Demand
The Demand domain tests how demand arises, how it is modelled and shaped, and how it is balanced against capacity and supply within the service value chain.
Core rules
- Demand is the need or desire for services from customers and users; it is an input to the service value chain, not a by-product of it.
- Demand has patterns: predictable (seasonal, end-of-month), unpredictable (incidents, market shocks), and latent (unexpressed). Segment by customer, service, and time to improve forecasts.
- Demand management covers modelling, forecasting, and shaping. Shaping tools include pricing, incentives, service-level tiers, scheduling, queues, promotions, and communication.
- Balance demand and supply through capacity and performance management; where demand cannot be shaped, manage queues and backlog transparently.
Worked example
A cloud backup provider sees month-end peaks that require expensive peak capacity. It introduces off-peak discounts and automated scheduling for non-urgent backups. Reasoning: shaping shifts some demand to lower-cost periods, reducing the need for peak capacity; the remaining peak is handled with queuing and clear SLAs. The provider tracks take-up and the peak-to-average ratio to confirm the effect.
Traps
Do not treat demand management as simply refusing requests; do not confuse demand with capacity; do not ignore internal demand from staff or demand from partners; and do not forecast from a single data point. Latent demand is easy to miss because it produces no ticket.