Even if your Portland small business works with a regular independent support technician or maintains an in-house organization that can deal with common computer issues, Progent’s Microsoft and Cisco certified consultants provide an easy and seamless remote extension of your on-site resources for situations when your regular IT support personnel either lack the availability or the knowledge to deal with unexpected system emergencies or especially tough integration projects.

Features of Progent's Online Computer Services for Portland
Progent's phone help, remote repair, system security expertise, and network management services give small companies in Portland or throughout the state of Oregon the greatest leverage for your support budget. Whether you need one-time phone help and remote troubleshooting or full-time Help Desk Call Center services and network administration, Progent's professionals can deliver your office world class network support while allowing you to avoid the cost and hassle of carrying a full-service in-house IT staff. Key features of Progent's online help program include:

• Immediate Telephone Access to Microsoft Certified Experts
  Progent's team of Microsoft-certified engineers can provide fast and affordable expertise to small businesses in Portland and is also ideal for customers in geographic areas of Oregon that have a limited supply of consultants with proven expertise supporting Microsoft's latest family of server platforms. All Progent engineers have at least 10 years of background supporting Microsoft products. As a Microsoft Gold Partner consulting firm, Progent has the advantage of a broad range of Microsoft support tools, service information, and on-going education.

• Per Minute Billing to Reduce Expenses
  Progent provides online help on a per-minute basis, so you are billed only for the support you receive. Progent asks for no minimum fee for phone support and asks for no monthly subscription fee. This keeps you from paying big invoices for simple fixes.

• Access to Cisco Certified Network Infrastructure Specialists
  As a Certified Partner for Cisco Systems, Progent offers access to authorized specialists with expertise in planning, deploying, and managing networking solutions powered by Cisco products. Progent can offer a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert or Cisco Certified Network Professional to show you how to build fast, reliable, and secure connectivity for local and remote networking.

• Application Experts Consulting
  Progent's basic consulting services include technology integration, MS Exchange Server consulting, corporate security planning, and Help Desk Call Center support. Progent's Experts group offers in-depth consulting expertise for specific application areas. Help offered by the Application Experts Team includes:
  • Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains Support and Programming
  • Microsoft CRM Consulting
  • MS Project Support
  • MS Office Excel Consulting
  • MS Word Consulting
  • Crystal Reports, Microsoft Access, and FRx Consulting
  • UNIX, Linux and Solaris Support
  • Mac Integration
  By offering a convenient one-stop source for network generalists and specialists, Progent is able to tailor fast, inexpensive, and thorough information technology solutions that address the special needs of your company.

• State of the Art Online Connectivity Tools
  Protected remote access permits Progent's service professionals to see exactly what your users see. This makes it possible to find fast solutions to issues that might otherwise require a costly personal visit. State-of-the-art remote access software and expert technicians combine to allow Progent to repair most IT problems rapidly and affordably. Progent is a pioneer in online support and remote system monitoring.

• Compatibility with Leading VPN Gateways
  Progent can provide safe VPN connectivity for gateways from major VPN providers such as Microsoft, Cisco, Watchguard and Checkpoint. Secure VPN remote access enables the engineers at Progent's Technical Response Center to repair your network remotely without compromising system security.

• Round-the-Clock Service for Maximum System Uptime
  For small companies with line-of-business applications, Progent can provide round-the-clock online technical services. Used in conjunction with remote 24x7 server monitoring based on Microsoft Operations Manager, this offering can help produce maximum system availability.

• Help Desk Outsourcing
  Progent's Help Desk outsourcing programs are intended specifically for budget-constrained small businesses whose workers require instant access to a Help Desk service with effective telephone support and complete escalation ability.

Benefits of Progent's IT Support for Small Offices in Portland
Progent's online IT consulting services enable your City# small company to have the advantages of immediate, world-class network support without the cost of managing a full-time IT staff. Your network will derive added business value by becoming more available, productive, and secure. Advantages to your company include:

• Convenient virtual extension of your local IT resources
  With most small offices in Portland and throughout Oregon, local network support providers, whether made up of freelance consultants or a full-time maintenance staff, can take care of the majority of technical issues. On the other hand, IT crises may spring up when your regular resources are too busy or absent, and some trouble may involve IT products that is beyond the scope of your local support people. In these situations, Progent's on-call service specialists offer a convenient, fast, and affordable way to supplement your local resources and to transfer useful knowledge to improve your ability to resolve future problems locally.

• Less Dependence on Individual Service Providers
  For IT support, small businesses often rely on individual freelance service providers. While independent service people have smaller overhead than big service companies and can often charge marginally less, they are occasionally overextended, making it hard to respond rapidly to crisis situations. If a freelance service provider is busy with another customer, sick, on a trip, or in class, the absence of backup personnel may require your company to go without help during an emergency. As your network grows, system unavailability and trouble with critical applications are more expensive. The budget you thought you were conserving on a freelancer can be consumed fast by reduced productivity. Progent provides a ready source of reserve support experts to insure your IT system stays available.

• Create a Solid Basis for Seamless Expansion
  Small companies often begin with an information architecture implemented on a modest budget. Lacking a robust infrastructure, slap-dash fixes often get thrown on top of a weak foundation. As a company grows, stability and scalability problems can impede the success of the organization. These badly designed systems require careful analysis, smart long-term planning, and wide IT expertise to evolve to a network architecture able to offer the stable foundation to handle critical business requirements and simplify downstream expansion.

• Interact with Solution Providers Instead of Technology Vendors
  Small businesses require guidance and technical education to negotiate an ever more complicated maze of product alternatives available for promoting business growth and improving productivity. Businesses do not need a network consultant who is trying to sell a specific vendor's products. IT consulting and product sales can result in a situation where the proposed solution is designed around a predetermined product rather than the genuine requirements of a client. Progent eliminates these conflicts of interest by selling only services rather than products. This enables Progent to align IT expertise with the best needs of clients.

How Is Progent Unique from Other Service Firms?
Progent is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner support company and Progent's head count, depth of technical expertise, fine tuned remote support software, and familiarity with corporate IT allow small offices to avoid the pitfalls of exclusive dependence on smaller consulting organizations, independent freelance consultants, or limited in-house IT help.

Progent stands out by providing:

• Certified Knowledge of Microsoft's Entire Family of Server Platforms
  Progent offers world-class expertise for Microsoft’s powerful server platforms with services such as Windows Server 2003 help, Windows 2000 upgrades, Microsoft Windows NT Server legacy support, Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server expertise, Exchange Server 5.5 and Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server moves, and SQL Server consulting.

• Best Practices
  Progent’s team of Microsoft and Cisco certified experts average more than ten years of hands-on industry experience, in the trenches of IT service, executing a broad variety of technical tasks for an extensive mix of clients. Each Progent support professional 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 just expert technical help, but also a support engineer with proven methods for applying technical knowledge to repair real-world IT problems quickly.

• Value Pricing
  Progent's pricing policy is to bill for remote support and in-person visits by the minute. As a result, you are invoiced exclusively for delivered support. Progent does not impose a more expensive rate for after-hours or emergency service, and within California or in regions where Progent provides on-site support, Progent does not charge for travel time except for urgent calls where on-site work is less than four hours. In addition, Progent imposes no startup fee and requires no monthly commitment. Many support firms demand large minimum payments or charge for every quarter hour or longer. Progent's small granularity avoids big invoices for quick fixes so you will not be tempted to permit simple problems to stay unaddressed.

• Full Documentation of Delivered Services
  Progent has created a comprehensive support reporting system that stores and formats complete documentation for all delivered services. Unlike some independent consultants or small support organizations who provide scant documentation or details of tasks performed, every service delivered by Progent is accompanied by comprehensive documentation. Every Progent staff member has access to the service documentation sent by each staff member to every customer. The discipline of detailing and organizing support records results in more efficient service and eliminates a slew of typical problems such as when a service customer is virtually held hostage to a consultant who refuses to let go of the keys to the kingdom.

• Information Transfer
  Progent practices knowledge transfer from Progent's support experts to customers. By teaching clients to deal with problems that are within their scope, Progent can concentrate on providing hard-to-find skills where Progent has few competitors. Businesses who utilize trusted independent consultants or who employ in-house support staffs benefit when Progent passes on knowledge about critical technology and tested processes to make their IT environments more robust, protected, and efficient.

• Automated Network Monitoring with Microsoft MOM
  Progent is one of the few consulting companies to offer 24x7 network monitoring services based on Microsoft Operations Manager. MOM causes your network support to be proactive rather than reactive. By anticipating possible issues before they cause lost productivity, network monitoring can save your IT network from stressful and expensive service disruptions.

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