Internet browsing, e-mail, e-shopping and data sharing constitute the biggest slice of computer networks activity. Remote Technical Assistance (RTA) is another non-negligible slice, perhaps smaller in size but critically important in terms of impact.
Widely implemented and used in large, industrialised countries for many years now, it is now taking off in big cities like Amman, and is bound to become a major element of networking and computers servicing.
RTA consists of providing technical service to a client, over Internet, without physically going to him. It is done by accessing his computer remotely. Because the remote communication is done over Internet, geographic distance becomes irrelevant; which means that a technician in Sydney, Australia, can help you with your PC in Amman, as surely and as well as if he were here. Actually the client needs not even know where on earth (literally) the technician is.
Understandably, RTA cannot be applied to all types of computer failures or problems. If your CD writer is faulty, for example, and needs to be replaced, it will take the physical intervention of a technician to perform the replacement. In short, all hardware failures must be addressed on site, not remotely, although a first diagnostic via RTA can still come as a time saver, even in such cases, before the physical intervention of the technician.
Figures indicate that more than 65 per cent of the issues are not hardware related and therefore can be completely treated via RTA. This is a substantial part of the engineers' work.
Software installations, curing virus cases, doing network settings, processing file management, printing issues, doing regular software maintenance, help with operating and using various programmes and training on using new software, are all cases where RTA is perfectly applicable and can do wonders.
Your MS-Windows database is not working as it should? Contact RTA service, authorise the engineer to take remote control of your machine temporarily, and watch him (i.e., watch the screen...) do his work.
If it's early morning, you do not even need to shave or dress properly, as you would if the engineer were physically coming to your house.
For efficient RTA application, both the party providing the service and the client must have a good, fast and reliable broadband Internet connection, of the DSL type. This is the case of the vast majority of businesses today in Jordan, and even of a significant number of home installations.
The savings in transportation cost, given the price of fuel these days, is priceless. Not forgetting that RTA ensures a faster service, making the client happier.
In a city like Amman, that is constantly growing in size, where transportation-related questions (cost, time, etc.) will become increasingly more difficult and expensive to address with time, RTA will become a must. It's a win-win situation both for the service provider and for the client.
IT service companies in Jordan have noticed that home users and small businesses sometimes are reluctant to trust RTA, and prefer to see the technician coming to them "in flesh". This is of course an older mentality that needs to be changed -- time will slowly but surely take care of the change required. Larger companies and enterprises, on the other hand, have long learned to trust RTA, knowing all the benefits it brings.
By Jean-Claude Elias
© Jordan Times 2007
