Software support services are generally technical support or break/fix services that are delivered for specific software products. These services include revenue derived from long-term technical-support contracts or pay-as-you-go, incident-based support. Software support services typically include remote troubleshooting capabilities, installation assistance and basic usability assistance. Remote troubleshooting capabilities may be delivered via telephone and online communication media or without human assistance through automated means that reside on the customer’s device or are available on the Web.
Software support services may include new product installation services, installation of product updates, migrations for major releases of software, other types of proactive or reactive on-site services, and support for custom application or infrastructure software. Services may be delivered by a product vendor, a consulting firm or third-party software maintainers.
Software products and technologies covered under this category include commercial and custom operating systems, application software, and infrastructure software. Software support services do not include software license code updates and upgrades, which vendors often report as software maintenance.
The segments covered in software support map directly to market segments covered in Gartner software market statistics.