SMBs a Growing Market for Tech Support

According to Parks Associates, the U.S. market for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will reach a 14.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2012 and 2016, reaching nearly $25 billion by 2016. The research house estimates there are nearly 6 million U.S. firms with 1-99 employees, and that 45% of U.S. SMBs with 1-20 employees have paid for tech support at least once in the past year, but as the SMB network gets more complicated, many current solutions are inadequate."As SMBs have become more dependent on 24/7 uptime, tech support providers are responding with more robust offerings," said Jim O'Neill, a Parks analyst. "Ideally, these new products are delivered by companies that already have relationships with SMBs: service providers like ISPs, cable companies, and telcos. Tech support is a great source of incremental revenue for them and also helps keep their services sticky."