IT Relationship Management: Aligning IT with the Business

You Will Learn How To

Build a strong alignment between IT and the business
Plan a strategy that positions you as a trusted IT advisor to key stakeholders
Choose IT projects that build trust and alignment
Articulate IT solutions that meet business needs
Create clear and effective service delivery agreements
Differentiate your internal IT services to ensure competitive solutions

Course Benefits

Successful relationship management bridges the divide that often arises between a business unit and its IT department. In this course, you learn the best practices of IT Relationship Management (ITRM) for facilitating actionable IT solutions that provide value to the business and satisfy the needs of business stakeholders. You learn to take on the role of the trusted IT advisor who can align the needs of the business with IT services.

Who Should Attend

IT department managers, IT executives, business/IT liaisons, project managers or anyone who establishes, manages, and maintains the relationship between IT and the business.

RealityPlus™

Extensive performance-based activities throughout this course immerse you in the role of an IT Relationship Manager. You gain practical experience in both the technical and social nuances of serving as a trusted IT advisor to the business. Activities include:

Experiencing trust firsthand through a dynamic simulation
Evaluating stakeholders to determine their level of influence and power
Uncovering and documenting an IT organisation's catalogue of services, including catalogue management
Recommending solutions to complex, simulated IT relationship problems
Negotiating and documenting business agreements using industry-standard formats
Collaborating with others to foster new ideas and innovations
Assessing performance with a relationship scorecard

Course Content

Overview of Relationship Management

Why organisations need successful relationships between IT and the business
Balancing the needs of IT and the business
Effectively aligning IT investments and business goals

Principles for Aligning IT and the Business

The trusted IT advisor

Recognising how trust feels
Defining trust in an IT organisation
The four primary components for building a trusted relationship

IT Relationship Management (ITRM) roles

IT relationship management vs. IT project management
Discovering your strengths and weaknesses
Technical and social competencies required for effective ITRM

Determining IT's Current State

Defining a catalogue of services

Identifying IT products and services
The components of an ideal catalogue
Creating an initial catalogue from scratch
Ranking services with metrics

Developing awareness of the organisational culture

The IntCRM Model
Overcoming common IT relationship barriers
Exploring how things get done in the organisation
Applying tools for culture analysis

Building the Trusted Relationship

Knowing your stakeholders

Identifying business and IT stakeholders
The stakeholder relationship life cycle
Classifying the roles stakeholders play
The importance of stakeholder power and influence

Optimising the first meeting

Planning the meeting
Models for understanding people
Explaining the role of the ITRM
Confirming relationships and roles
Leaving with actions

Planning the relationship strategy

Analysing the relationship
Recruiting trusted teams
Forming the plan
Executing the strategy

Facilitating Actionable IT Solutions

Performing competitive analysis

Evaluating IT outsourcing and consulting solutions
Establishing your competitive advantage

Identifying opportunities for improvement

Capturing, prioritising and documenting business needs
Applying a framework for prioritising and selecting projects
Picking quick-win projects

Designing a strategy to meet customer needs

Conducting a modified SWOT analysis
Questions you should ask
Making a go or no-go decision

Winning Competitive IT Projects

Responding to requests

Differentiating your services from your competitors'
Communicating your internal IT capabilities to the business
Validating business needs in business terms

Selling your solutions to the business

Translating IT speak to business speak
Creatively communicating your understanding of stakeholder pains
Linking IT solutions to pains
Articulating IT solutions in terms of business value
Writing clear, tailored service level agreements (SLAs)

Managing project handoffs

Ensuring a seamless transition
ITRM across the project life cycle
Creating and maintaining communication channels
Building the relationship

The IT relationship scorecard

Establishing quantitative and qualitative performance metrics
Assessing ITRM success
Analysing results

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