What is your guidance on the best way to structure a Business Relationship Management area within an IT department? It is important for me to understand the most suitable training and education for the people working in this area, as well as the best way to manage it from the perspective of the necessary processes for IT service demand management and the relationship with IT business clients. 

We are still undergoing a transformation. The BRM's should be considered the local CIO's but it does require a complete organizational cultural adjustment. The BRM's should be empowered but the organization as a whole also needs to be ready, and educated for the program to be successful. 

This group at our organization is the “Face of IT to the business" - building relationships, understanding business opportunities, and excited to shape IT strategies and solutions to drive business value.  Key accountabilities include: Business partnering, customer/consumer experiences, IT and Biz strategy alignment, value delivery, and business demand management.  We organize these into teams which support specific business areas reporting into a small group if IT leaders.  In addition a peer group to this team represents the IT Portfolio and IT finance group.