Business Relationship Manager: Opportunities and Challenges in 2023

The role of a Business Relationship Manager (BRM) is becoming increasingly important in today’s business environment. As companies look to expand their operations and increase their customer base, the BRM is often the first point of contact for customers, partners and other stakeholders. But what does the future hold for the role of BRM? What opportunities and challenges will BRMs face in 2023? In this blog post, we’ll discuss the opportunities and challenges that BRMs will likely face in the coming years and how they can prepare for them.

The Expanding Role of the BRM

Over the last few years, we have seen the business relationship manager (BRM) play a more expanded role within organizations. This has been made possible by the adoption and proliferation of automation and AI solutions. Additionally, the BRM has taken on a greater scope in terms of managing relationships across multiple channels. However, despite this increased role, the BRM’s actual role and responsibilities have not yet been fully defined. This has led to differences in how the role is structured within different companies.

This variance will likely continue, as a structured approach to defining and implementing this role takes time. In fact, it could be years before we see an agreed-upon definition of the role of a BRM – one that all companies adopt.

Impact of Ownership and Governance on the Role of the BRM

 The BRM role will continue to evolve over the next few years. The most significant factor that will influence the evolution of the BRM role will be the varying degrees of ownership and governance across channels and geographies. A key challenge that companies face is how to balance local knowledge with global consistency. The varied role of the BRM reflects companies’ attempts to address this challenge.

Governance will also have an effect on how this role is executed. Organizations that have a stricter governance structure will likely implement the BRM role in a more controlled manner. Companies with a lax governance structure typically have more flexibility in executing the role, allowing them to take different approaches to the BRM, including allowing managers to self-identify as BRMs or simply add BRM duties to their existing roles.

The varied degree of ownership and governance will naturally result in different approaches to the BRM role across companies. This is already apparent in 2023, as some companies are describing the BRM role as being primarily channel-focused, while others are describing it as being company-focused. Companies will need to determine which of these descriptions best fits their own context to better understand how to implement the BRM role most effectively.

Opportunities for Growth and Development in the BRM Role

The BRM role will provide business professionals with new opportunities to manage their company’s relationships with customers, as well as other important partnerships. If executed correctly, this responsibility will provide value to customers and companies, as the business relationship manager will be able to identify and act upon unseen opportunities. This will create an advantage for the company that deploys BRMs in this manner. 

The advantage of this new role is that it creates an opportunity for business professionals to grow their careers by taking on more challenging and complex assignments. By supporting the development of the business relationship manager pool, recruitment executives  will also have the opportunity to groom their candidates to become business relationship managers, providing a beneficial career path for business professionals. 

Challenges as a BRM

BRMs will have a critical impact on company success in achieving business goals, including achieving company-wide sales and service targets, closing gaps in customer experience, and supporting cross-sell and upsell opportunities. Given this critical impact, it is likely that the BRM  role will evolve into a master dealer role in the longer term, with full ownership from the company, as has already been the case in some countries, such as Taiwan. This will require the BRM to assume more authority and responsibility, especially in managing the team and executing on business initiatives.

The BRM role will evolve to accommodate these requirements, as well as to accommodate changes in company/channel dynamics, including company M&A activity, changes in manufacturer/dealer relationship, and changing customer expectations. Expect these responsibilities to grow over time.

Changing Technologies in the Business World

Technology will continue to change the way that business professionals do their jobs. Automated advisor chatbots, machine learning, and other technologies will become increasingly important for business professionals to help them deliver better service, faster, and cheaper. These technologies will also enable business professionals to free up time to focus on high-value activities, as well as handle tasks that are difficult for humans to accomplish.

As technology and the world of business move forward at a rapid pace, it is essential that every business has a Business Relationship Manager to help them navigate these challenges. The opportunities for Business Relationship Managers to thrive in 2023 are manifold: digital transformation, AI-driven marketing, a renewed focus on customer engagement, and the rise of the gig economy. To make the most of these opportunities, however, it is important for Business Relationship Managers to remain agile and keep up with the latest technological developments. With the right skills and attitudes, Business Relationship Managers will be pivotal in helping businesses stay ahead of their competition in 2023 and beyond. 

TaUB Solutions offers BRMP Training and certification from one of the TOP BRM 2021, awarded by the BRM institute.

Sign up for the BRM training Programme with our Coach Suresh GP. (Awarded as Top BRMs 2021 by BRM Institute)

As a BRM, you will gain authority in the industry and also gain the experience to face the inspired audience across the globe. 

Learning is a never-ending process. Keep going!