Selecting the Best BRM Learning Pathway For You

The growing awareness of the need to manage internal business relationships in a more deliberate way has paved the way for multiple certification courses in business relationship management (BRM). 

At ITSM Hub we offer you the choice of 2 learning pathways in this discipline facilitated by some of Australia’s leading business relationship management experts. 

Selecting the right BRM learning pathway for you is based on considerations such as your organisation’s vision for BRM, responsibilities and expectations of your role and your career aspirations. Let us explore this through the experiences of Ken and Dave. 

Ken is a key member of the service delivery team and has over 12 years’ experience in IT. His organisation has put in concerted effort to uplift its IT service management (ITSM) capability in recent years. Ken has diligently applied the learnings from his ITIL® 4 Foundation certification to improve service processes and outcomes. However, he recognises that the full potential of these improvements is yet to be achieved, primarily due to lack of alignment between business and IT. While he has good relationships with select business colleagues, his manager is keen for him to learn how to scale this and improve the perception of IT as a service provided across all internal business stakeholders. 

The IT-Business Relationship Manager (IT-BRM®) certification course from Pink Elephant is ideal for Ken as it aligns well with his organisation’s focus on uplifting IT service management. The course has been designed to provide the key learnings to act as an intermediary between IT and other business areas.  

During the 3-day course Ken was introduced to the Integrated Business Relationship Management Framework (iBRMF) which is made up of 5 lifecycle phases that are aligned with contemporary IT operating models such as the one adopted by his organisation (Figure 1).  

Ken gained an understanding of the role of BRM in each of these lifecycle phases.  The course provided a set of recommended actions to advance his BRM practice from the current level of Co-ordinator through to higher levels of maturity such as Trusted Advisor and Strategic Partner. 

Ken walked away with a clear direction for his role as well as specific actions to implement over the next 30 days and beyond. He was able to demonstrate tangible results by taking a more proactive approach to managing stakeholder expectations and contributing to service review meetings. He improved the BRM capability of his team by regularly scheduling Gemba walks and Voice of Customer exercises which improved their understanding of end-user context and identified opportunities for improvement. He encouraged colleagues who have significant stakeholder engagement responsibilities (including business analysts, project managers, portfolio manager, quality manager and service level manager) to attend the IT-BRM® certification course. 

As Ken is keen to progress to a more senior position within IT he is continuing to build on his BRM competencies through related courses offered by ITSM Hub such as Agile Scrum Essentials and NIST Cyber Security Professional Awareness . 

Dave is a senior portfolio manager with over 16 years’ experience in IT. An independent review was conducted to inform his organisation’s digital transformation which identified that business trust in IT was low and there was considerable misalignment between business and IT priorities resulting in poor investment decisions and rising technical debt. 

The CIO is keen to elevate the perception of IT as an enabler of value and an integral part of business. Dave has been tasked with establishing effective engagement between business and IT. Dave has some knowledge of business-IT governance and wants to learn how to set up and motivate a team of IT business partners to bridge cross-functional gaps. 

The Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP) certification course from the Business Relationship Management Institute is ideal for Dave as it is designed to help organisations evolve culture, build partnerships, drive value and satisfy purpose. 

During the 3-day course Dave was introduced to the BRM capability Framework (Figure 2) and the basic knowledge, competencies and mindsets required to advance BRM capability. 

Dave gained an understanding of how BRM contributes to his organisation’s purpose as well as core approaches, tools and templates that can be used by his team to achieve results. 

At the end of the course Dave felt that he was equipped with the necessary information to begin growing the BRM capability in his organisation. He facilitated workshops for his new business engagement team and colleagues in other IT functions to clarify roles and responsibilities as well as commit to values-led behaviours. Under his leadership collaborative language has quickly become part of their vocabulary. 

Dave has gained buy-in from business executives for revised governance arrangements which provided greater transparency around technology investment decisions for the enterprise. Within a relatively short time he has been able to demonstrate the value of BRM by connecting improved relationships to better results. 

Dave is on track to progressing to a more senior leadership position. He plans to enroll in the Certified Business Relationship Management certification which focuses on strategic BRM capability as it will enable him to amplify his influence across the organisation.