Demand Manager

I received an email from a former student who was previously in my V2 Manager class asking me if there is such a role called a Demand Manager in ITIL V3. Apparently he was sitting for an V3 ITIL Intermediate examination and somehow came across this term.

In ITIL V3, Demand Management process is described in the Service Strategy book. There is no specific “Demand Manager” role mentioned in this book. The main activities of demand management are performed by the role of Business Relationship Manager (BRM). The role of BRM may be known by other names in various organisations e.g. Account Manager, Business Representatives, Sales Representatives/Manager, Client Relationship Manager. Whatever the name that is used, the key focus of the person holding such role is on the Customer.

The BRM needs to understand the Customer’s business activities and how they drive the demand for IT services. Pattern of Business Activities (PBA) define dynamics of a business i.e. business activities, flow of resources, coordination, and interactions. It includes interactions with customers, suppliers, partners and other stakeholders. User Profiles (UP) communicate information on the roles, responsibilities, interactions, schedules, work environments and social context of related users. In Demand Management, the BRM documents these information (Pattern of Business Activities and User Profiles) and works with the IT Service Provider team to serve the demand with appropriately matched services, service levels, and service assets. The BRM needs to understand Customer’s business outcomes and ensures that the service offerings in the service catalogue are able to fulfil these outcomes. New or enhanced services may be required to address un-served or underserved demand.

Demand Management is closely related to Service Portfolio Management. As part of Service Portfolio Management, the BRM (who represents the Customers) works closely with the Product Managers (who represents the Service Providers) to define new or enhanced services to address these un-served or under-served demand. This includes working with the Product Managers in the development of the business cases for new or enhanced services, with the Product Managers taking the lead.

There will be situation where service capacity is limited or cannot be changed in a given period. Hence, the service provider may have to adopt approaches to control or influence the demand of the services. See previous post.