The global technical support outsourcing market should grow at a compound annual rate of around 8% between 2018 and 2022. That is the forecast in a new report from market research firm Technavio, released on March 3, 2018.
Chatbots stand out among the trends the report tracks. Service providers are building them into their support operations so that bots can handle simple customer questions. As a result, human agents have more time for harder problems, which makes the whole operation more efficient.
Cost is the other big factor. According to the analysts, companies that hand technical support to specialist providers can cut both operating and infrastructure costs, since they no longer need to run that work in-house.
Technavio splits the market by type into helpdesk and call center services. Helpdesk work was the larger share in 2017, at roughly 56% of the market.
The report also looks at three regions: the Americas, EMEA and APAC. APAC led by a wide margin. It held about 52% of the market in 2017, while the other two regions shared the rest.
For buyers, the findings suggest a market that keeps expanding at a steady pace. Automation is also starting to change how first-line support gets delivered, even as outsourcing itself remains a cost play.
