Tracking Tech IT Support Changes Over the Last 3 Decades

Technology today has changed the way we communicate and go about our day to day lives. Until some decades ago, it was not the same. The way tech support is provided has changed a great deal too!

Here’s a quick wrap-up of how tech support has changed over the last 3 decades:

Support Was Primarily Task Bound

First, the computers were not normally used for entertainment purposes; they are extensively used for multiple purposes now. Schools and offices were the most frequent places where the computer systems were available. As a matter of fact, computers at home were a big problem – the hardware and software of the systems at home were often incompatible with what was supported at work. Tech support has since then lost its battle of keeping school, work and home separate.

It has been unified, thanks to hundreds of industry standards that everyone calmly adhered to.

Tech Support was Time Bound   

As PCs were only available at schools or at work; tech support was available only during the working or school hours. Today, the division has ceased to exist.

Tech support is made available as and when its required.

Support Used to be Location Bound

It was in the 80s that PCs were first installed in homes. They were set up on location by the tech support guys. If a user faced any problem, he was required to pay a visit to the IT support services, as the PCs at that time were quite bulky.

Subsequently, computers shrunk in size, became cheaper and much more powerful. Computers few years later were portable.

Today, we have mobile systems that can be easily carried over to a service center.

Networks Developed and Spread  

With the increasing use of computer systems, the use of system networks also increased manifold. This resulted in a tremendous change in the use of networks and the way the PCs were used.

During 80s, the PC networks were used to share expensive peripherals such as the printers or to provide access to specific databases. However, in the following decades, the spread of networks transformed the PCs into work terminals.

Since these terminals were now being designed for networks, tech support too was made available over the network!

Standardization Increased

A typical IT network requires specific standards to work upon and to function correctly. As disparate networks were connected to different hardware and software, a multitude of incompatibilities began to emerge.

This paved way for the development and adoption of newer standards.

Networking standards such as the Ethernet and TCP/IP were initially developed for connecting the mainframe computer. These standards were soon adapted for connecting to PCs as well.

Increased standardization made it easy for IT service companies to provide quick and time bound support to their customers.

Also, there were fewer incompatibilities and other such issues now.

Today, in 2014, we have advanced software, hardware and integrated IT systems that can be monitored remotely and therefore, tech support generally is location independent.