by Lynette Ferrara and Alex Mayall Today’s business leadership knows that IT matters. This renewed business interest in IT was confirmed by a recent CSC survey of senior business and IT executives. A surprise that emerged from the survey was that these senior executives viewed the business, rather than the IT function, as the principal barrier to the use of IT (see Figure 1). These executives believe they can best overcome these barriers by working collaboratively with their IT function.

This article addresses the issues of today’s CIOs, who now have the attention of their business. Many CIOs told us they were developing a new role in their organization called a business relationship manager to respond to and cultivate this new business interest in working collaboratively with IT. To determine whether a business relationship management program was the best way to fulfill these new demands by their business colleagues, we conducted 70 interviews in over 30 organizations in the United States and Europe. We found that successful BRM was not just a new role in IT. Instead, both the business and IT had to agree to new ways of working together.

Four distinct collaborative “deals” between business and IT

Invitations to collaborate could mean a wide range of things, from sharing the frustration and disappointment with IT services at one extreme to an offer of a seat on the executive board at the other. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here. The CIO has to interpret requests from individual business executives and then negotiate appropriate agreements on how business and IT will work together. Our research found four underlying patterns in the requests made by the business, and we used them as the basis for four models of business-IT collaboration:

Passive: Business and IT work in isolation. The IT function does what it is told to do, as and when budget allows.

In this model, business executives decide how they want to spend “their” IT budget, and when the money runs out, the work simply stops. In many such organizations, IT has “account managers” who take orders, or else IT expects the business to engage directly with representatives of several IT functions.

Provider: Business and IT continue to work largely in isolation. However, each party appoints a liaison officer, who is expected to bridge the gap.

In the provider relationship, a “business buyer” is responsible for aggregating and communicating business requirements to IT. The IT relationship manager mirrors the responsibilities of the business buyer. While relationship managers are generally chosen for their experience in planning and executing IT projects or services, the critical skill they bring to this role is the ability to manage and set expectations.

Partner: Business and IT work together to achieve joint business goals. IT is regarded as having a specialized, business change support and an enabling role on the management team.

The relationship manager in a partner role serves as a consultant to the business, facilitating the discussion of business objectives, educating the business on available technology, and planning the change programs needed to deliver the desired business capabilities. The business in turn agrees to go through the painful exercise of defining objectives in sufficient detail to enable the relationship manager to provide meaningful advice. As importantly, the business agrees to provide the time and resources needed to implement the change programs.

Peer: Business and IT responsibilities are fused, at least at the top management level. An IT expert is recruited to the top leadership team to drive business innovation and growth. One among equals, he or she is expected to help the remainder of the top team become technology literate. The primary focus is on the needs of the external market.

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