Summary of "Getting Started with Demand Management"

The video "Getting Started with Demand Management" provides a comprehensive introduction to Demand Management as part of Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) in ServiceNow. It covers the concept, process, key roles, benefits, challenges, and practical implementation guidance, including a live demo of the platform.

Main Financial Strategies, Market Analyses, and Business Trends

Demand Management as Strategic Investment Planning: Demand Management is positioned as a critical process to intake, assess, and prioritize business demands aligned with strategic goals and objectives (OKRs). It helps organizations decide where to invest resources and funding to maximize value and ROI.
Visibility and Alignment: Emphasizes the importance of end-to-end visibility into demands, investments, and execution to ensure alignment with business objectives, avoid duplication, and optimize resource allocation.
Agility and Flexibility: Supports multiple execution methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid, SAFe) to align with diverse business needs.
Centralized Demand Intake: Consolidates dispersed business requests from various sources (emails, spreadsheets, ideation portals, product feedback) into a single system to improve prioritization and decision-making.
Value-Driven Decision Making: Uses assessments and scoring (risk, value, size) to prioritize demands, ensuring investments focus on what matters most.
Organizational Change Management (OCM): Recognizes the importance of preparing the organization for change with structured communication plans, executive alignment, and training.

Demand Management Methodology / Step-by-Step Guide

Demand Intake:
- Requesters submit demands via a controlled intake process (catalog items, idea portals, product feedback).
- Limit intake channels based on audience and organizational needs to maintain control and quality.
Demand Submission:
- Demand Manager is assigned to review and enhance the demand.
- Ensures the demand has accurate and sufficient information (business case, benefits, scope).
Screening & Assessment:
- Demand is screened and stakeholders perform assessments on risk, value, cost, and size.
- Assessments can be automated or manual, facilitating prioritization.
Qualification:
- Based on assessments, demands are qualified for further consideration.
- Stakeholders review and prioritize demands in committee meetings.
Approval Decision:
- Executive committee makes a go/no-go decision.
- Approved demands move to execution phase.
Execution:
- Demand converts into execution records (projects, enhancements, agile stories, change requests).
- Resources, costs, risks, and benefits tracked and managed.
Feedback & Continuous Improvement:
- Post-execution feedback loops to improve future Demand Management cycles.

Key Roles in Demand Management

Process Owner: Oversees and maintains the Demand Management process.
Demand Manager: Manages assigned demands, ensures proper assessment and prioritization.
Business User / Requester: Identifies and describes business needs.
Stakeholders / Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): Provide insights and feedback for demand assessment.
Business Relationship Manager (BRM): Acts as liaison between business and service provider.

Practical Implementation Best Practices

Use out-of-the-box functionality as much as possible to reduce complexity and upgrade challenges.
Start simple: use default state models and focus initially on manageable projects and resource types.
Gradually scale as teams gain comfort and success.
Ensure clear process ownership and defined roles.
Leverage ServiceNow’s expert services and partner ecosystem for guidance and acceleration.
Build organizational capabilities through training (Now Learning portal) and community engagement (SPM Community, SNUGs).
Prepare for organizational change with structured OCM plans, templates, and communication strategies.
Use ServiceNow’s Now Value methodology to measure progress and align efforts with business goals.

Demo Highlights

Creation of a demand record using a form with metadata (portfolio, investment class, cost type).
Use of machine learning to detect duplicate demands.
Assignment of stakeholders and demand manager.
Resource and cost planning integrated with demand.
Performing stakeholder assessments to score demands.
Visual prioritization using demand workbench bubble charts.
Approval and conversion of demand into a project.
Collaboration features within the platform (work notes, watch lists).

Presenters / Sources

Shian Agrawal – Product Success Team, ServiceNow
Mark Casto – ServiceNow, covering US companies, 6 years at ServiceNow
AML Shakra – Product Management for SPM, ServiceNow, based in San Diego, 12 years at ServiceNow

This session is part of ServiceNow’s curated event series aimed at helping customers deploy SPM products effectively and achieve faster business value.