Even if your Akron office relies on a regular independent support technician or employs a full time organization that can handle typical network issues, Progent’s Microsoft certified engineers provide an easy and seamless remote extension of your local resources in cases when your regular IT support personnel either lack the availability or the experience to deal with unexpected system crises or especially complicated integration projects.

Features of Progent's Online Network Services for Akron
Progent's phone support, Internet-based troubleshooting, network security consulting, and network management services give small companies in Akron or throughout the state of Ohio unparalleled leverage for your support budget. Whether you require occasional telephone help and remote network repair or full-time Help Desk Call Center services and system administration, Progent's professionals can provide your small business enterprise-level IT support while allowing you to eliminate the expense and administration overhead of running a full-service in-house IT staff. Highlights of Progent's online help program include:

• Fast Telephone Access to Microsoft Certified Professionals
  Progent's staff of Microsoft-certified engineers can deliver immediate and affordable expertise to small businesses in Akron and is also ideal for customers in geographic areas of Ohio that lack consultants with in-depth experience supporting Microsoft's current family of server technologies. All Progent phone support staff have at least 10 years of background integrating Microsoft products. As a Microsoft Gold Partner consulting company, Progent has the use of a broad range of Microsoft support utilities, service databases, and continuing education.

• Per Minute Rates to Minimize Expenses
  Progent offers remote support on a by-the-minute billing plan, so you are billed only for the support you receive. Progent requires no minimum charge for online service and imposes no ongoing retainer. This keeps you from facing big invoices for quick fixes.

• Availability of Cisco Network Design Experts
  As a Certified Partner for Cisco Systems, Progent can provide access to authorized professionals who have experience in planning, deploying, and supporting networking environments based on Cisco technology. Progent can provide a CCIE or Cisco Certified Network Professional to help you create high-speed, high-availability, and secure connectivity for fixed and mobile networking.

• Application Specialists Team
  Progent's basic consulting offerings consist of system integration, Microsoft Exchange expertise, system security design, and Help Desk outsourcing support. Progent's Application Experts group can provide in-depth consulting expertise in critical business applications. Help available from the Application Experts Group includes:
  • Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Support and Programming
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Consulting
  • MS Project Training
  • Microsoft Office Excel Consulting
  • Microsoft Word Help
  • Crystal Reports, Microsoft Access, and FRx Programming
  • UNIX, Linux and Sun Solaris Help
  • Apple Mac Support
  By offering a full service one-stop source for network generalists and application experts, Progent can tailor fast, affordable, and thorough information technology solutions that align with the specific requirements of your business.

• Advanced Remote Connectivity Software
  Protected online access allows Progent's service professionals to observe precisely what your users see. This makes it possible to find quick fixes to issues that might otherwise require an expensive personal visit. Effective online access software and expert technicians together allow Progent to repair most IT issues quickly and affordably. Progent is a pioneer in offsite troubleshooting and automated network tracking.

• Support for Mainstream VPN Products
  Progent supports safe Virtual Private Network access for gateways from major VPN providers such as Microsoft, Cisco, Sonicwall and Checkpoint. Secure VPN online connectivity allows the engineers at Progent's Technical Response Center to repair your network remotely without compromising network security.

• 24x7 Service for Maximum Network Availability
  For small organizations with vital applications, Progent offers round-the-clock online technical services. Combined with remote 24x7 network monitoring based on Microsoft's MOM platform, this offering can help produce high network availability.

• Help Desk Services
  Progent's Help Desk Call Center services are intended specifically for budget-constrained small organizations whose workers need instant access to a Help Desk service with expert phone support and full escalation ability.

Advantages of Progent's IT Support for Small Companies in Akron
Progent's online IT consulting services allow your City# small company to enjoy the benefits of immediate, world-class IT support without the cost of managing an in-house IT staff. Your information system will acquire greater strategic worth by becoming increasingly available, productive, and secure. Benefits to your company include:

• Convenient remote extension of your on-site support resources
  For most small businesses in Akron or anywhere in Ohio, local network support resources, whether consisting of outside consultants or a full-time maintenance staff, can handle the majority of technical issues. On the other hand, IT crises sometimes spring up when local resources are too busy or absent, and some trouble may stem from technology that is unfamiliar to your local support people. In these cases, Progent's online support professionals give you an easy, fast, and economical solution to supplement your local help and to pass on useful information to increase your capability to handle future issues locally.

• Reduced Dependence on Freelance Consultants
  For network support, small organizations often rely on individual freelance service providers. Although independent service people carry less overhead than larger service companies and can often charge lower rates, they are often overbooked, making it hard to respond quickly to urgent situations. If a freelance consultant is busy with another client, ill, on vacation, or in class, the absence of fallback personnel may force your business to go without help during an IT crisis. As your network expands, system unavailability and problems with vital software become more costly. The budget you thought you were saving on an independent can be consumed quickly by lost productivity. Progent offers a reliable source of backup support experts to insure your network remains available.

• Build a Scalable Foundation for Seamless Expansion
  Small companies typically start with an information architecture implemented on a modest budget. Lacking a scalable infrastructure, band-aid repairs often get thrown onto an unstable foundation. When a network grows, reliability and expandability problems can impede the productivity of the business. Such badly designed environments require careful analysis, smart strategic planning, and wide technical knowledge to upgrade to a system infrastructure that can offer the stable foundation to handle critical business demands and ease downstream growth.

• Work with Solution Providers Instead of Product Sellers
  Small organizations need guidance and technical education to negotiate an ever more complex maze of technology alternatives capable of accelerating business success and improving efficiency. These companies do not need a network engineer who is motivated to earn a commission on a certain vendor's products. IT consulting and product sales can lead to a situation where the recommended solution is built around a predetermined technology rather than the true needs of a small business. Progent eliminates these dilemmas by offering just services rather than products. This enables Progent to align technical consulting with the real interests of customers.

What Makes Progent Different from Other Service Firms?
Progent is a Microsoft Gold Partner support company and Progent's head count, breadth of IT expertise, fine tuned support software, and familiarity with corporate IT enable small companies to avoid the limitations associated with excessive reliance on smaller consulting firms, individual freelance service providers, or over=stretched in-house resources.

Progent stands out by offering:

• Certified Knowledge of Microsoft's Full Range of Server Platforms
  Progent can provide in-depth support for Microsoft’s leading server platforms with services such as Windows 2003 support, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server migration, Windows NT migration, Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server help, Microsoft Exchange 5.5 Server and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server migration, and Microsoft SQL 2005 help.

• Best Practices
  Progent’s team of Microsoft and Cisco qualified experts average more than ten years of real-world professional background, at the front lines of IT service, performing a broad variety of technical projects for an extensive mix of customers. Every Progent consultant shares a refined collection of personal best practices which are combined into shared best practices training that Progent instills in its consulting personnel. This ensures that you get not just expert IT capability, but also a consultant with field-tested approaches for applying computer knowledge to repair actual IT problems efficiently.

• Value Pricing
  Progent's pricing model is to charge for remote service and in-person help per minute. As a result, you owe exclusively for received services. Progent does not demand a higher rate for after-hours or priority support, and within California or in areas where Progent provides on-site support, Progent does not charge for travel except for emergency support where on-site time is less than 4 hours. Also, Progent imposes no startup fee and requires no monthly commitment. Many service organizations demand substantial minimum payments or charge for each fifteen minutes or longer. Progent's small granularity eliminates big invoices for quick repairs so you won't be forced to allow minor problems to stay unaddressed.

• Full Records of Delivered Services
  Progent has created a sophisticated support reporting system that stores and organizes complete documentation for all billed services. Unlike some independent consultants or local support organizations who offer minimal documentation or specifics of tasks done, each service delivered by Progent is accompanied by comprehensive documentation. Each Progent staff member has use of the support documentation sent by every staff member to each customer. The discipline of detailing and organizing service activity allows more efficient support and avoids a variety of common misfortunes such as when a service client is effectively held captive to a consultant who won’t release vital service information.

• Knowledge Transfer
  Progent practices knowledge transfer from Progent's consultants to clients. By educating clients to resolve problems that are within their comfort zone, Progent can focus on offering hard-to-find skills where Progent has little competition. Companies who utilize trusted independent service providers or who employ in-house support personnel benefit when Progent passes on information about new technology and tested processes to make their networks more reliable, protected, and productive.

• 24x7 Server Monitoring with Microsoft Operations Manager
  Progent is one of the few consulting firms to offer round-the-clock system monitoring services based on Microsoft Operations Manager. MOM causes your network support to be anticipatory instead of reactive. By uncovering possible issues before they cause downtime, system monitoring can save your information network from stressful and expensive availability disruptions.

How Does My Business Start Receiving Remote Network Help from Progent?
To initiate Progent's online help offerings or to find out more about Progent's phone support options, call Progent at 888-412-5546 or send email to information@progent.com. If you have an urgent requirement for network help, visit Immediate Emergency Support.