to master influencing people. Self-assessment is important. To measure your effectiveness in influencing people you will need to have an appreciation of your own Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and Political Intelligence (PQ). This provides a…
The Rise and Fall of IT Business Partnering?
There has been a significant increase in advertised roles over two years as more IT functions realise the importance of the IT BRM/BP department in allowing IT to become less of a cost centre and more of a strategic partner. The importance of this shift can be backed up by various reports, such as from McKinsey: http://bit.ly/2b67Fdv . We're working with James O'Driscoll of Certes Computing to investigate further and what we have also seen is the introduction and subsequent…
What is a Business Relationship Manager?
Business Relationship Management
The goal of the Business Relationship Manager role is achieved when an enabling technology function has common business goals with another organisation unit such as Sales or Supply Chain. they agree long term plans with business colleagues, share the responsibility for delivering cutting edge capabilities that deliver real business value. They spend a significant amount of their time finding new innovative opportunities and focusing on the future direction of the company. What's the BRM role? A Business Relationship Manager (BRM)…
Achieving Balance
Business Relationship Management
Introduction I have been asked quite a few times how much time should a BRM spend doing certain activities. The short answer is: It depends. What is the challenge? So I know I could spend significant portions of my time on say: Fixing broken processes such as issue review and resolution Feeding information, business cases into the governance “machine” Reviewing business cases and negotiating scope Attending discovery meetings with suppliers or Conducting “status update” meetings with business units. In fact,…
Mindset
The one thing that will add Value
I remember once attending a BRMI project meeting when Aleksandr Zhuk mentioned that “BRMs constantly meditate on value”. I liked that phrase a lot simply because it encapsulated very neatly in my mind what Business Relationship Management is all about. We can only go so far in trying to standardise and document what a Business Relationship Manager does. I was recently comparing the differences between a BRM course oriented around ITIL and BRMP. The ITIL oriented course lent heavily on…
Dealing with Disruption
Insurance and Innovation
Introduction As disruptive technology sweeps through the insurance industry and start-ups transform the competitive landscape, I suggest how corporate companies can adapt to change with the help of strategic IT partnerships. Disruption Large organisations typically have an operational focus and change incrementally; however the issue today is that disruptive change is happening at a much faster pace than before, externally to the corporate company and specifically in the area of technology. Artificial intelligence, deep learning and block chain technologies are…
The Importance of Joining the Dots
Marketing and Technology
Introduction In this post I explain that in order for the CIO to help the CMO identify ways of increasing competitive advantage, someone has to “join the dots”. I do this by way of example. I also suggest that a Business Relationship Manager role is the one to “join the dots”. This means that the role has sufficient knowledge about the impact and applicability of technology opportunities. As a consequence the CIO has a rationale to influence sponsors and the…
Shadow IT Part 2
The Illusion of Control
Summary According to a survey of nearly 400 CIO’s by Logicalis in 2015, nearly 1 in 3 CIOs are bypassed ‘often’, ‘very often’ or ‘most of the time.’ (on technology decisions) . This is the second in a two-part post where in the first post I take an example, and give some detail considerations that could guide our immediate response to business partners. The second post looks at the impact on the role of IT in the context of the…
Shadow IT Part 1
How Do We Respond Tactically?
Summary According to a survey of nearly 400 CIO’s by Logicalis in 2015, nearly 1 in 3 CIOs are bypassed ‘often’, ‘very often’ or ‘most of the time.’ (on Technology decisions) . This is the first in a two part blog where in the first post I take an example, and give some detail considerations that could guide our immediate response to business partners. The second post looks at the impact on the role of IT in the context of…
Strategic Partnership Considerations
Delivering Value to the Business
Introduction A common scenario when engaging with business stakeholders is that demand tends to be driven purely from their perspective, which is neither unreasonable nor entirely unexpected. Typically, these demands entail fixes to systems that alleviate a productivity issue in one small part of the business, without taking a broader, more benefit-driven perspective into account across the whole process. In addition, in order to sustain long term support to the business, there are frequently IT initiatives that may not demonstrate…
Marketing and IT:
Conflict or collaboration?
Introduction and Summary This post is written for both the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of an organisation. It looks at how conflict can occur and offers some insight into how it can be overcome. The main outcome is the realisation that no-one department or sub-function "owns" or "controls" technology. Instead it's a shared capability that both Marketing and IT both contribute to in order to make it value adding. So, how is this done? I…
TO BRM or not to BRM?
Part 3: Skills of the BRM required and existing skills within the current organisation
There are three fundamental areas to consider in deciding whether your company is ready for a Business Relationship Manager (BRM) role: 1) Your motivation as an IT leader 2) Business partner and IT Organisation Maturity 3) Skills of the BRM required and existing skills within the current organisation 3) Skills of the BRM required and existing skills within the current organisation The journey you, your IT team and the company you work for is unique. There may have been a…
TO BRM or not to BRM?
Part 2: Business Partner and IT Organisation Maturity
There are three fundamental areas to consider in deciding whether your company is ready for a Business Relationship Manager (BRM): 1) Your motivation as an IT leader 2) Business partner and IT Organisation Maturity 3) Skills of the BRM required and existing skills within the current organisation 2) Business Partner and IT Organisation Maturity So whatever reflections you have about the current organisation that helped drive your motivation as an IT leader in part 1, they can be mapped onto…
