Resources for Business Relationship Management

A student recently asked for resource references for about Business Relationship Management (BRM).

BRM is emerging as a critical process in several prominent service management frameworks and standards. Recently, BRM was formalized in the 2011 edition of Service Strategy as part of the core ITIL library. This is a significant addition since many believed that BRM and Service Level Management (SLM) were the same process. While similar, BRM strategically focuses on the relationship between a service provider and it’s customer (more like an Account Executive) where SLM operationally focuses on the negotiation and achievement of service performance.

The ISO/IEC 20000 standard has mandatory requirements and suggested guidance for Business Relationship Management. Even if your organization is not considering ISO certification, the standard does define the minimum essential activities for each process, including BRM. Put together with ITIL 2011, it’s a powerful combination.

Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) has a similar process/service management function called “Business/IT Alignment” in the Plan Phase that is worth reviewing. In addition to process descriptions, MOF provides task-based questions for ensuring that complete information is gathered as well as job aids. MOF is available for free through www.microsoft.com/mof.

Comments

Steve@itilnews.com said…

Professor

Good sound useful advice.

Steve (www.itilnews.com)

October 12, 2011 at 5:56 AM

Steve@itilnews.com said…

Professor

Good sound useful information.

Steve (www.itilnews.com)

October 12, 2011 at 5:57 AM

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