North American tech companies will shell out $1.4 billion in 2007 for service and support, according to "Service and Support Technology Spending-Market Sizing and Spending Plans for North American Technology Companies," unveiled by the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) in December 2006. Additional findings indicate that 48 percent of those surveyed have service and support tech budgets topping $1 million, 17 percent of them have budgets of more than $10 million for new technology, and 33 percent have budgets within the $1 million to $10 million range.

The report, authored by John Ragsdale, SSPA's vice president of research, is based on the association's survey of vice presidents and director-level executives from 177 companies on their North American service and support tech budgets, spending plans, current technology, and satisfaction with technology purchases.

Much of the expected upsurge in tech service and support spending in 2007 is a result of deepened interest in the customer experience among technology companies, especially B2B outfits, according to Ragsdale. Many B2B companies "consider tech support and customer service as something customers pay for with a maintenance contract," Ragsdale says. But "they're slowly realizing that having interactions with customers is a very valuable thing for long-term profitability and for long term satisfaction and loyalty."