eWeek: Researchers at Parks Associates have issued two new reports which predict that revenue for U.S. consumer and small and midsize business technology-support services could triple in the next five years, to reach $30 billion by 2015. “The market opportunity for consumer- and SMB-oriented technical-support services is significant because it is currently underutilized,” said Kurt Scherf of Parks Associates. “One-third of consumers and 44 percent of SMBs experienced computer-related problems, but only 13 percent of those people and 28 percent of those businesses used professional-support services.”
The report says that broadband service providers, major retailers and OEMs are all helping to increase the awareness of tech support offerings among consumers and SMBs.