/ciol/media/agency_attachments/c0E28gS06GM3VmrXNw5G.png)
Follow UsPriya Padmanabhan
BANGALORE: Take a situation where your home computer has a glitch and refuses to print out a photo. A call to customer care helpline would mean a long wait on the line or some complicated instructions you cannot comprehend.
Imagine if you could fix your problem by downloading a solution on the Net. This could become a reality in a few months.
SupportSoft, a provider of customer support software and services, which until now focused on large enterprises and BPO companies, is now gearing up to serve the larger consumer space. The company believes that with the growth of broadband and increasing complexity of networks and devices at home, consumers would be ready to pay for professional support services.
Cadir B Lee, senior vice president of Products and Technology and chief technology officer, SupportSoft, said that the success of initiatives like Geeksquad, a computer support service showed that direct consumer support service would find a lot of takers.
“Home support is set to be a $10 billion market. Consumers have shifted over the years from using computers as a hobby to a state where they do not mind paying for professional support services to manage their home networks and data better.”
The first trial run for the service will start in October across various locations. In the long run, SupportSoft plans to offer this service through partner vendors and service providers as well as directly through its website.
SupportSoft hopes to have an expert center consisting of 400 problem-solving experts employed by SupportSoft as well as outsourcers, which will be operational next year. This group would use SupportSoft’s proprietary solutions to solve consumer technology problems.
Lee said that the solutions could be accessed by downloading software and tools for assisted service and also remotely. The services will be priced based on the complexity of the problem and also on basis of subscriptions.
The company is hoping that the direct consumer business could equal that of its mainstay-enterprise services.
In India, SupportSoft has more than 80 engineers who are focused on R&D, solution development and global services. The team size is expected to increase to over a hundred next year.
© CyberMedia News