What is a Business Relationship Manager?
A Business Relationship Manager (BRM) is a person who works strategically with business units to ensure that the supporting technology portfolio and business requirements are aligned and prioritized to meet the business unit’s objectives. A BRM, through collaborative relationships with the business units of the company, will act as the primary liaison between the business and the Technology organization, focusing on understanding the business needs and objectives, building strong relationships, managing and prioritizing demand, and ensuring that technology solutions and services align with and support those goals. The BRM provides ongoing consultive support to business areas on technology best-practices to develop solutions to business challenges, maximize the value of the company’s application portfolio, and drive continuous process improvement.
This resource is part of a new team of BRMs who support various lines of business within the company. BRMs will be assigned to the following specific areas of expertise – Electric & Gas Operations and Engineering, Customer Experience and Customer Services, Utility Work and Asset Management, and ERP/Finance. Job responsibilities may evolve over time.
What does a Business Relationship Manager do?
The Business Relationship Manager is responsible for the following:
Acts as primary point of contact for assigned business units to establish trust, foster strong partnerships, and manage expectations.
Develops a full understanding of core business processes, supporting solutions and technologies.
Provides ongoing strategic consulting support and guidance to the Business Areas on best-practice, efficient, and effective use of technology to support business processes.
Responsible for compiling requirements definition, Benefit Cost Analysis, estimating, and monitoring of benefits realization.
Ensures adherence of business requests through the Technology intake process and evangelizes the importance of governance to business stakeholders.
Proactively identifies areas of opportunity to apply existing technologies for new business demand, process improvement, and cost efficiencies.
Complements the Application Support, Infrastructure & Operations and Project Management teams who have tactical and operational project responsibilities.
Anticipates and plans for future technology needs and demands based on business growth and changes.
Maintains comprehensive documentation of business requirements, project plans, and status reports to ensure transparency and accountability.
Supports the escalation of risks, issues, actions, & decisions within the portfolio to ensure on-time / on-budget / in-scope project delivery.
Leads efforts to resolve complex issues or challenges related to IT services within assigned business area(s) working to ensure minimal disruption to business operations.
Promotes innovation and adoption of new technologies that can provide competitive advantages and operational efficiencies
Understands the business perspective and takes necessary action to integrate business requirements into Technology processes and solutions, based upon the overall strategic direction of the Company
May lead change management or training initiatives to ensure smooth adoption and implementation of new technologies and processes.