Support services—which are defined by ITSMA to include hardware, software, and network maintenance; technical support and customer support; managed services; applications maintenance outsourcing; installation services; and all other services designed to enable ongoing operations for technology infrastructure and applications—are an important source of growth and profitability for many technology companies. And yet, as support becomes more automated, more predictable, and less critical, companies are losing their ability to use support to demonstrate value to customers.

This study outlines the state of support services marketing today and provides recommendations around how companies can ensure that their support services businesses continue to grow and prosper.

Key findings include:

• Support services is a growth business that contributes significantly to profits
• Services attach rates and renewals have either stabilized or moved in the right direction
• As evidenced by changing customer buying behaviors, the support services business is on the verge of great change and potential disruption from:
  • Pricing pressures
  • Demand for proof of value
  • Software as a Services (SaaS)
  • Third-party support
  • Solutions and support integration
• The majority of companies are either maintaining or increasing their support services marketing budgets at current levels
• Support services marketing messages are not being integrated with product marketing messages

Survey Methodology

In July 2007, ITSMA used a Web-based survey to gather data from its members about their support services marketing. ITSMA received 25 responses from 24 unique companies and analyzed the collected data in two ways:

• By support services strategy (Services are a differentiator or services are the product)
• By support revenue as a percentage of total revenue (<25% or >=25%)

Respondent Demographics