Even if your Grand Rapids office works with a local independent consultant or employs a full time organization that can handle day-to-day computer problems, Progent’s Microsoft certified engineers provide a convenient and seamless remote extension of your on-site resources for situations when your usual service personnel either don't have the time or the experience to resolve sudden system emergencies or particularly complex integration problems.

Details of Progent's Online Network Support for Grand Rapids
Progent's online support, Internet-based repair, network security expertise, and system management services offer small companies in Grand Rapids or throughout the state of Michigan the greatest leverage for your IT investment. Whether you need one-time telephone help and remote troubleshooting or full-time Help Desk outsourcing support and network administration, Progent's experts can deliver your office world class IT support while permitting you to avoid the expense and administration overhead of carrying a large in-house IT staff. Key features of Progent's online help program include:

• Fast Phone Access to Microsoft Qualified Experts
  Progent's team of Microsoft-certified engineers can provide fast and affordable expertise to small businesses in Grand Rapids and is also ideal for customers in more remote regions of Michigan that have a limited supply of consultants with proven experience supporting Microsoft's current family of server platforms. All Progent phone support staff have over 10 years of background integrating Microsoft solutions. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner support firm, Progent has the advantage of a broad array of Microsoft support utilities, technical databases, and continuing training.

• By the Minute Billing to Minimize Expenses
  Progent offers online support on a minute-by-minute billing plan, so you pay only for the support you use. Progent asks for no minimum charge for online support and requires no monthly retainer. This saves you from facing big bills for simple repairs.

• Access to Cisco Network Infrastructure Professionals
  As a Certified Partner for Cisco Systems, Progent can provide the services of authorized specialists who have experience in designing, deploying, and troubleshooting networking solutions powered by Cisco products. Progent can provide a CCIE or CCNP to help you build fast, reliable, and protected connectivity for fixed and mobile networking.

• Application Experts Consulting
  Progent's basic support offerings consist of technology integration, Microsoft Exchange Server expertise, corporate security design, and Help Desk Call Center services. Progent's Application Experts group can provide in-depth consulting expertise for critical application areas. Support offered by the Application Experts Group includes:
  • Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Support and Customization
  • Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Management Help
  • Microsoft Office Project Training
  • Microsoft Excel Consulting
  • Microsoft Word Consulting
  • Crystal Reports, MS Access, and FRx Programming
  • UNIX, Linux and Sun Solaris Support
  • Mac Integration
  By providing a convenient centralized resource for network generalists and application experts, Progent can deliver fast, inexpensive, and thorough IT solutions that meet the special requirements of your business.

• State of the Art Remote Access Software
  Secure online access permits Progent's service professionals to observe precisely what your customers see. This makes it easier to produce quick solutions to issues that might otherwise require a costly onsite visit. Cutting-edge remote access tools and experienced engineers together allow Progent to resolve most network problems quickly and affordably. Progent is an industry leader in offsite troubleshooting and automated system monitoring.

• Support for Leading VPN Gateways
  Progent can provide safe Virtual Private Network connectivity for gateways from leading VPN providers including Microsoft, Cisco, Sonicwall and Checkpoint. Secure VPN remote access allows the experts at Progent's Technical Response Center to repair your network remotely without weakening system security.

• 24x7 Service for Maximum System Availability
  For small companies with mission-critical applications, Progent can provide round-the-clock online technical services. Combined with automated 24x7 network monitoring based on Microsoft Operations Manager, this offering can help produce maximum system uptime.

• Help Desk Call Center
  Progent's Help Desk Call Center services are intended especially for budget-conscious small companies whose workers require instant access to a Help Desk service with effective phone support and complete escalation capability.

Benefits of Progent's IT Support for Small Organizations in Grand Rapids
Progent's remote support services enable your City# small company to experience the advantages of on-call, enterprise-class network support without the expense of maintaining an in-house IT organization. Your information system will acquire added strategic worth by being increasingly available, productive, and protected. Advantages to your company include:

• Seamless virtual expansion of your on-site IT resources
  For most small offices in Grand Rapids and throughout Michigan, nearby computer support resources, whether made up of freelance consultants or an in-house maintenance staff, can resolve typical network problems. On the other hand, serious problems can strike when local support personnel are too busy or unavailable, and some trouble may be associated with technology that is unfamiliar to your local support technicians. In these situations, Progent's online support experts offer an easy, quick, and budget-friendly way to supplement your local help and to convey valuable information to improve your capability to deal with downstream issues locally.

• Less Dependence on Freelance Consultants
  For network support, small companies commonly rely on individual freelance service providers. Although freelance service people have less overhead than big support organizations and can often charge marginally less, they are sometimes overextended, making it hard to respond rapidly to urgent situations. If a freelance service provider is occupied with another client, sick, on a trip, or in training, the lack of reserve help may force your company to wait for help during an emergency. As your network grows, network downtime and problems with critical software become more costly. The budget you thought you were conserving on an independent can be consumed quickly by reduced productivity. Progent offers a dependable source of reserve service expertise to insure your IT system stays up and running.

• Create a Scalable Foundation for Seamless Growth
  Small organizations often start with an information architecture implemented on a shoestring budget. Lacking a robust framework, band-aid repairs often get thrown on top of an unstable foundation. When a network grows, stability and scalability issues can impede the productivity of the business. These badly designed environments need careful analysis, smart strategic planning, and broad-based technical knowledge to upgrade to a system architecture able to offer the stable foundation to meet vital business requirements and facilitate future expansion.

• Interact with Solution Providers Rather Than Technology Sellers
  Small organizations require guidance and technical education to navigate through an increasingly complicated maze of technology options available for promoting business success and improving efficiency. They do not need a network consultant who is trying to resell a certain vendor's products. IT consulting and product sales can result in a situation where the proposed solution is designed around a profitable technology rather than the true needs of a small business. Progent eliminates these conflicts of interest by selling just services instead of products. This allows Progent to align technical expertise with the real needs of clients.

What Makes Progent Unique from Other Service Firms?
Progent is a Microsoft Gold Partner consulting company and Progent's staff size, breadth of IT experience, fine tuned support tools, and familiarity with corporate IT allow small companies to avoid the limitations of excessive reliance on smaller consulting organizations, independent freelance service providers, or over=stretched internal resources.

Progent adds value by providing:

• In-depth Expertise in Microsoft's Complete Line of Server Platforms
  Progent can provide world-class expertise for Microsoft’s popular server platforms with services such as Microsoft Windows 2003 support, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server upgrades, Windows NT migration, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 support, Exchange 5.5 Server and Exchange 2000 Server migration, and Microsoft SQL 2005 integration.

• Best Practices
  Progent’s team of Microsoft and Cisco certified experts average more than ten years of real-world professional background, in the trenches of network support, performing a broad range of IT projects for an extensive array of clients. Every Progent support professional shares a refined collection of personal best practices which are combined into shared best practices standards that Progent instills in its consulting team. This ensures that you get not only world-class technical skills, but also a support engineer with proven approaches for applying technical knowledge to solve real-world network problems quickly.

• Value Pricing
  Progent's pricing model is to charge for phone support and on-site visits per minute. As a result, you are charged exclusively for received services. Progent does not impose a higher rate for off-hours or priority support, and inside California or in regions where Progent provides in-person support, Progent does not bill for travel except for urgent calls where on-site work is less than 4 hours. In addition, Progent applies no startup fee and requires no monthly commitment. Many support firms demand substantial minimum fees or charge for each fifteen minutes or longer. Progent's small granularity eliminates large bills for fast fixes so you will not be forced to permit less critical problems to fester.

• Full Records of Delivered Services
  Progent has developed a sophisticated service reporting system that records and organizes detailed documentation for all billed services. Unlike many freelance consultants or small support firms who offer scant documentation or details of tasks performed, each service delivered by Progent is accompanied by comprehensive documentation. Each Progent consultant has use of the support reports sent by each staff member to each customer. The practice of detailing and organizing support activity results in more efficient support and eliminates a variety of common problems such as when a support customer is effectively 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 consultants to customers. By educating clients to handle technical issues that are within their comfort zone, Progent can concentrate on delivering high-value skills where Progent faces few competitors. Businesses who utilize trusted independent consultants or who employ internal support staffs benefit when Progent passes on knowledge about critical technology and proven methodologies to make their IT environments more robust, protected, and efficient.

• 24x7 Network Monitoring with Microsoft MOM
  Progent is one of the only IT service companies to provide round-the-clock system monitoring services based on Microsoft Operations Manager. MOM causes your network support to be anticipatory rather than reactive. By revealing potential issues before they result in downtime, system monitoring can save your IT network from painful and expensive service losses.

How Does My Business Begin Getting Remote Technical Help from Progent?
To get started with Progent's online help offerings or to learn more about Progent's online support options, call Progent at 888-412-5546 or send email to information@progent.com. If you have an urgent requirement for IT help, visit Immediate Emergency Support.