Even if your Baltimore company relies on a regular freelance consultant or employs a full time IT staff that can handle typical network issues, Progent’s Microsoft and Cisco certified engineers offer an easy and transparent remote extension of your on-site resources in cases when your regular service personnel either don't have the bandwidth or the expertise to handle unexpected network emergencies or especially complex integration problems.

Details of Progent's Remote Network Services for Baltimore
Progent's phone support, Internet-based troubleshooting, system security consulting, and system management services offer small companies in Baltimore or throughout the state of Maryland the greatest leverage for your support investment. Whether you require one-time phone support and remote troubleshooting or full-time Help Desk Call Center support and system management, Progent's professionals can deliver your company world class network support while permitting you to avoid the expense and administration overhead of running a large in-house IT organization. Highlights of Progent's online help services include:

• Immediate Telephone Contact with Microsoft Certified Support Specialists
  Progent's team of Microsoft-certified engineers can provide immediate and economical expertise to small offices in Baltimore and is also ideal for customers in geographic areas of Maryland that lack consultants with in-depth experience supporting Microsoft's latest line of server platforms. All Progent engineers have over 10 years of background supporting Microsoft products. As a Microsoft Gold Partner consulting company, Progent has the advantage of a broad range of Microsoft support tools, technical information, and on-going education.

• Per Minute Rates to Reduce Costs
  Progent offers online support on a per-minute billing plan, so you are charged only for the support you receive. Progent has no minimum charge for online support and asks for no periodic retainer. This protects you from facing big bills for quick fixes.

• Access to Cisco Network Design Professionals
  As a Certified Partner for Cisco Systems, Progent offers the services of on-staff professionals with skill in planning, deploying, and troubleshooting networking environments powered by Cisco products. Progent can offer a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert or Cisco Certified Network Professional to show you how to create fast, reliable, and protected infrastructure for wireline and wireless networking.

• Application Specialists Group
  Progent's basic consulting offerings consist of system integration, Microsoft Exchange consulting, network security design, and Help Desk outsourcing support. Progent's Application Experts group offers world-class consulting expertise for specific business applications. Support offered by the Application Experts Team includes:
  • Great Plains Software Consulting and Programming
  • Microsoft Customer Relationship Management Consulting
  • Microsoft Office Project Expertise
  • MS Office Excel Consulting
  • Microsoft Word Help
  • Crystal Reports, Microsoft Access, and FRx Programming
  • UNIX, Linux and Sun Solaris Integration
  • Apple Mac Help
  By providing a full service centralized resource for IT generalists and application experts, Progent is able to deliver timely, inexpensive, and comprehensive information technology solutions that align with the special needs of your business.

• Sophisticated Remote Connectivity Tools
  Protected online connectivity allows Progent's service experts to see exactly what your users see. This makes it possible to produce quick solutions to issues that might otherwise require an expensive personal visit. Cutting-edge remote connectivity tools and experienced technicians combine to allow Progent to repair most network problems quickly and affordably. Progent is a pioneer in offsite support and remote network tracking.

• Compatibility with Mainstream VPN Gateways
  Progent can provide safe VPN connectivity for gateways from major VPN providers such as Microsoft, Cisco, Netscreen and Checkpoint. Secure VPN online connectivity allows the engineers at Progent's Technical Response Center to repair your system remotely without weakening system security.

• 24-hour Support for Maximum Network Availability
  For small companies with vital applications, Progent can provide round-the-clock online support services. Used in conjunction with remote 24x7 network monitoring based on Microsoft's MOM platform, this service can help ensure high network uptime.

• Help Desk Call Center
  Progent's Help Desk outsourcing programs are designed specifically for budget-conscious small businesses whose workers require immediate access to a Help Desk service with effective phone support and complete escalation ability.

Benefits of Progent's IT Support for Small Offices in Baltimore
Progent's online support services enable your City# small company to have the advantages of timely, enterprise-class network support without the cost of maintaining a full-time IT organization. Your network will derive greater strategic worth by being more reliable, productive, and protected. Benefits to your company include:

• Seamless virtual expansion of your local IT resources
  For most small offices in Baltimore or anywhere in Maryland, nearby computer service providers, whether represented by independent consultants or an in-house maintenance staff, can resolve the majority of network issues. However, major troubles might strike when local resources are too busy or absent, and some problems may involve technology that is unfamiliar to your local service technicians. In these instances, Progent's on-call support professionals give you a convenient, fast, and economical solution to augment your regular resources and to pass on valuable knowledge to increase your ability to deal with downstream issues locally.

• Reduced Dependence on Freelance Service Providers
  For IT support, small organizations often depend on individual freelance consultants. While freelance consultants have less overhead than big consulting firms and can afford to charge lower rates, they are often overextended, making it impossible to respond rapidly to crisis situations. If a freelance consultant is busy with another customer, sick, on vacation, or in training, the absence of backup personnel may require your company to go without assistance during an IT crisis. As your small business grows, system unavailability and problems with critical software become more costly. The money you thought you were saving on an independent can be eaten up fast by lost productivity. Progent offers an on-call source of backup service expertise to make sure your network is always up and running.

• Create a Solid Basis for Smooth Growth
  New organizations typically start with an information system implemented on a shoestring budget. Without a strong framework, slap-dash repairs can get piled onto an unstable foundation. When a network grows, stability and expandability issues can impede the productivity of the organization. These badly built systems need careful assessment, intelligent strategic planning, and extensive IT expertise to evolve to a system architecture that can deliver the solid foundation to meet current business demands and simplify future growth.

• Interact with Solution Providers Rather Than Product Sellers
  Small offices require advice and technical training to negotiate an ever more complex array of technology options available for accelerating business growth and improving efficiency. These companies hardly need a network consultant who is attempting to resell a certain vendor's products. IT support and product sales can lead to a situation where the recommended solution is designed around a predetermined product rather than the genuine needs of a small business. Progent avoids these conflicts by selling only services instead of products. This allows Progent to align IT expertise with the real interests of clients.

What Makes Progent Different from Other Service Firms?
Progent is a Microsoft Gold Partner support firm and Progent's staff size, depth of IT background, fine tuned support tools, and familiarity with enterprise networking allow small companies to escape the pitfalls associated with exclusive reliance on smaller consulting organizations, individual freelance consultants, or limited in-house resources.

Progent stands out by providing:

• Certified Expertise in Microsoft's Full Line of Server Platforms
  Progent can provide world-class expertise for Microsoft’s powerful server products with services such as Microsoft Windows Server 2003 expertise, Windows 2000 upgrades, Windows NT Server upgrades, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 consulting, Exchange Server 5.5 and Exchange Server 2000 migration, and SQL 2005 integration.

• Best Practices
  Progent’s staff of Microsoft and Cisco qualified experts average longer than a decade of real-world professional background, at the front lines of IT service, executing a wide variety of IT tasks for a large mix of customers. Every Progent support professional shares a proven set of personal best practices which are combined into company-wide best practices standards that Progent teaches its support team. This ensures that you get not just expert technical capability, but also a consultant with field-tested approaches for using technical knowledge to fix actual network problems efficiently.

• Value Pricing
  Progent's pricing model is to charge for remote service and on-site help by the minute. Consequently, you pay only for delivered support. Progent does not impose a more expensive rate for after-hours or priority service, and within California or in regions where Progent provides in-person service, Progent does not bill for travel except for emergency support where on-site time is less than 4 hours. In addition, Progent applies no startup charge and requires no monthly commitment. Many service firms impose large minimum fees or charge for every quarter hour or longer. Progent's small granularity does away with big invoices for fast solutions so you will not be forced to allow minor problems to stay unaddressed.

• Complete Records of Delivered Services
  Progent has developed a comprehensive service reporting system that stores and formats complete documentation for all billed support activities. Unlike many freelance consultants or local service organizations who offer minimal documentation or details of tasks done, each service provided by Progent is tracked by comprehensive documentation. Each Progent staff member has access to the support reports transmitted by each staff member to each customer. The practice of documenting and archiving support activity allows more efficient support and eliminates a slew of common problems such as when a service client is effectively held captive to a consultant who refuses to let go of the keys to the kingdom.

• Information Transfer
  Progent is committed to knowledge transfer from Progent's support experts to clients. By teaching customers to resolve problems that are within their scope, Progent is able to concentrate on delivering hard-to-find skills where Progent faces little competition. Businesses who utilize trusted freelance consultants or who employ in-house IT staffs benefit when Progent passes on knowledge about new technology and tested processes to make their networks more reliable, secure, and productive.

• Remote Network Monitoring with Microsoft MOM
  Progent is one of the few consulting firms to provide 24x7 remote tracking services based on Microsoft Operations Manager. This package allows your network maintenance to be proactive rather than reactive. By uncovering potential issues before they result in downtime, network monitoring can keep your information network from painful and expensive service disruptions.

How Does Our Company Start Getting Online Network Help from Progent?
To initiate Progent's online help services or to find out more about Progent's online support programs, call Progent at 888-412-5546 or send email to information@progent.com. If you have an urgent need for IT support, go to Immediate Emergency Support.