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News, Insights, editorial and comments on hot topics relating to Strategic Partnerships
The Twelve Principles of Strategic IT Partnering
The Twelve Principles of Strategic IT Partnering The essence of what it means to be a Strategic IT Partner..... As a consultant I get the opportunity read broadly and in depth looking at how the IT business partner role is evolving. I get to reflect on how I performed in my corporate roles and recognise where I could have improved. In addition, this consulting role allows me to speak to dozens of clients on a monthly basis to validate where…
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)…
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…