What is IT Demand Management?

Demand management is a critical aspect of service management. Poorly managed demand is a source of risk for service providers because of uncertainty in demand. Excess capacity generates cost without creating value that provides a basis for cost recovery.

The purpose of Demand Management is to understand and influence customer demand for services and the provision of capacity to meet these demands. At a strategic level this can involve analysis of patterns of business activity and user profiles. At a tactical level it can involve use of differential charging to encourage customers to use IT services at less busy times.