Support.com 2014 Annual Report Download - page 7

Table of Contents
We have developed, currently maintain, and continue to improve proprietary, market-leading, cloud-based technologies that are essential to our business. We focus our investment in research and development
across the following major areas: Nexus SaaS solution for support interaction optimization; endpoint applications and other extensions to gather data to assist support interactions and allow remote support when
necessary; business analytics and reporting; open application interfaces; and internal service delivery management tools.
Our Nexus SaaS technology includes patent-pending Guided Paths automated workflows, remote control of customer devices, automated device and systems data collection, and business analytics. We expect
to increase the research and development investment devoted to Nexus during 2015.
The service delivery management tools used by our agents for technology support services include Nexus capabilities and other contact center applications such as customer relationship management (“CRM”),
ticketing, ordering, methods of payment, and telephony, which are all integrated into an ergonomic and efficient application for our technology specialists.
For business analytics and reporting, we build and maintain a data warehouse that securely aggregates and restructures data from all of our applications to create a comprehensive view of the service delivery
lifecycle, as well as data about the disposition of support interactions. This rich data set provides visibility into sales conversion effectiveness, service delivery efficiency, service level performance, subscription
utilization, partner program performance and many other aspects of running and optimizing our business. Our partners also receive reports and analytic information from the warehouse for their programs on a regular
basis via secure data feeds, or they can access reports via an online reporting portal.
Nexus open application interfaces enable integration with CRM, ticketing systems, and other contact center applications.
For end-user software, we build and enhance the products described under “Our End-User Software Products”.
Intellectual Property
We own the registered trademarks SUPPORT.COM®, PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY EXPERTS®, BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY EXPERTS
® and NEXUS® in the United States for specified support services and
software, and we have registrations and common law rights for several related trademarks in the U.S. and certain other countries. We own the domain name support.com and other domain names. We have exclusive
rights to our proprietary services technology, and our end user software products. We also have non-exclusive rights to distribute certain other software products.
We own three U.S. patents related to our business and have a number of pending patent applications covering certain advanced technology. Our issued patents include U.S. Patent No. 8,020,190 (“Enhanced
Browser Security”), U.S. Patent No. 6,754,707 (“Secure Computer Support System”) and U.S. Patent No. 6,167,358 (“System and Method for Remotely Monitoring a Plurality of Computer-Based Systems”). 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 they do in the United
States, and our competitors may develop technology that competes with ours but nevertheless does not infringe our intellectual property rights.
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 patents. We also enter into confidentiality
agreements with our employees and consultants involved in product development. We generally 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 generally require employees and contractors to agree to assign and surrender to us any proprietary information, inventions or other intellectual property
they generate while working for us in the scope of employment. These precautions, and our efforts to register and protect our intellectual property, may not prevent misappropriation or infringement of our intellectual
property.
Competition
We are active in markets that are highly competitive and subject to rapid change. Although we do not believe there is one principal competitor for all aspects of our offerings, we do compete with a number of
other vendors.
With respect to partnerships for our technology support services, our competitors include privately-held companies focused on premium technology services, providers of electronics warranties, contact centers
focused on technical support and other companies who offer technical support through partners. We believe the principal competitive factors in our services market include: breadth and depth of service offerings;
quality of the customer experience; proprietary technology; time to market; pricing; account management; vendor reputation; scale; and financial resources.
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