Business Relationship Manager

Business Relationship Manager

Business Relationship Managers (BRM) are senior roles responsible for building relationships between the IT organisation and one of more business units, and for ensuring IT services meet the needs of the business customers they represent.

Successful BRMs have an excellent understanding of their customer's business, how it works and the type of problems and opportunities to which it must respond. They use their deep knowledge of the corporate IT strategy to explain the services and capabilities available to business customers and to act as advisor on how IT can improve their operation.

They work with the business to shape and prioritize their IT requirements (for example, improvement in efficiency or service quality, standardization or revenue growth), and then with the IT function to decide whether these are requirements can be met through an existing service, or if a new or changed service is needed. By helping the business to make best use of available IT services, BRMs play a key role in maximising the overall return from IT assets and investment, and in some organisations may have an internal quota or sales target.


Typical Tasks

  • Build strategic relationships with senior business stakeholders
  • Educate customers on available IT services
  • Identify new service requirements and represent the customer’s requirements
  • Lead negotiations to provide new and enhanced products or services
  • Implement systems to capture feedback and monitor customer satisfaction.

Potential Next Steps

IT Programme Manager, Supplier Relationship Manager.


How to get there

AXELOS professional certifications are recognised worldwide by employers as an indicator of your skills and commitment as an ITSM professional.

The following certifications are aimed at practising Business Relationship Manager and will support your development into more senior ITSM roles:

Service Strategy

  • Investigate and decide on which services to provide
  • Analyse which services are no longer viable and when they should be retired

  • Identify, manage and communicate the cost of providing services

  • Service Design / Service Offerings and Agreements / Planning, Protection and Optimisation

  • Identify and document business requirements and drivers

  • Improve service provider focus on customer outcomes

  • Develop specific and measurable targets for IT services

  • Balance costs against resources needed.

Learn More About Service Strategy

Continual Service Improvement

  • Identify opportunities for improving services, processes and tools
  • Reduce the cost of providing services
  • Ensure that IT services enable the required business outcomes
  • Identify what needs to be measured, analysed and reported for improvement

Learn More About Continual Service Improvement

ITIL Practitioner

  • Apply the nine ITSM guiding principles in a real world context
  • Apply the Continual Service Improvement (CSI) approach as a way to structure improvement initiatives
  • Enhance continual service improvement activity through:
    • Organisational Change Management
    • Improved communication
    • Better use of Measurement and Metrics

Learn More About ITIL Practitioner

RESILIA Foundation

  • Introduction to cyber resilience
  • How decisions impact good/bad cyber resilience

Learn More About RESILIA Foundation