Organisational development or demand management

When terms get mixed up

In many IT strategy projects or digitalisation initiatives, the buzzword ‘process orientation’ quickly comes up. IT managers then call for organisational development that focuses more on processes. But on closer inspection, it is often not about major transformation at all, but rather about getting a handle on requirements management – i.e. demand management.

Both topics are closely related, but they pursue different goals and have very different consequences for the organisation. If you don't make a clear distinction here, you risk misunderstandings and measures that miss the actual needs.

Organisational development towards process orientation

Process orientation means much more than the introduction of individual processes. It is a management approach that structurally changes the entire organisation. Instead of hierarchies and departmental boundaries, the focus shifts to end-to-end processes.

This has far-reaching consequences: processes become the central control variable, responsibilities are oriented towards process chains instead of line functions, and governance structures create transparency and clear decision-making paths. Structural and procedural organisation must be coordinated so that the organisation as a whole becomes more efficient, transparent and controllable.

A genuine process orientation therefore goes deep into the organisational structure. It affects leadership, control, communication and, ultimately, corporate culture.

Demand management as an operational process

Demand management, on the other hand, is not a comprehensive management approach, but a clearly defined process. It regulates how requirements from the specialist departments are recorded, evaluated, prioritised and finally implemented.

The focus is on how to create transparency across all requirements and which criteria determine which issues are addressed first. Typically, requirements are evaluated according to their strategic benefit, urgency or resource requirements. This results in an overview that enables decisions to be made in a comprehensible manner and implementation to be controlled in a targeted manner.

For demand management to work, roles such as demand managers, business analysts and steering committees are needed. The aim is not to establish control for the sake of control, but to avoid overload, make better use of resources and eliminate duplication of work.

Where the terms become blurred

In practice, process orientation and demand management are often confused. When IT managers call for ‘process orientation’, they often mean: we need a clear process to better manage requirements.

There are understandable reasons for this confusion. Both topics employ similar roles, both create transparency, and both have to do with organisation. But the difference lies in the scale: while process orientation realigns the entire organisation, demand management merely optimises a single, albeit very central, process.

The relationship between process management and demand management

One thing is clear: good process management automatically includes good demand management. When processes are established as a management approach, the requirements process is naturally part of the process map. It is then clearly defined, controlled and anchored in the organisational structures.

Conversely, however, demand management does not necessarily require comprehensive process management. Many companies consciously decide to start by ‘only’ establishing clean requirements management. This is often more pragmatic, less complex and quicker to implement – especially when the actual pain point lies in the unclear handling of requirements.

The trick is to realistically assess the maturity level of your own organisation. If you simply want to bring order to your requirements, focused demand management is a good choice. However, if you want to fundamentally align your organisation with a process orientation, you need to think bigger and embed demand management as part of a more comprehensive process management system.

However, demand management already involves a great deal of process management. Ideally, the demand – i.e. the requirement – is defined by a process owner. If there are no such process owners in the organisation, demand management remains without a client, even without official approval of the implemented measure. Thus, the central role of process management and process owners is crucial to the success of demand management. So, in a way, the snake bites its own tail. However, there are pragmatic solutions for this case.

One pragmatic solution is to set up a temporary demand board. This committee brings together representatives from the most important departments and IT, temporarily takes on the role of the client and prioritises incoming requirements. In this way, demand management remains capable of acting even if no official process owners exist yet, and at the same time, clarity is created about which roles should be permanently established in the future.

Practical examples: Typical situations in companies

Many organisations are at a crossroads: Is targeted demand management sufficient, or is a more comprehensive process orientation required? Typical scenarios include, for example:

• The overloaded IT team: Requirements from the departments are piling up, prioritisation is done informally, and no one knows exactly why some issues are implemented and others are not. In this case, clean demand management usually helps by creating transparency and providing a clear basis for discussion.
• The fragmented process landscape: Different departments optimise their processes for themselves, interfaces remain unclear, and end-to-end processes are hardly visible. In such cases, demand management is not enough – process management is needed as a management approach to restructure the organisation.
• The growing organisation: Start-ups and young companies grow quickly and at some point realise that neither requirements nor processes are running smoothly. For them, demand management can be a first step before they make the transition to process orientation in a second step.

These examples show that the question is not whether one is more ‘correct’ than the other. The decisive factor is which problem needs to be solved and which structural foundation already exists in the company.

Conclusion: clarity in terminology – clarity in the organisation

Whether organisational development or demand management: both approaches have their merits, but must not be confused. Those who really only want to get a handle on IT requirements should start with demand management. This is less costly, quicker to implement and addresses the immediate problem. On the other hand, those who are striving for fundamental transformation should take the path towards process orientation – knowing full well that this will have a profound impact on structures and culture.

Ultimately, it's all about precision. Clearly defining what you actually want to achieve lays the foundation for effective solutions. Needs can be managed through demand management, while process management provides the organisational framework for sustainable change. The two complement each other and both have their role to play. The challenge is to choose the right starting point – and not to lose sight of the big picture in the jungle of buzzwords.

adesso creates clarity between process orientation and demand management

We support companies in choosing the right approach for their situation – whether it's the pragmatic establishment of effective demand management or comprehensive organisational development towards process orientation. Our approach combines both and thus creates sustainable structures:

• Establishing demand management: We work with our customers to design a clear process for recording, evaluating and prioritising requirements. This creates transparency, controllability and traceability across all requirements.
• Defining roles and responsibilities: Together, we create a role model that distinguishes between demand management and process management while still ensuring clear interfaces and responsibilities.
• Build up process management in a targeted manner: Where it makes sense, we accompany the transition from pure demand management to a broader process orientation – including process mapping, governance structures and methodological support.
• Ensure integration into everyday life: We ensure that neither demand management nor process management exist as parallel worlds, but are closely integrated into the line organisation and operational processes.