Computer businesses back to work

In the announcement made last Monday by the Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh, computer shops and retailers were among the businesses allowed to reopen and resume work, albeit within the framework of pre-defined protocols. This is interesting and quite significant.

I called one of known computer retailers in Amman just to check the news. They confirmed that indeed they were working from 10am to 5pm and that they were ready to serve their clients, to supply computers, peripherals, consumables and accessories, and that they can repair hardware like they used to do before.

Perhaps just after food and medicine, information technology – and all that it entails – has proven, beyond any doubt, that it is the one important element that is helping government and the population to keep things together, to prevent the situation from deteriorating further and to let us communicate and operate from home, for private matters or for business.

From videoconferencing to new software applications and updated websites, like stayhome.jo to name only this site, computers and information technology is here for us. It seems like very soon we will also have to read our electricity counters with a new mobile app, without the physical intervention of the electric company agents, and then to settle the bill electronically – a payment method that has been in place for a while now, thanks to eFawateercom.

Just imagine what the situation would have been 10 or 15 years ago, if we had been locked down the way we are now, but with the older, slower Internet and without all these applications, without easy video calls… ! I’d rather not think about such a scenario.

Now having computer shops and retailers back to work is very important, for many a reason.

If downloading software, installing apps, updating them and checking new or updated websites can be done using your existing computers or mobile devices, what would you do if and when one of these devices fails? What do you do if you need to buy an additional laptop or tablet for a member of the family or for a student to use – a situation many people have encountered during this lockdown? What do you do if you need a new webcam, to replace a failing WiFi interface or an out-of-order main hard disk drive? Or just a cable that is key to operating your setup… Surely these cannot be “downloaded”.

More than just repairing, replacing or adding hardware, the confinement situation and the increased dependency on IT have made people realise that they need the fastest equipment they can get. Suddenly what used to be ok three months ago is just not enough today.

Faster processors, faster Internet, better cameras and microphones, and larger screens are in high demand now. Perhaps the only element that we do not need any more to buy physically or to increase locally is disk space – data storage in other words. Indeed, the profusion of cloud storage space is a welcome evolution of IT technology. From Dropbox to OneDrive, Google Drive and several other such online services, it is now easy, simple and often inexpensive, to get data storage online.

It is safe to bet that computer shops and retailers are going to be very busy in the coming days and weeks.