Enterprise Business Relationship Manager

Enterprise Business Relationship Management provides a central point of contact and communication between business stakeholders and all IT teams. The primary purpose of this position is to partner with the business and build a strong relationship that will help achieve business goals through effective use of IT, enabling solutions that meet business channel, corporate goals and market commitments. Has primarily responsibility for developing and maintaining a successful relationship between a specific business unit and IT. The position will analyze channel and operational needs and issues, assist with creating a business case for changes, present information and work with multiple contributors to implement changes. Serves as the IT contact with business leadership and executives and is accountable for facilitating operational activities in support of assigned business area. Ensures expectations are properly met, effectively communicates to IT leadership on business needs and assists business in planning initiatives to support projects. Has primary responsibility for developing, negotiating, and maintaining Service Level Agreements and Operation Level Agreements, providing regular reporting and analysis to IT and business units on system performance and service disruptions.

Accountabilities:

1. Develops and manages the ongoing relationship between IT and business partners by providing a direct line of communication between IT and business leadership. Enable and consult on change processes for projects, enhancements, defect fixes, changes to environments and other IT support.
2. Support the creation of enhancement requests, clarifying business needs and scope, assist with documenting the business case and cost / benefit justification and support estimating the level of effort.
3. Liaison for IT and business leadership to identify business needs and a single point of contact for escalated IT service issues, strategic and tactical business needs, technology recommendations and operational issues.
4. Respond to highly visible service incidents. Keep clients updated during recovery or resolution.
5. Work with the Service Restoration Management team to provide support, communication and coordination of emergency fixes or other service incidents.
6. Develops, negotiates and maintains Service Level Agreements and Operation Level Agreements. Provides regular reporting and analysis to IT and business units on system performance and service disruptions.
7. Advocates for the business and initiates first steps in navigating through IT processes (for example Change Management, Incident Management, Configuration Management).
8. Execute processes to fulfill ITIL Service Management and Business Relationship Management requirements.
9. Facilitate discussions with the business to capture, define, and clearly understand the initial business requirements that determine the need for various IT Technology Services and IT Support Services.
10. Provide strategic planning support and consulting to enable IT solutions for the business channel that are aligned with corporate goals and guidelines.
11. Enable the business channel to do forward planning of changes and maintenance activity that can be scheduled for delivery according to a release calendar that meets business timelines.
12. Support the release formation process by enabling the prioritization of business channel enhancements, defect fixes or other changes.
13. Support the development and implementation of decision-making processes impacting specific business channels by providing coaching, formulate recommendations, and best practice ideas on project planning, change management and implementations.
14. Participate in Post Implementation Reviews, including analysis and reporting of all key measures.
15. Follow-up on gaps and ensure process or other changes are made to close the gaps.

Please Note: This position does not provide relocation assistance or visa sponsorship

Basic Required Qualifications:

1. An undergraduate degree in computer science, health administration, business or related discipline and 3 years of experience in IT infrastructure technical and process support, or 5 years of experience in IT infrastructure technical and process support in lieu of a degree.
2. Experience in practices and procedures of IT System Development Life Cycle, Change Control, and Release Management tools and processes.
3. Strong leadership skills in project management and internal consulting with results orientation.

Additional Qualifications:

1. Strong customer service focus.
2. Ability to work effectively and confidently with leadership and senior staff.
3. Conflict resolution, facilitation, feedback and consensus building skills.
4. Proven experience to negotiate or mediate issues.
5. Must be able to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
6. Strong planning, time management and organizational skills.
7. Experience with strategic, operational and financial planning and analysis tools and techniques.
8. Self-directed, ability to manage multiple responsibilities at one time.
9. Ability to analyze and resolve complex business issues. Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
10. Understanding of the application development lifecycle, methods and technologies.
11. Excellent written and oral communication skills to convey complex ideas simply, through written reports and presentation materials.
12. Ability to read, analyze and interpret business and professional journals and government regulations regarding complex industry issues.
13. Willingness to respond to urgent issues off hours.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. ITIL Foundations Certification
2. Knowledgeable in delivering complex information concerning IT projects and solutions to business areas.
3. Business knowledge specific to BCBSMN and health care desired.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is a Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer, M/F/D/V.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is a drug free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a background check and drug test before beginning employment.