Process is good, but... To be clear—I'm a big believer in process discipline! The importance of and evidence for strong process discipline is all around us! I was on an airplane this weekend and happened to peek into the cockpit while boarding. The pilot and co-pilot were going through their pre-flight checklist. It was comforting [...]
This is the fourth and penultimate in a series of posts about common failure modes I come across in the deployment of a Business Relationship Management (BRM) role and/or capability. In Parts 1, 2 and 3 in this series I discussed six common failure modes: Failure Mode #1: Where the BRM is positioned as the [...]
I have good news, and I have bad news! The Good News... The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) 2011 edition and the ISO/IEC 20000 standard for IT Service Management formalized the existence of the Business Relationship Manager (BRM) role and corresponding Business Relationship Management process as a new best practice and international IT Service Management standard [...]
I recently received this question from a reader: We are evaluating a strategy to centralize IT and implement Business Relationship Management (BRM) roles as part of the centralization. Where do you typically see the BRM’s reporting into in a centralized IT organization? Should they report directly in to the CIO, or can they be effective [...]
This is the 2nd in a multi-part post on assessing IT Capabilities. (See Part 1) A Quick Recap Part 1 introduced some assessment principles I've found to be important. The Process is more important than the results. I've found facilitated self-assessments to be the most effective. The results must be actionable. An assessment must give [...]
My recent post on Questioning the Role of the Business Relationship Manager (BRM) has sparked some interesting discussions. One revolves around the question of "owning" the business-IT relationship. It's a tricky question for several reasons: "Ownership" is a tricky term in this context - just what does it mean to "own" a relationship? There are [...]
I've been deeply into understanding and developing the role of Business Relationship Manager (BRM) since the early 1990's when, as a Partner at Ernst & Young's Center for Business Innovation, I began researching what was then an emerging role. Since then, I've continued research into this important role, led many consulting engagements helping companies implement [...]
I've posted quite frequently on this blog about the role of the Business-IT Relationship Manager. It's a key role - crucial, in fact, at mid-levels of Business-IT maturity. It's a role that typically does not work well at lower maturity, yet is essential to reaching higher maturity. It's also a role that is hard to [...]
I've been thinking about a couple of things my CIO clients are wrestling with, and how these might be better approached jointly rather than as separate challenges. These are: How to strengthen Business-IT Relationships in the context of the current economic climate. How to experiment with, learn from and foster Social Networking in the business [...]
Did you ever feel that some of the things you are asked to do by your business partners just don't make sense? That they won't deliver value that truly justifies their cost? I find this to be a common issue. And it's not just the questionable value associated with some of these requests. Low value [...]