Many products and services are available only at certain times. The movie will be shown at 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM. The Motor Vehicle Bureau is open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The doctor's office hours are 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. The bank is open from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Your new car will be available in two weeks. These constraints almost always detract from the quality of the product or service. How can these constraints be removed? In some cases a technology breakthrough such as the Automatic Teller Machine, or ATM, is needed. In others, prediction plays an important role, for example, predicting what type of cars customers will order. However, in many situations the constraint is created because it is more convenient for the provider of the service than for the customer. Would most people prefer the bank to be opened from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM or from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM?

Offering the product or service any time is different from just reducing wait time. To achieve this goal often requires a totally new conceptualization of the product or service. For this reason, "any time" is an important concept for changing the expectations of customers.