Even if your Birmingham small business has a regular freelance support technician or employs a full time organization that know how to deal with the majority of network issues, Progent’s Microsoft and Cisco certified engineers provide a convenient and seamless remote expansion of your on-site resources for situations when your regular IT support personnel either lack the availability or the knowledge to handle sudden system emergencies or especially challenging integration problems.

Features of Progent's Online Computer Support for Birmingham
Progent's online help, Internet-based troubleshooting, network security consulting, and network management services offer small businesses in Birmingham or anywhere in the state of Alabama unparalleled leverage for your support budget. Whether you need occasional phone support and remote network repair or full-time Help Desk Call Center support and network management, Progent's experts can provide your office enterprise-level IT support while permitting you to eliminate the cost and hassle of carrying a full-service in-house IT staff. Key features of Progent's National Remote Support program include:

• Immediate Telephone Access to Microsoft Qualified Support Specialists
  Progent's staff of Microsoft-certified technicians can deliver immediate and affordable expertise to small companies in Birmingham and is also ideal for networks in more remote regions of Alabama that lack consultants with in-depth expertise supporting Microsoft's current line of server platforms. All Progent phone support staff have over 10 years of background supporting Microsoft solutions. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner consulting firm, Progent has access to a broad array of Microsoft support tools, technical information, and on-going training.

• Per Minute Rates to Minimize Costs
  Progent offers online help on a by-the-minute basis, so you are charged only for the support you use. Progent requires no minimum charge for online help and requires no ongoing retainer. This protects you from facing big bills for simple repairs.

• Access to Cisco Network Infrastructure Professionals
  As a Registered Partner for Cisco, Progent offers help from on-staff specialists who have experience in planning, deploying, and troubleshooting networking solutions based on Cisco products. Progent can offer a CCIE or Cisco Certified Network Professional to show you how to build fast, high-availability, and secure connectivity for fixed and mobile networking.

• Application Experts Consulting
  Progent's core consulting offerings include system integration, MS Exchange Server consulting, corporate security planning, and Help Desk outsourcing support. Progent's Experts Team offers world-class consulting support in critical application areas. Support offered by the Application Experts staff covers:
  • Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Consulting and Programming
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Help
  • Microsoft Office Project Expertise
  • Microsoft Excel Consulting
  • Microsoft Office Consulting
  • Crystal Reports, Microsoft Access, and FRx Consulting
  • UNIX, Linux and Sun Solaris Help
  • Mac Support
  By providing a convenient one-stop source for IT generalists and specialists, Progent is able to deliver timely, affordable, and thorough information technology solutions that meet the unique needs of your business.

• Sophisticated Remote Connectivity Software
  Protected remote access allows Progent's service experts to observe precisely what your users see. This makes it possible to produce fast fixes to issues that might otherwise require an expensive personal service call. Effective remote access software and experienced technicians together enable Progent to resolve most network problems quickly and affordably. Progent is an industry leader in online troubleshooting and remote network analysis.

• Support for Popular VPN Gateways
  Progent can provide secure Virtual Private Network access for gateways from major VPN providers including Microsoft, Cisco, Netscreen and Checkpoint. Secure VPN online connectivity enables the experts at Progent's Technical Response Center to access your network remotely without jeopardizing system security.

• 24-hour Support for High Network Uptime
  For small companies with line-of-business applications, Progent offers 24x7 online support services. Used in conjunction with automated 24x7 network monitoring based on Microsoft's MOM platform, this offering can help ensure maximum network uptime.

• Help Desk Services
  Progent's Help Desk Call Center services are intended specifically for budget-conscious small offices whose workers require immediate recourse to a Help Desk service with expert telephone support and complete escalation ability.

Advantages of Progent's IT Support for Small Companies in Birmingham
Progent's remote IT consulting services enable your City# small company to realize the advantages of on-call, world-class network support without the cost of maintaining a full-time IT staff. Your network will derive added strategic value by being more reliable, productive, and protected. Benefits to your company include:

• Seamless virtual extension of your local IT resources
  With most small companies in Birmingham or anywhere in Alabama, local computer support providers, whether made up of outside consultants or an internal maintenance staff, can solve the majority of technical issues. On the other hand, serious problems sometimes spring up when your regular resources are overstretched or absent, and some problems may be associated with technology that is beyond the scope of your usual support people. In these situations, Progent's online support professionals give you an easy, fast, and budget-friendly solution to augment your local resources and to convey useful information to improve your capability to deal with downstream issues in-house.

• Reduced Dependence on Individual Consultants
  For IT support, small offices commonly rely on individual freelance service providers. Although independent consultants carry less overhead than big support firms and can afford to charge lower rates, they are occasionally stretched too thin, making it hard to respond quickly to crisis situations. If a freelance consultant is occupied with another client, sick, on vacation, or in training, the lack of reserve personnel may require your business to wait for assistance during an IT crisis. As your small business grows, network unavailability and problems with vital applications are more expensive. The money you thought you were saving on an independent can be consumed fast by reduced productivity. Progent provides a ready source of backup service expertise to make sure your IT system remains up and running.

• Build a Solid Basis for Seamless Growth
  New businesses typically begin with an IT system implemented on a modest budget. Lacking a strong framework, slap-dash fixes often get thrown on top of an unstable foundation. When a network grows, stability and scalability issues can impede the productivity of the business. Such badly built systems require careful assessment, smart strategic planning, and wide technical knowledge to evolve to a network architecture able to deliver the solid foundation to meet critical business demands and ease future growth.

• Work with Solution Providers Instead of Technology Resellers
  Small organizations require advice and technical education to navigate through an ever more complicated maze of technology alternatives capable of accelerating business success and enhancing efficiency. Businesses do not need a computer consultant who is motivated to earn a commission on a certain vendor's products. Network support and product selling can result in a scenario where the recommended solution is designed around a predetermined product instead of the genuine needs of a client. Progent eliminates these dilemmas by selling just services rather than products. This enables Progent to align technical expertise with the best interests of customers.

How Is Progent Different from Other Support Organizations?
Progent is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner consulting firm and Progent's staff size, breadth of technical background, refined support tools, and familiarity with enterprise networking allow small offices to escape the pitfalls associated with excessive reliance on smaller service organizations, independent freelance service providers, or over=stretched in-house resources.

Progent stands out by providing:

• In-depth Knowledge of Microsoft's Entire Family of Server Platforms
  Progent offers world-class expertise for Microsoft’s leading server products with services that include Windows 2003 expertise, Windows 2000 Server migration, Microsoft Windows NT Server legacy support, Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server expertise, Exchange 5.5 Server and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server migration, and Microsoft SQL Server help.

• Best Practices
  Progent’s team of Microsoft and Cisco certified consultants average more than ten years of real-world industry experience, at the forefront of network service, executing a wide range of IT tasks for a large mix of customers. Every Progent consultant shares a refined collection of personal best practices which are combined into shared best practices standards that Progent teaches its consulting team. This guarantees that you get not only expert IT help, but also a consultant with proven methods for applying computer knowledge to solve actual IT problems quickly.

• Value Pricing
  Progent's pricing model is to bill for online service and in-person visits by the minute. As a result, you pay only for delivered support. Progent does not demand a higher rate for off-hours or emergency support, and within California or in regions where Progent offers in-person support, Progent does not bill for travel except for emergency calls where on-site time is less than 4 hours. Also, Progent imposes no service activation fee and requires no retainer. Many support firms demand substantial minimum payments or charge for each fifteen minutes or longer. Progent's small granularity eliminates large invoices for quick repairs so you won't be tempted to allow simple problems to stay unaddressed.

• Full Documentation of IT Services
  Progent has developed a comprehensive service reporting system that records and formats complete documentation for all billed support activities. Unlike some independent consultants or small support organizations who provide minimal documentation or specifics of tasks done, each service delivered by Progent is tracked by full documentation. Every Progent staff member has use of the support documentation transmitted by each staff member to each client. The practice of detailing and archiving service activity results in more efficient service and avoids a slew of typical misfortunes such as when a service client is virtually held captive to a consultant who won’t let go of the keys to the kingdom.

• Knowledge Transfer
  Progent is committed to knowledge transfer from Progent's support experts to clients. By educating clients to handle problems that are within their comfort zone, Progent is able to concentrate on providing high-value skills where Progent has few competitors. Businesses who utilize trusted freelance consultants or who maintain internal support staffs benefit when Progent transfers information about new technology and proven processes to make their networks more reliable, secure, and efficient.

• Automated Network Monitoring with Microsoft MOM
  Progent is one of the only support firms to provide round-the-clock remote monitoring services powered by Microsoft Operations Manager. MOM causes your computer maintenance to be proactive rather than reactive. By revealing potential issues before they result in lost productivity, network monitoring can keep your IT network from stressful and costly service losses.

How Does Our Company Begin Receiving Remote Network Support from Progent?
To get started with Progent's online help services or to learn more about Progent's phone support programs, contact Progent at 888-412-5546 or email Progent at information@progent.com. If you have an urgent requirement for IT support, go to Immediate Urgent Support.