The BRM’s Role in Moving IT to a Converged Strategic Partner
The CEO wraps up the presentation. The strategic vision is crystal clear to even the most junior executive in the room. The passion and energy has electrified the room, and everyone is excited about the potential achievements of the coming year.
That is, everyone except for IT leadership.
During the presentation, with all good intention, the CEO said that they were going to leverage technology and the IT team to help bring these plans to fruition.
There it was. Instead of being seen as a strategic partner, IT was being used as a service provider, expected to align with business leaders to help them deliver on the vision.
So how does IT become a strategic converged partner in the C-suite, rather than just an aligned service provider?
The first step is transforming the entire business function team. BRMs can be integrated into the business partner’s organizations, but if the remaining function members fail to adopt a new way of delivering services, the organization will not surpass the maturity level of a service provider.
Whether it is on the grid-iron, the hardwood, or the diamond, every team member has to play their position and play it well. If some individuals don’t live up to their role or others try to fill the role of two or more players, the play’s clean execution will never happen.
BRMs can integrate into the business partner’s organizations, but if remaining function members fail to adopt a new way of delivering services, the organization will not surpass the maturity level of a service provider.
Simultaneously, the organization can only listen to their leaders as experts if the business function executes the playbook (service catalog).
The back-end must perform well for BRMs to occupy a key focal point between the business partner and the business function.
Effecting change in a large organization takes the effort of many, not just a few.
Leadership can paint the picture, map out the path, and even start the engines of change, but it takes the effort of many to sustain the change.
Once the teams are delivering services in an orchestrated manner, leadership and strategic BRMs will both be in a value-add position. It is at this point that BRMs can work closely with their partners to better understand their game plan.
BRMs play an important role in identifying the parts of the game plan that map directly to the enterprise vision and objectives.
When the BRM gets involved, initiatives that don’t support the plan can be identified, corrected, removed, or justified on their own merit. The BRM will then be able to pull in the appropriate business functions more effectively, since they are now functioning as a higher-level team.
Not only will the BRM be seen as having shared goals and objectives with their partner, but they will share in the partner’s risks and rewards as well.
This is when the BRM can identify gaps in the partner’s plan, take action, and address those gaps proactively, leading to success and growth for the partner. Not only will the BRM be seen as having shared goals and objectives with their partner, but they will share in the partner’s risks and rewards as well.
Ultimately, the business partner will have business functions that are strategically converged with their organization. It is at this point that the BRM achieves the strategic partner-level of credibility with their partner.
Chris Clancy is the Senior Director of Strategic Services and Solutions at Cleveland Clinic, where he is responsible for the consultative services offered by Information Technology to clinical and non-clinical institutes, hospitals and business units. Chris has held several board positions for organizations such as the American Diabetes Association, the Northeast Ohio Society for Information Management, the Cisco Healthcare Mobility Board of Advisors. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance, as well as an MBA and is a certified BRMP®.
