How Has IT Support Changed In The Last 20 Years?
1995 v 2015
Like every aspect of technology, IT support has changed at an immeasurable scale over the past 20 years, reflecting the overwhelming surge in demand for IT products and the rapid growth in popularity - and dependency - of computers, laptops, and, more recently, iPads and tablets.
Most people still did not own a PC 20 years ago
20 years ago, IT support was mainly related to specific tasks, and would rarely involve a home PC, simply due the fact that the many people did not have PCs at this time. Indeed, even by 1997, only 34.6 percent of US households owned a computer, although the majority (65.6 percent) of college graduates owned one by this period. Nevertheless, computer ownership rose sharply during the 1990s, and in 1997 the number of households owning one was already more than double that of just seven years earlier.
IT support was location-specific
Most IT support workers would resolve computer problems at workplaces or educational establishments, hence their job was more likely to be centred on an ordinary 9-5 schedule. The level of IT support available to someone was also dictated by their location; technicians actually had to visit a person in order to rectify the computer problem. Today, it is possible to resolve many computer-related issues via virtual IT support, thanks to the rapid development of cloud technology.
No way to Google your way out of your problems
Back in 1995, the internet was very much in its primitive stages, still peculiar to the vast majority of people, and not advanced enough for wide-scale execution of e-commerce platforms and company websites. Thus, finding information about how to resolve a computer error was a much more tedious and time-consuming task, even if there was a very simple solution to the problem.
If you had lost your user manual and Microsoft installation disc, you would have no option but to contact your nearest IT worker to fix the issue, whether you were looking for IT support services in Essex or West Yorkshire. If you lived in a remote area of the country, it might have taken several hours, perhaps even a day or two, for someone to reach you to resolve a problem that – nowadays – could normally be fixed in just a matter of seconds or minutes.
Users were less knowledgeable
Clearly, most people were much less 'IT-literate' in 1995, and far less confident at performing basic IT tasks that many people in 2015 could almost do with their eyes closed. Of course, as the demand for technological devices exploded during the dot.com boom in the late 1990s, the demand for IT support reached unparalleled proportions. Despite the subsequent dot.com bust in 2000, in the following years, the development of the cloud exposed millions of us to hundreds of new apps, thus generating a renewed demand for IT training.
The standard of IT support have improved
As more IT support companies became established throughout the 2000s, the competition to win customers' business intensified. Many IT professionals would agree that this has resulted in higher customer expectations and, consequently, significant improvement in customer service. You can now access outstanding IT support Essex from a dedicated, experienced team of IT engineers, who can resolve many types of common and complex computer issues remotely via encrypted IT support software.
Author bio:
Steve Wallington is the owner of Spiderweb Systems, an IT support company that provides support packages and IT services to companies in and around Essex.
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