Support.com 2006 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Global Services
Our Global Services organization provides best practice solutions tailored to support our customers in maximizing value from our
products. Our services capabilities are divided into five core areas with the goal of guiding the customer through a successful
deployment:
• Project Planning and Management. Builds comprehensive project plans in coordination with customers and partners with a
goal of ensuring that budget, timeline and quality objectives are achieved.
• Design and Implementation. Provides architectural solution design, product integration and deployment services.
• Education. Trains customers and alliance partners in the design, implementation and support of our products.
• Customer Support. Responds to design, feature and deployment questions. We use our own software to provide an Internet
support portal, titled ExpertExchange, in providing support to our customers. Under our standard maintenance contracts, our
customers also receive generally available patches, enhancements and updates to the products they have purchased.
• Strategic Services. Educates customers on “best practices” for supporting and servicing users and moving from traditional
support processes to more automated approaches.
Research and Development
We devote a substantial portion of our resources to developing new and enhanced versions of our support automation software,
conducting product testing and improving our core technologies. Fundamental to our research and development strategy are rapid
product development cycles, continuous improvement and customer feedback. We have created customer advisory councils with
representatives from our customers to formalize this input. We use our own products in providing support to both corporate customers
and consumers, thereby gaining real−time knowledge and experience with our own products.
Research and development expense was $9.2 million in 2006, $11.2 million in 2005, and $9.7 million in 2004.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2006, we had eight patents in the United States. We also hold patents in China, Singapore and Israel and have
a number of patent applications pending in other foreign jurisdictions. We may or may not seek additional patents in the future. We do
not know if our current patent applications or any future patent application will result in a patent being issued with the scope of the
claims we seek, if at all. Also, we do not know whether any patents we have or may receive will be challenged or invalidated. It is
difficult to monitor unauthorized use of technology, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary
rights as fully as in the United States, and our competitors may develop technology that competes with ours but nevertheless does not
infringe our intellectual property rights.
We maintain a number of trademarks and service marks associated with our business.
We rely on a combination of copyright, trade secret, trademark and contractual protection to establish and protect our proprietary
rights that are not protected by patent. We also enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees and consultants involved in
product development. We routinely require our employees, customers and potential business partners to enter into confidentiality
agreements before we will disclose any sensitive aspects of our business. Also, we require employees to agree to assign and
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Source: SUPPORTSOFT INC, 10−K, March 16, 2007