A Rose by Any Other Name: The BRM Capability, Structure, and Success across the Organization

by Santosh Kadatare

As someone who has seen the BRM capability in its various forms throughout my career, I was incredibly surprised when I saw the widespread adoption of the BRM capability across organizations making recent headlines. Was the convergence of BRM and the business really something new? Had I been one of the lucky few to see the BRM capability in action for all these years? I had lots of questions, but then I realized where the true novelty lies: not in the nascence of BRM itself as a discipline, but in the formal recognition of the BRM capability as a key skill area!

This recognition is integral to the success of the BRM role within a company, as well as the value it can harvest through convergence. However, BRM is often discussed specifically within the context of IT, and as I’ve said, I have been fortunate to experience BRM in many different contexts and job descriptions. In this article, I will describe the BRM capability in general, how it can be structured in an organization, and what factors ensure success, across all fields and contexts.

The BRM Capability as a Whole

Any role that acts as a conduit between the business area they represent and the rest of the business (such as business partners and external vendors) is a BRM. However, the need for business engagement through a BRM is usually triggered by complexity of the area represented by the BRM, with the goal of achieving the business strategy. Business team typically cringe at IT’s complexity, whether operational or strategic (think applications, databases, integrations, middleware, user interface…see? You’re cringing too!), and so it makes sense that a formal BRM capability is most often found in IT organizations. However, if an organization has a BRM capability within IT, the role could potentially expand to other areas of the business, as well—thus bringing me to my original point.

I was introduced to the formal Business Relationship Management (BRM) capability through the typical route, during my time working as part of an IT team. In my role, I acted as a conduit between business and IT to execute strategic IT initiatives, and my role was situated within the business teams I helped to partner together. This allowed for regular daily interaction with the business partners, resulting in the following benefits, among others:

• Stronger relationships based on trust and confidence built over time
• A more in-depth understanding of business operations and issues
• Keener insight into market influences leading to business strategy
• A better feel for the “business pulse”

As I familiarized myself with my role as an IT BRM, though, I realized that I had seen my role and responsibilities in action before, especially in one particular department: HR. In almost every work environment that I’ve ever been in, I have seen an HR Manager (HRM) located in specific areas of the business, acting as a conduit between HR and the business, interacting with the business teams, and helping to address operational matters such as recruitment, rules and regulations, employee onboarding, personnel issues, etc. In my experience, HRMs also played a role in the implementation of HR initiatives as part of the corporate strategy. Does any of this sound familiar? In many ways, HRMs are HR BRMs, sans the formal title.

The sooner we recognize these core qualities of a BRM in professional roles all over the organization, the faster we can begin to acknowledge and harvest the true value the capability brings to all business areas.

BRM Structure

As such, other business areas of the organization such as Finance, Operations, etc. can begin to adopt formal BRM capabilities (informally, they probably already exist under a different job title!) and can be structured a few ways:

• BRM for a single function  

This is the most common setup within the corporate structure of an organization. Multiple BRMs exist within the IT function, and these BRMs liaise with other business functions, such as Operations, HR, Finance, etc.

• BRM for each function  

Similarly to my previous examples within the IT and HR departments, one could also have BRM capabilities within Operations, Supply Chain, etc. These positions are likely already called something along the lines of “Strategy Manager,” but remember that the key to value realization is establishing and acknowledging the presence of a formal BRM capability.

• BRM per brand, entity, and geography 

Many businesses that are brand-conscious or manage multiple brands under their business umbrella (such as many retail organizations) employ BRMs specifically by brand. Such BRMs are focused on the strategy of the brand they represent, but also liaise with corporate for overall business strategy.

Meanwhile, businesses that constantly deal with mergers, acquisitions, and rebranding as a strategy to expand their core business operations may lean towards employing a BRM for each entity. In this case, the BRM can help integrate the new entity into the strategic goals and rhythms of the parent company.

Lastly, businesses operating under a single brand with multiple global locations may opt to employ BRMs based on the geographic locations of these different sites.

BRM Success Factors

As I’ve emphasized, a major component of making the BRM capability an integral part of the company is becoming aware of its various guises across the organization. But what happens after your company or organization acknowledges its importance? In order to ensure the implementation and success of a formal BRM capability, answer the five Ws: Why, What, Where, Who, and When?

• Why is the BRM capability required? Clarify the purpose of the BRM role and how it will contribute to business strategy with your business partners, so that you all have the same expectations.
• What is needed to adopt a BRM capability? Ensure buy-in and strong sponsorship from C-level management, as this will make the adoption and sustainability of the BRM capability much easier. For more information about this step-by-step process, read Joe Topinka’s article, “The Case for BRM: A Practical Framework for Your CEO Conversation.”
• Where should the BRM capability be placed? Determine the placement of the BRM role in the organization based on how the organization’s structure and business engagement needs. Ideally, the BRM should report to a C-level position in order to maximize the effectiveness of the capability.
• Who should be the BRM? Hopefully you already have some idea of the skills and traits of a strong BRM, but in a nutshell, the role should be performed by someone with strong interpersonal skills, extensive knowledge and expertise of the business area being represented, and the ability to become a trusted advisor. Jeannine McConnell expanded on the skills needed to become a BRM in her article, “The Road from What to Why.”
• When should you begin looking into developing the BRM capability? Do I really need to ask? Today, of course!

In any new venture, perseverance is required to realize success! In my case, I had to open my eyes to the existing roles and responsibilities at my organization and understand the culture and people before I realized that the only thing needed was the formalization of a BRM capability. How about you? Ready to get started?