SWOT ANALYSIS FOR THE COMPUTER REPAIR INDUSTRY

The computer repair industry gained momentum alongside the development of computer technology in the late 20th century. Any computer system, whether a lowend home desktop or an enterprise-scale server, may need repairs from time to time, opening up opportunities for small business computer shops to serve as wide or narrow of a target market as they would like. Taking a look at a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for the computer repair industry can reveal whether a computer repair shop might do well in your area.

Strengths
Computer technology becomes more ubiquitous with each passing year, increasing the size of the market for computer repair shops. According to Ibis World, revenue for the industry reached $20.3 billion in 2010. Computer technology is still in a relatively early stage of development, as well, meaning computers still fail on a regular enough basis to support the repair industry. Recessionary conditions in the economy can shift consumers' focus away from buying new computers and towards maximizing the life of their current machines, providing further advantages to the industry.

Weaknesses
Computer repair shops can find it difficult or virtually impossible to serve anything larger than a local area. Large computer repair services, such as Geek Squad, grow to a large scale by opening numerous outlets across the country, which runs counter to the traditional technology business model that can serve an entire nation from a single office. Automation is also nearly impossible in the computer repair industry, keeping labor costs high by requiring each service to be performed by hand on a case-by-case basis. Because of this, it can be difficult for computer repair shops to achieve economies of scale for operational costs.

Opportunities
Just as past advances provided opportunities to the computer repair industry, new advances in computer technology continue to provide new opportunities for savvy small business entrepreneurs. The rise of tablet PCs and smartphones, for example, creates the potential to serve new markets, increasing the revenue repair shops can receive from existing clients. Cloud computing creates opportunities for small businesses to secure long-term, high-volume repair contracts with cloud service providers who view their service reliability as a major competitive advantage.

Threats
Computer technology continues to grow more sophisticated, and major players in the industry continue to gain experience building more reliable machines. As the computer industry matures, it is likely that computer technology will become much more reliable, failing less often and becoming less susceptible to outside threats. The sheer size of the early computer-repair market may have been a result of earlystage technology that failed more often than it worked. Late 21st century computers may become so sturdy and reliable that the computer repair industry shrinks dramatically.