SMB Tech-Support Market to Grow Over 14% Yearly, Study Shows

Parks Associates made a study uncovering the predicted yearly growth rate of over 14 percent for the tech support of U.S. small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from 2012 to 2016. Moreover, by 2016, the adoption of cloud services, growing network complexity, and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) shift will drive the demand for “sophisticated tech support solutions” expected to grow to around $25 billion. 

The Parks Associates report finds the following cloud services to be the most prevalent among SMBs: collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), data backup, and data storage.

“Businesses of all sizes have been relentless in their adoption of new technologies,” said Jim O’Neill, research analyst at Parks Associates. “They have acquired new hardware and often allow the use of employees’ own devices, creating a complex environment of support needs. Throw the cloud and its various services into the mix, as well as the need of SMBs to curtail their expenses, and you have a perfect storm of opportunity for companies that can provide 24/7 help desks, remote software and hardware support, and the occasional site visit.”

Dubbed as “Small Business Tech Support: Small Target, Big Market,” the Parks Associates study indicates that there are close to six million companies in the United States that have one to 99 employees. In addition, a major part of the market potential is found in nonprofit organizations and non-employer firms. In fact, in 2013, there will be around 24 million non-employer firms in the United States.

The research findings also reveal that 45 percent of U.S. SMBs with 1-20 employees have spent for tech support in 2012.

SMBs migrate to the cloud in order to minimize their spending on software and hardware, and this paves way for tech-support providers to put forward solutions addressing the complex integration issues. As the SMB network becomes more and more complex, current tech-support solutions will prove inadequate. And because of the growing number of SMB employees joining the BYOD bandwagon, education will be at the forefront of tech support for SMBs.

Parks Associates research analyst O’Neill remarked that many providers of tech support give SMBs “a product that was, essentially, a consumer solution on steroids.” Jim O’Neill went on to explain that considering SMBs grow increasingly reliant on 24/7 uptime, providers of tech-support services then come up accordingly with more full-bodied offerings. In most cases, these tech-support products and services are offered by companies already working in conjunction with SMBs. Examples include telcos, cable companies, and service providers such as ISPs. (KOM) Link. Link.