What is a TBM Council?
A TBM Council is the governance body that sets the strategic direction for Technology Business Management within an organization. Where the TBM Office plays the operational role — models, reporting, stakeholder management — the TBM Council is responsible for decision-making, prioritization, and securing mandates from the board of directors.
Without a well-functioning Council, TBM risks becoming a purely financial exercise with no real influence. With a well-functioning Council, TBM becomes an instrument actively steered by the CFO, CIO, and business owners.
Composition of a TBM Council
An effective TBM Council typically includes:
- CFO or representative — financial discipline and alignment with the planning & control cycle.
- CIO or representative — IT strategy, prioritization of investments.
- Business owners — from major business units; they are the consumers of IT.
- Head of TBM Office — acting as secretary and operationally responsible.
- Optional: heads of sourcing, enterprise architecture, or risk/compliance.
Mandate and agenda
The Council typically convenes quarterly and covers topics such as:
- Further development of the TBM taxonomy and cost model.
- Establishing unit prices and allocation rules.
- Approval of investment business cases above a defined threshold.
- Results of benchmark analyses and optimization initiatives.
- Periodic evaluation of the TBM maturity level within the organization.
How we help you
Design
We design the Council structure to fit your organization: composition, terms of reference, escalation paths, and the relationship with other governance bodies such as the Architecture Board and the Investment Committee.
Independent facilitation
We moderate the initial meetings as an independent party. This helps break existing patterns and keeps the focus on the value question rather than internal politics.
Capability building
We train members and stakeholders in the language and concepts of Technology Business Management, enabling the Council to make genuine decisions rather than delegating them to the TBM Office.
Results
A well-functioning TBM Council leads to:
- Faster decision-making on IT investments — with the business at the table.
- Higher quality TBM output, as the Council sets requirements for reporting and analysis.
- A stronger bridge between CFO and CIO, and therefore better Business Control IT.
- Maturity growth of the entire TBM practice within your organization.