WHAT DOES A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP MANAGER DO?
The Business Relationship Manager specializes in establishing and maintaining business relationships, serving as the primary contact for new opportunities, and generating revenue by promoting company solutions. The role involves developing strategies to meet client needs and prevent customer attrition, acting as a problem solver, and serving as an escalation point for addressing client issues. The manager also works closely with various departments to ensure the successful closure of commitments, manages client product usage and service alignment, and participates in the budgeting and forecasting processes.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Business Relationship Manager
1. Business Relationship Manager Duties
- Digital Transformation Strategy: Plan and implement HR and Corporate Functions Digital Transformation Strategy
- Digital Tools Development: Launch and build HR and Corporate Functions Digital Tools to support business operations
- System Optimization: Optimize HR and Corporate Functions systems and system integrations
- Business-IT Representation: Represents IT at the Business Table and the Business at the IT table
- Service Delivery Escalation: Act as an escalation point for major issues with any aspect of service delivery
- Service Plan Development: Work with service owners to develop and progress service plans
- Business Relations Maintenance: Maintaining active relations with business functions and engaging to provide functional support
- Local Business Contact: Acting as a local point of contact for corporate functions and business executives
- Strategic Planning Assessment: Assessing and determining strategic planning and coordinating the local plans with the global IT team.
- Service Level Partnership: Partnering with businesses to define operating service levels and KPIs, and ensuring conformity to the set service levels
- Technology Plan Verification: Verifies local technology plans with the Head of IT Digital, Security and Compliance to support the corporate team in developing relevant digital initiatives
2. Business Relationship Manager Details
- Technology Solution Understanding: Ensure business units understand the technology solution, overall solution delivery, and compliance with governance processes.
- Communication Maintenance: Maintain regular communication with Regional Business units while reporting to the Information Systems and Technology Regional Service Manager.
- Deputy Management: Deputise for the Information Systems and Technology Regional Service Manager, and brief stakeholders on business partner plans.
- Relationship Management: Build and manage a relationship with senior technology and business leaders.
- Strategic Opportunity Identification: Identify strategic business function opportunities both short-term and long-term and track adoption across the relevant departments.
- Strategic Framework Development: Contributes to the development of strategic frameworks for Information Systems and Technology products, services, technologies, and support.
- Service Strategy Development: Develop strategic directions and alternative service delivery options.
- Business Value Identification: Identify the overall business value in the development of ideas or solutions.
- IT Planning and Advisory: Develops IT business and operational plans and provides technical advice, impact analysis, and recommendations to regional and leadership teams.
3. Business Relationship Manager Responsibilities
- Business Partnership: Serves as a day-to-day Business Partner and coordinates functional projects with Business.
- Strategic Alignment: Drives strategy and roadmap alignment of business projects.
- IT Roadmap Execution: Drives the execution of the IT Roadmap, with a strong focus on the ERP Roadmap's success.
- Project Readiness Coordination: Drives project readiness assessment and coordination with delivery teams and PMO.
- Resource Organization: Organizes key BU project resources for systems implementation.
- Stakeholder Coordination: Coordinates project reviews with business stakeholders.
- Technology Strategy Alignment: Works with functional areas to identify Technology Roadmap aligned with Business Strategy.
- Portfolio Leadership: Leads portfolio prioritization/re-prioritization discussions within BU/Functional areas.
- Scoping and Budgeting: Develop functional scoping documents and high-level budget estimates.
- Business Case Coordination: Coordinates business case development, resource requirements, and success criteria/metrics.
- Initiative Timing: Responsible for identifying the timing and sequencing of initiatives.
4. Business Relationship Manager Job Summary
- Initiative Planning: Work with business leadership to plan new joint initiatives, evaluate proposals, and determine how they fit into the business' capability roadmaps and priorities.
- Change Management Partnership: Partner with the business transformation teams (particularly around change management) to ensure effective business transformation for all initiatives.
- PMO Collaboration: Partner with the Project Management Organization (PMO) to ensure robustly planned and well-managed initiatives and projects.
- Strategic Opportunity Identification: Strategically identify business function opportunities and advocate the best-suited approach for the adoption of solutions.
- Adoption Measurement: Measure that adoption and work with the business leadership to develop future roadmaps.
- Integration of Partners' Plans: Identify and integrate business partners' long-range plans into business capability roadmaps and priorities.
- Relationship Management: Build and manage relationships effectively, facilitating a strategic partnership with business stakeholders.
- Strategic Awareness Creation: Works to create awareness of and focus on the business partner's strategic plans.
- Value Proposition Correlation: Correlate the business value proposition for all proposed initiatives to all planning activities and goal setting.
- Innovation Application: Apply industry trends and digital advances knowledge to ensure creative and innovative initiatives that solve identified opportunities and business needs.
- Initiative Evaluation: Evaluate joint initiatives as they relate to corporate strategy to ensure convergence and opportunities for measurable success
5. Business Relationship Manager Accountabilities
- Service Delivery Support: Supporting the service delivery by collaborating with various stakeholders, resolving operational issues, and suggesting process and system improvements.
- Procurement and Contract Management: Managing internal and external local procurement and facilitating the contract management process.
- Provider Disputes Coordination: Coordinating the operations of the Provider Disputes department to ensure compliance with internal and external requirements.
- Policy Development and Review: Developing and reviewing policies and procedures for service level agreements, quality assurance, and timeliness which ensure department compliance and efficiency.
- SOW and RFP Participation: Participating in Statements of Work (SOWs) and RFP response review.
- Strategic Partner Management: Driving business value through the use of service providers and partners.
- Technology Solutions Inventory Management: Developing and maintaining an inventory of strategic technology solutions used by the firm, the main use cases for each, and how they interact with one another.
- Technology SME: Serving as subject matter expert (SME) for Technology solutions used by the firm, collaborating with internal and external SMEs.
6. Business Relationship Manager Functions
- Stakeholder Engagement: Proactively engage with business stakeholders to help identify key business initiatives and effectively map those to technology solutions.
- Technology Strategy Development: Assist in creating a technology strategy for the business unit, including a business capability roadmap.
- Feedback Solicitation: Solicit feedback from colleagues through surveys, interviews, and discovery meetings.
- Request Prioritization Management: Manage business request prioritization for technology solutions, and identify and prioritize inter-platform initiatives.
- User Experience Analysis: Analyze user experience to measure the success of technology solutions and provide feedback that enables continuous improvement.
- Cross-Team Collaboration: Collaborate with members of the Technology team and the Process Excellence team.
- Technology Enhancement Research: Learn about ongoing projects and uncover potential areas for enhancing the technology experience.
- Business Case Development: Develop compelling business cases and get buy-in from relevant stakeholders for potential technology solutions.
- Technology Adoption Leadership: Act as a champion for new technology solutions to promote and drive organizational adoption.
- Emerging Technology Research: Study and assess emerging technology solutions and trends within the professional services industry to sustain relevant and impactful digital capabilities.
7. Business Relationship Manager Job Description
- IT Committee Leadership: Responsible for leading IT committees with the monitored entities
- IT Project Structuring: Collect and structure requirements to contribute towards the portfolio of IT projects and define, alongside management, the priorities for these projects
- Strategic IT Alignment: Guarantee the right alignment between the Group’s strategy, the priorities of subsidiaries, and IT investments
- Business-IT Liaison: Maintain a close link and good communication between business units and the IT department
- IT Services Communication: Inform and advise business units on the available services and training opportunities
- IT Demand Support: Support subsidiaries with the processing of their demands (applications or evolution of their infrastructure) within the IT department
- Local IT Oversight: Oversee local IT projects, and help with understanding the organization of the Group IT department
- Technology Innovation Recommendation: Recommends creative new technology, processes, or data to drive more value and lower cost
- IT Systems Guidance: Provides guidance to business teams for proposed new information technology systems, or major enhancements
- IT Applications Management: Responsible for the design, development, and support of information technology applications supporting the WtE segments
- Project Commitment Assurance: Ensures project commitments made to the segment are met, including delivering on scope, schedule, and budget
8. Business Relationship Manager Overview
- Business Relationship Ownership: Owning the Business Relationship with a specific directorate team or area impacted by the change program
- User Engagement: Getting to know business areas and users, including site visits
- Stakeholder Management: Establish and maintain strong stakeholder management with key Business Change Leads
- Business-Programme Negotiation: Negotiate between Programme remit and Business requirements
- User Query Diagnosis: Diagnose common user queries that could require additional communications
- Trend Analysis and Action: Analysis of trends and underlying issues and taking appropriate action
- Business and Agency Engagement: Engage with team members, the business, and outside agencies
- Relationship Building: Secure and establish effective relationships with both non-technical and technical staff
- Change Impact Assessment: Carrying out Change Impact Assessments and Training needs requirements
- Project Team Support: Assist other project teams, and act as a point of contact for the project team
- Inquiry Management: Dealing with mailbox inquiries and fielding to correct centers of excellence
9. Business Relationship Manager Details and Accountabilities
- Business Plan Collaboration: Collaborate with multiple service lines, innovation teams, and business teams to formulate a business plan for the portfolio.
- Demand Generation: Generate demand by assisting clients to identify and qualify current needs.
- Relationship Building: Build deep and long-term relationships with key client leaders and execute a competitive win strategy.
- Opportunity Management: Manage a pipeline of opportunities and create a strategy to meet sales target.
- Revenue Growth Accountability: Accountability against Measurable Revenue/Profit Growth within set timelines.
- Portfolio Profitable Growth: Drive profitable growth of the portfolio through identifying and overseeing the closure of new, renewal, and expansion opportunities.
- Visibility Strategy Development: Focus on developing a plan on increasing the visibility of TCS in the portfolio.
- Customer Interaction Management: Have regular meetings and interface with the customer decision-makers and influencers.
- Internal Relationship Maintenance: Create and maintain critical relationships with internal team members to help guide opportunities to appropriate resources and win support for key client initiatives.
10. Business Relationship Manager Tasks
- Relationship Management: Take responsibility for establishing and maintaining business relationships between the company and clients.
- Client Liaison: Serve as key client contact for all new opportunities and business needs.
- Revenue Generation: Responsible for generating revenue and promoting company solutions.
- Client Understanding: Understand the client’s expectations, goals, and objectives.
- Strategy Development: Assist in developing strategies that will address client needs, minimize/prevent customer attrition.
- Problem Solving: Act as problem solver within all impacted parties (internal and external).
- Issue Mitigation: Act as an escalation point and mitigate in addressing client issues.
- Solution Advocacy: Committed to advocating the delivery of the company’s solutions.
- Budget Participation: Participate in the budget process, providing information on the budgets and forecasting.
- Cross-departmental Collaboration: Work closely with the Delivery team, Global support, Research and Development, and other departments to ensure the successful closure of Openway commitments to client.
- Client Management: Proactively own and manage client’s product usage, alignment with service level agreements, and commercial activities (return on investment, profitability).