3 Things to Know about Support.com

Support.com is a technical support company for two parties, small businesses, and general consumers. Customers reach out to Support.com, Inc when they need help with issues relating to their Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices. The firm has a few subsidiaries that conduct services ranging from cybersecurity for individual consumers to managed IT services for various enterprises. If you need a specialized customer support such as a medical answering service, make sure to use a professional company like answeringservicecare.net.

Support.com has been around for around 23 years now, but many other tech names overshadow it. Support.com is interesting because of its current stage in the corporate lifecycle. At first glance, it looks like a dying company with no innovation. But we might see something different if we dive deeper into the corporation. For instance, it might see an added boost for its services with the COVID-19 pandemic as more people shift online for various items and figure out how to use tools and services.

We’ll take a look at how it started, where it is now, and what the future might look like for Support.com.

Support.com History

Replicase Inc., was founded in 1997 in California by Mark Pincus and partners, such as Scott Dale and Cadir Lee. Surprisingly, it had investors such as Softbank from the very beginning. The firm would quickly change its name a year later, before changing it again to Support.com.

They saw an opportunity in straightforwardly supporting Windows users. Their idea was that Windows applications could fix itself, it could like Wolverine, self-heal. But then it decided that there was a better opportunity, it could provide support software for mid to large growing businesses.

Support.com would file for and proceed with Initial Public Offering in 2000. It has been working with different brands and consumers since that time but has been struggling to stay viable. It has seen a variety of CEOs from places like Citrix and HP come and go. Tgese

Further, its financials were not so compelling. It looks like it could be a great business model, help prevent security threats, assist people with technical difficulties, and scale up its services. But for some reason, it’s not working as well as it needs to be with negative operating cash flow and stagnant earnings.

Let’s take a look at the business model.

The Business Model

Today the company states that it is “a full-spectrum leader in technical support solutions for businesses and consumers. It serves companies and individuals by providing technical support services, call center services, and consumer software.

Their primary business line is 24/7 tech support services based in the United States. Customers can use them to solve frequent problems such as speeding up a computer, removing a virus, and connecting devices such as Amazon Echo, Ring doorbells, among other common issues. The company notes it helps with” device connectivity, setup, and troubleshooting, or simply learning new features and functionality.”

Consumers take advantage of their services from phone to virtual house calls to chats. Consumers can avail of pricing plans that range from $149.99 a year, to $14.99/month, to $79.99 for one-time support.

Businesses can take advantage of their services with prices that range from $49.99/month for up to 5 employees to $349/month for 50 employees. Lastly, companies can also have IT managed services and server support assistance for an additional charge.

The Future

After several CEOs changed, and the company focused on specific business lines, the entity has increased margins and became profitable. The current CEO noted that they’ve seen an uptick in demand and are seeing more interest in their SAAS business. It’s clear that SAAS business solutions are the future with efficient features and cost-reducing integrations; one example is Git client with features like Undo, Drag and Drop, and more. 

Further, they helped to spur demand for their offerings by introducing a promotional period where people can try their services for free “Support.com is in a unique position to help the nation navigate this complicated shift to remote work and studying while staying connected to friends and family.” 

The company goes on to state that “we’ve worked with a fully-remote, U.S.-based workforce for two decades and we’ve gained a deep understanding of the full spectrum of challenges that consumers could face with their home technology.” That means Support.com could use this shift in strategy to open up further opportunities that help them grow and have certainty in cashflows. The value with Support.com is that if the company continues to make the right changes and ride the digital growth wave, it can make a comeback.