IT Demand Management: What is it and Why do you Need it
As the modern workplace takes hold, companies rely on much more technology than ever before. Companies also must innovate faster than ever in order to keep up. This puts a tremendous amount of work on the IT department. The purpose of IT Demand Management is to balance the supply (resources) with the demand. It seems like a simple process, right? Well, many companies struggle with this.
According to Wikipedia:
Demand management is a planning methodology used to manage and forecast the demand for products and services. In business, the term is used to describe the proactive management of work initiatives (demand) with business constraints (supply).
How edison365 approaches IT Demand Management
At edison365, we think of IT demand management as a process of collecting project requests, evaluating project requests, approving and planning the projects, executing the projects, and finally — benefits realization of the project. These tasks are all done according to your IT Governance.
- At the collection stage, it’s important that there’s one centralized location for requests to come through.
- The evaluation stage is where project requests are ranked and team members analyze what resources the project request will use, along with justifying factors like cost and risk.
- At the approval stage, it’s important that overall business objectives and strategy is considered when evaluating which projects to move forward with.
- At the planning stage, you’ll want team collaboration of all involved parties in order to get a realistic sense of the resources involved with each request.
- The execution stage is where the rubber hits the road. We recommend using a project management tool that’s capable for your needs.
- When the project has come to an end, you’ll need a way to see how it affects the business in the short term and long term. This is where benefits realization comes into play. This can be a murky area if you do not have a tool that can wrap all of these stages into a holistic process.
So why would you need IT Demand Management?
IT Demand Management improves the delivery of IT services while reducing costs and remaining aligned with the overall business strategy. So I suppose the question should be — why would you NOT need IT Demand Management? IT Demand Management works to bring order to the project request workflow and help companies avoid the 5 Pitfalls of a Busy IT Department. One of the common pitfalls is an inconsistent process for project request intake. By implementing an IT Demand Management tool, you can streamline your intake process, prioritize the right projects, collaborate, and accurately measure the real business value after the project has been completed.
Implementing IT Demand Management will result in better planning and massive resource savings. Tools that are simple and easy to use, with short onboarding periods allow the IT department to quickly implement and start using without a major disruption to their workload.
