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Support services revenue streams are under pressure. Technology is more reliable. Hardware is disposable. IT departments are being told to decrease costs, especially the recurring costs of maintaining their technology assets. Evergreen contracts and automatic renewals are things of the past as each transaction is thoroughly scrutinized and contracts are renegotiated. Disruption is imminent.

As support becomes more automated, more predictable, and less critical, companies are losing their ability to use support to demonstrate value to customers. To provide real value, companies need to reposition support services to go beyond traditional break-fix and help customers deal with their overall business issues—which remain far from automated and predictable.

During this Briefing, ITSMA’s Julie Schwartz, THINKstrategies’ Jeff Kaplan, and ITSMA’s Chris Koch examine the disruptive forces impacting the support services market, discuss new ITSMA research on the support services industry, and outline the strategies you need to take to avoid extinction.

Key takeaways include:

• The nature of support services and the way providers interact with customers is shifting
  • Services used to support the product, but today service is the product
• The scope of support services is expanding
  • Add a new layer of value to your services
  • Integrate support services with the total solution
  • Increase the value-add through the collection, integration, and dissemination of information
• Marketing tactics need updating
  • Make services easy to sell and even easier to buy
  • Segment and create packages based on deep customer insight
  • Use thought leadership and case studies to educate buyers and reduce the perception of risk