State of the Consumer Support Services Market

This IDC study, which is the second deliverable of the consumer support series, explores the consumer support industry and profiles companies that compete within it. It examines the industry's current trends and patterns and provides essential guidance to vendors about what consumers are looking for in a support provider.

"Due to an increasingly complex digital home, consumers are turning to support providers to help manage and troubleshoot a multitude of device and software issues. Technologies such as online chat and clientless remote access have advanced to allow a variety of companies the ability to provide these types of support services economically," says Rob Brothers, program director for IDC's Software and Hardware Support Services Program. "As a result, there are many vendors entering this market and challenging the incumbents."