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It's that time of year again... the holiday season! Whether you're busy planning your holiday vacation or busy wrapping up 2013's projects and deadlines, we want to thank you for your continuous support of Business Relationship Management Institute (BRMI).
In addition, thank you for subscribing to the BRM Compass, our monthly newsletter filled with useful tips and articles in the field of Business Relationship Management. Our content is not just for BRM professionals but also for those who are interested in knowing more about this field. At BRMI, we live to serve the needs of professional BRMs and the global BRM community.
In this issue:
- Strategic Planning Tools for the BRM
- Getting the right ratio of BRMs to BAs
- How many Business Relationship Managers should you have?
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BRMI is the best information source about Business Relationship Management. Please feel free to forward our newsletter to your colleagues and friends who share the same interest in BRM. If you have received a copy of this issue and would like to register for your own, just click here.
To learn all the latest news and information about the field of BRM, follow our blog and our posts on social media (the links can be found below). We also have lively discussions on our Professional Business Relationship Managers group on LinkedIn.
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We welcome comments, suggestions, questions and requests for topics. Do you have a burning question or topic you want discussed about BRM? Send us an email and we will be sure to ask the Experts. Your question might be featured on our next issue. Contact us at info@brminstitute.org or visit us at www.brminstitute.org for more information.
Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Your BRMI Team
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Strategic Planning Tools for the BRM
BRMI Webinar: January 31, 2014 at 11:00am to 12:00pm ET
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Strategic Planning is one of the most important activities through which a Business Relationship Manager (BRM) engages their business partner. The Strategic Plan provides the long-term context for shaping demand and driving business value.
But the Strategic Planning process can be challenging, as human dynamics, company politics, and day-to-day pressures of business operations all conspire to slow down or distort the process. The BRM must be extremely well prepared for the strategy planning effort. They must understand the business context, and follow a sound process and enable that process with tools that ensure clarity, surface insight, engage key stakeholders and drive to an actionable Strategic Plan. This webinar will examine the BRM's role in Strategic Planning by considering the different types of tools they might use, ways to navigate the organizational and enterprise culture, and ensure they not only come out with a quality strategic plan, but also have the buy-in of key stakeholders. Please join us for this 60-minute webinar where Ibrahim K. Jackson, a seasoned BRM and member of BRMI's Advisory Committee and Vaughan Merlyn, BRMI Chief Knowledge Officer will discuss:
- Strategic Planning and the BRM
- What it is and is not
- Why and when it is needed
- Strategic Planning Tools, including:
- Business Engagement
- Value Chain Mapping
- Stakeholder Modeling and Communications Planning
- Governance, Metrics and Decision Rights
- Navigating Organizational and Enterprise culture
The webinar is free to BRMI members, and US$95 to non-members. It will be held via Citrix GoToWebinar. All that is required is a computer with a browser and a high speed Internet connection, with either a telephone, or a microphone and speakers or a headset. We will send you the link to the event and other details when you register. Registration will open next week so watch out for our announcement on the website and our social media channels to save your spot.
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| BRM Featured Question:
Do you know of any best practice that articulates the ratio of BRMs to BAs, or perhaps numbers of BRMs based upon size of business?
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This question was anonymously posted on our "Ask a BRM Expert" section on the BRMI wiki (specifically created so members can ask colleagues for opinions, share previous experiences, and seek or offer advice). The person who asked this question also provided this background on his or her particular situation:
- They appointed a new CIO earlier this year and are on the cusp of an IT reorganization.
- A stumbling point is how to properly size such an organization. Over 25% of their workforce are deemed "business partners" today. Most of them work more as business analysts.
BRMI's Chief Knowledge Office and one of our founders, Vaughan Merlyn, had the following answer:
There really are no reliable benchmark statistics on this today, but we hope to generate some through BRMI research. The most common model is as follows: - Lead BRMs - senior people who interact with business unit leads. It is common to see one BRM covering between one and three business units, depending upon the size, complexity and maturity of the business unit.
- BRM Managers - mid-level folk (often on a career track to Lead BRM) interacting with mid-to-senior business people. It is common to see 3-5 of these for every BRM Lead.
- BRM Analysts - senior BA type folk (often on a career track to BRM Manager) supporting BRM Leads and Managers. Common to see one of these for every BRM Manager.
I'd take these as rough guideline as much depends on business and IT maturity and varies on the nature of business units. Do you have a follow up question to this? Or maybe a different perspective? Email us at info@brminstitute.org and we will be sure to share your opinion or answer your query. |
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How Many Business Relationship Managers Should You Have?
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 A question that surfaces often is: "How many Business Relationship Managers should we have?" It's an important question, but one that needs contextual clarity to answer meaningfully. Some of the key variables include:
- How are you defining the BRM role?
- How large is the organization the BRMs are supporting?
- What is the level of business demand maturity?
- What is the level of IT supply maturity?
Variations of the BRM Role Definition The Strategic BRM Not all BRMs are created equal! Some companies position their BRMs as a strategic resource, aligned with senior executives to shape, stimulate and surface business demand for IT investments that will yield high business value. We'll refer to these as Strategic BRMs. These are BRMs in senior, often Vice President positions. Such companies will typically align their BRMs to major business units, geographies, and business processes. For example, in a process-centric enterprise, there may be a BRM for each major business process, one for order-to-cash, one for procure-to-pay, one for hire-to-retire, and so on. In a typical enterprise, that could be anything from three to nine BRMs, depending upon the company size. Or, in a less process-centric company, there might be one BRM for manufacturing, one for sales and marketing, one for shared support services, and so on, again with between three and nine BRMs as common practice. When geography is important, there may be one BRM per major region, again with anything from three to nine as a typical number. (Read more) |
This issue is sponsored by:
Service Management Art (SMArt) is a consulting and education services company that specializes in IT Service Management and IT Governance. Learn more.
TracePoint is a dynamic consulting service company dedicated to aligning the People, Process, and Technologies via structured Change Management and training methodologies that supports multiple facets ERP implementations.
For sponsorship and advertising details, go to our website.
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