Internal customer

Definition and scope

An internal customer is an area of your own company that uses the product to serve the external customer. This is the definition adopted in the CPM-E guide and the reference for this explanation. See the internal customer glossary entry.

The defining relationship is not simply that someone works inside the company. The area uses the product in serving an external customer. Keep both parts of that definition in view when interpreting a product situation.

Where it matters in practice

The term matters when external customers and the company's own operation use the same product. Their requests compete for the same capacity. Product decisions then require comparison between gains of different kinds.

The guide distinguishes speeding up work from eliminating work. Speeding up work improves throughput while retaining demand. Eliminating work reduces demand permanently. In this context, deciding between internal and external customer needs includes arbitration between buyer, user and operator.

Related terms and CPM-E preparation

Buyer means whoever signs the contract and answers for the budget. User means whoever performs the task in the product. Operator means whoever sustains the product through support, implementation or administration. These terms identify different roles. Internal customer identifies an area and its use of the product to serve external customers.

Internal verification is different: it means use of a version by people from your own company. That definition does not require serving an external customer.

For CPM-E certification preparation, connect the definition to the decision situation: does the internal operation use the product to serve external customers, and do internal and external requests compete for capacity?