Learning Tree International Course 902: business relationship management for IT. Course chapter summaries

1. Learning Tree International Course 902 Business
Relationship Management
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1
 Key Influences: CRM, Account Management, ITIL
 Signs of good alignment: needs of both are satisfied, in the short and in the long
term
 Key competencies:
 Developing and maintaining relationships,
 IT processes and services
 Business landscape and needs,
 Championing innovative solutions
 Why does the business needs BRM: to make sure value is provided when needed
 Maturity path: passive, provider, partner, peer
Chapter 2 Developing and maintain relationships
 Key stakeholders, influence and power: favorable/conumption,
service/accomplishment,
 Business process analysis (BPA): RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted,
Informed), who does What (the workflow)
 Cross-stakeholder relationships (using a mindmap or a table)
 Relationship lifecycle stages (reach, acquisition, converstion, retention, loyalty)
 Social styles: personalities Merill David & Reid: Driver, Expressive, Analytical,
Amiable
 Components of trust: Credibility, reliability, intimacy, stakeholder orientation
 Meetings: elevator pitch, framing/agreeing, next steps

2. Chapter 3 Services and processes (initial state)
 Which IT services are in the current catalog, which services are perceived by the
business. How are they mapped (business functions versus IT components)
 Internal CRM: How are we perceived? (Leadership, service culture, capabilities,
employee satisfaction, horizontal collaboration / processes / communication)
 Organizational culture (cultural, political, organizational, interpersonal)
Chapter 4 Articulating business needs and evaluating projects
 Business need: the difference between current state and desired future, gap, value of
the gap, at which point in time?
 Articulating business needs: describe both states and the need. Be specific.
 Articulate a solution: think global solution and IT contribution to it
 Prioritization versus quick wins
 Prioritization: importance and value to the business by when.
o Cost and resource constraints, cost/benefit by period. Long term and short
term
 Quick wins: high probability to succeed limited effort and time, high importance,
unconstrained
o Prioritize quick wins: importance, relationships, capability
o Be careful the criteria are all scored in the same direction (overall score
higher = higher priority
o Use weighting factors if needed to distinguish between equal scores
o Make sure that scores are made independently by a broad range of
stakeholders (to avoid biases)
Chapter 5 Championing solutions
 Porter competitive strategies: cost, differentiation(performance), focus (intimacy)
 SWOT analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats)
 Selling solutions: emotions are key aspects, sometimes more than rationale
o Present solution (use stories, anecdotes, props, visuals)
o Describe the transition to the solution (qualitatively, quantitatively)
o Negotiate the engagement (principled based (win/win)
o Define next step (action plan, project plan), handover

3.  BRM role in developing SLA’s (contribute, review, agree, negotiate with B)
Chapter 6: the Value of BRM
 The handoff to continuous service or project (manager) is gradual. They have been
involved in the business development and sales stages to ensure internal alignment.
BRM involvedment slows down during project execution, and comes back after
project delivery.
 What is a project (focused effort of team, limited duration)
 The accountability of BRM for projects (involved throughout the lifecycle,
coordinates several projects for the relationship, and includes continuous services,
and service/solution development). The distribution of responsibilities can be
determined and discussed with the differnet players. Situations and needs may
differ and result in different degrees of involvement.
 Measuring effectiveness: scorecard approach (value/cost from analysis of past and
ongoing engagements (past), value from processes and relationships (current),
future value (development)
 Challenges: Apply what you learned in your responses to challenges.
 Focus on your strengths, not on the gaps. What are your strengths, what are recent
improvements you made you want to perfect, which are areas of improvements,
how are you planning to develop). Use strength-based development rather then
gap-focused thinking to respond to your challenges.