BRMI have recently published this roadmap on our website. This is a tool especially designed for our members to maximize their potential through BRMI.

In the Explore section, members are guided through a list of resources available to them. In the second section, Engage, members are enabled to become more involved in the BRM community through connecting and serving our global BRM professional network. In the last section, Develop, members are encouraged to take their BRM skills to a radically new level through further training or engaging the help of an expert BRM consultant.

Interested in becoming a member and taking advantage of this great new tool? Register here. Or email us for more information.

This webinar is aimed towards introducing BRMI and the value of the BRM Interactive Book of Knowledge^™ (BRMiBOK^™) to the general public. 

In this public webinar sponsored by The Merlyn Group, a BRMI Gold Business Value Champion™, our experts will present the BRM Interactive Body of Knowledge™ and demonstrate its flexibility and power as an always-available constantly updated source of authoritative BRM knowledge. The presenters will illustrate the use of this important member resource highlighting the new features and functions.

This webinar is available for free to all BRMI members and US$95 for non-members. Please go to our website to check when registration for this event officially opens.  

If you wish to become a member to attend this and all other webinars we offer for free, please purchase a membership first to gain access to the members-only webinar registration option. For questions and clarifications, email us and we will promptly answer your queries. 

"In many respects, I felt I knew the key issues that had derailed success-I've seen most of them before-multiple times!" He enumerates those issues below.

Role Clarity

As is so often the case, the person asking the question hinted strongly at a piece of the answer--"role clarity was lacking." This is a key issue, with all sorts of subtleties. For example:

• The BRM role itself must be clearly and compellingly positioned. It must deflect or preempt the following typical objections:
  • "That sounds like an 'account manager' position. I can understand how that adds cost, but I don't see how it adds value!"
  • "We've managed just fine without BRMs--why do we need them now?"
  • "We've already got people doing that job informally--it works fine!"
• The BRM role must also be clearly positioned with regard to other key provider roles. This internal positioning must deflect or preempt the following typical objections:
  • "You're trying to push the rest of us (e.g., Enterprise Architects, Solution Designers, Business Analysts) into the background. We'll become commodities while you BRMs have all the fun and take the glory!"
  • "If your setting yourselves up as Single Points of Contact, we will lose our connection to the "Voice of the Customer." We will be less effective, and our jobs will become less interesting."
  • "What are the 'rules of engagement' between other people in the provider organization that normally engage directly with the business partners-Business Analysts, Enterprise Architects, etc.?"

So, the BRM role must be defined in the broader context of the IT Operating Model, and roles clearly positioned, differentiated and linked through methods such as Interaction Models, Use Cases, Swim Lane Diagrams, and so on.

• The readiness for the BRM role is very much a function of business demand maturity. If that's very low, the BRM may be pushing uphill (they always are!) to a higher degree than is sustainable. The business leaders are just not ready to be guided in their investment and operational decision-making and actions with regards to the provider's services (most commonly, IT.)
• The style of the BRM role is very much a function of supply maturity. If that's very low, the BRM is going to have to field all sorts of operational questions and issues. Once they do that, it's very hard for them to reposition themselves as a 'strategic partner.'
• The form of business relationship is again a function of business demand maturity and how that demonstrates:
  • An appetite for the products and services you are offering--a willingness to invest time, focus, energy and investment capital.
  • An ability to convert those investments into demonstrated value.

Another issue is how to align BRMs with business units. Options typically include:

• By geographic region (e.g., North America, Asia-Pacific)
• By line of business (e.g., Lodging, Vacation Club)
• By major function (e.g., Manufacturing, Sales)
• By major business process (e.g., Procure-to-pay, Hire-to-retire)
• A mix of some or all of the above!

Many companies today are, at some stage, transitioning from a functional model to a process-based model. This can make life very complex for the BRM role--sometimes resulting in both functional and process-facing BRMs cooperating in a matrix managed approach.

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