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Chapter 4 ■ Service Strategy
that the recommended action is likely to cause and the associated risks. An internal
service provider may weigh the case in tight alignment with the business unit, whereas
an external service provider may have eyes on the brand image and the financial impacts
along with meeting the business obligations.
4.8.3 Business Relationship Management
Business relationship management (BRM) is a fairly new process to ITIL; although it existed
in principle, it did not have a process on its own until the 2011 version. This process acts
as a bridge between the customer and the service provider to ensure that the customer’s
requirements are well understood and the services are delivering business outcomes.
There is another process under the service design phase called the service-level
management (SLM), which has existed for as long as I can remember. SLM links the
customer on the service levels of the services and ensures that the services are delivered
as per the signed contract. I will discuss the SLM process in detail in Chapter 5.
The process objectives for the BRM and the SLM are similar from a distance, but
they differ in terms of what kind of touch points take place between the processes and
the customers. BRM looks at the strategic and tactical levels, while SLM concentrates
on the operational level. In essence, BRM acts as a big brother to SLM to ensure there is
alignment between the processes and the list of items agreed to at strategic and tactical
levels are materializing in the operations. The relationship between BRM and SLM in
explained in detail in Chapter 5.
4.8.3.1 Objectives of Business Relationship Management
Do you remember the cartoon that depicts what the customer conceived as a deliverable
and what the project actually delivered? Well, let’s just say that the customer wanted a
monster truck and he got a tractor instead. This kind of mismatch can be avoided if there is a
communication line open at the highest levels of echelon of the organizations, to understand
the customer’s deepest needs and to meet those needs, rather than delivering just what is
asked for. There are a number of case studies that suggest that business partnerships break
not because of communication, but rather the lack of it. BRM plugs this gap.
These are the objectives of BRM:
1. Understands customer’s perspective of IT services delivering
business outcomes, leading to prioritizing services and
service assets.
2. Ensure customer satisfaction levels are at a high, which is a
good indicator whether or not the service provider is fulfilling
the customer’s needs.
3. Understand the customer’s business, customer’s pain points,
and business drivers to facilitate services, providing value as
the customer sees it.
4. Engage new and upgraded technology to serve the customer
better with fitter service levels and quality of service.
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