Next Generation Demand Management

Chapter 1The Current State

Today's business challenges are numerous due to globalization pressures, supply chain complexity, rising customer demands, and the need to increase revenues across global markets while continuing to cut costs. Adding to these challenges is the current economy in which the last several years supply has outstripped demand. Intense market volatility and fragmentation are compelling companies to develop and deploy more integrated, focused, demand-driven processes and technologies to achieve best-in-class performance. As a result, there have been major shifts in demand management.

Unfortunately, there has been more discussion than actual adoption, and where adoption has occurred, there has been little if any sustainability. Demand-driven processes are challenging and more difficult to get right than supply, and they tend to be politically charged. Furthermore, implementing a demand-driven process in support of a new-generation demand management process requires investment in people, process, analytics, and technology. Adoption requires an executive champion who has the influence to change corporate behavior, encourage new analytics skills (descriptive and predictive), and integrate processes horizontally utilizing new scalable technology. Strategic intent and interdependencies play a key role in maintaining long-term sustainability. Without sustainability, the adoption of new conceptual designs like demand-driven tends to fail over the long-term. In most ...