PC Desktop Support Services
Comprehensive Help Desk Outsourcing
Progent's Co-managed Service Desk
Progent's Co-managed Service Desk is designed for organizations with 50 to 500 users and enables your IT staff to divide activity for support services seamlessly between your internal support team and Progent's extensive roster of certified IT service engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's Shared Help Desk service is a collaborative IT support system based on ConnectWise Manage, the leading PSA tool for administering IT support calls, generating tickets, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing management analytics. The price for Level 1 support for Progent's Co-managed Help Desk service is typically under $18 per user per month.
Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service offers a transparent supplement to your core IT support team. User interaction with the Help Desk, provision of technical assistance, escalation, trouble ticket creation and updates, performance metrics, and management of the support database are consistent whether issues are taken care of by your internal support resources, by Progent's team, or both. All client service calls are triaged as Level 1, 2 or 3 incidents. Progent handles the support level or levels you assign (typically Level 1 and Level 3). Original support requests are assigned to your in-house support group or to Progent's Technical Response Center, depending on your requirements. Level 2 or 3 tickets can be promoted to Progent's Experts Team of subject matter experts (SMEs). The assignment procedure is transparent to your end users. You have complete versatility to expand or shrink your part of IT support work as needed. Progent takes care of startup deployment and provisioning of the professional services PSA software as well as workflow documentation, testing and education.
Progent's Technical Response Center
Progent's Technical Response Center (TRC) has been delivering online IT help for more than twenty years and serves active clients in each state in the country (see Progent's customer testimonials.) The TRC provides the pool of veteran computer experts who can resolve Level 1 issues, which represent the bulk of Help Desk service requests. The TRC, like Progent's Experts Team, uses the ConnectWise Manage professional services automation (PSA) platform to automate ticketing, tracking, ownership delegation, escalation and management reporting. This keeps problems from being overlooked and gives clients continual visibility of all services provided. The TRC targets 90% live answer rate and enables Progent's Co-managed Service Desk Services to include a 60-minute service-level agreement. Support times are 5am to 7pm PST on standard work days. Extended hours and onsite service are offered at additional cost. For more details about Progent's TRC, see The TRC Customer Commitment.
Definition of Service Levels
Progent provides three distinct levels of online IT support, which are equivalent to industry-recognized Tier 1 through Tier 3 service. You can define which service levels will be provided wholly or in part by Progent and your internal service group. The depth and technical breadth of Progent's team of SMEs enables fast and efficient escalation and permits you to count on Progent as a single source for most IT problems at any Tier. Also, Progent's provision of knowledge transfer permits key service problems to move from higher to lower Tiers as resolution processes become documented and standardized so they can be handled by less skilled and lower-cost service personnel.
Service levels are defined as:
- Level 1 Support: Filters Service Desk requests and delivers baseline IT help and troubleshooting, like password issues, printer set up, break/fix procedures, ticket routing and escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support. A Level 1 tech gathers and analyzes information about the user's issue and determines the best way to resolve the problem. Level 1 service may also include assistance for familiar Level 2 and Level 3 problems where mitigation solutions have previously been documented.
- Level 2 Support: Primarily addresses break/fix, setup issues, debugging, application or OS deployment, and hardware repair including in-house fixes or orchestrating depot services. This Level deals with promoted issues that Level 1 support is not qualified to handle. Level 2 can occasionally escalate to Level 3, depending on the issue and the way the Help Desk is structured.
- Level 3 Support: Debugging, setup, database administration, and repair for OS and applications servers, hybrid networks, email, collaboration, and common infrastructure issues. Besides having the ability to deploy fixes to new issues, a Level 3 consultant typically has the most expertise.
A typical example of a trouble ticket lifecycle is the case where you want Progent's Technical Response Center to triage all support requests. In this case, Progent may be responsible for working directly with all the Level 1 issues your clients report. Progent can forward the remaining issues to your internal support team. Your in-house network support group would address the Level 2 incidents they have the knowledge and bandwidth to resolve and promote any residual issues to Progent's Level 3 Experts Team.
This sample deployment of Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service has a four-phase trouble ticket lifecycle:
- Your users initiate requests for support via the browser-based service portal, a dedicated phone number, or simply by sending an email to a dedicated email address. This automatically launches an open request in the ticket system.
- Progent's Technical Response Center gets the open request and decides whether it will be serviced or promoted to your in-house Service Desk.
- Your Service Desk receives the promoted open request and determines the best way to resolve the problem. If necessary, your Help Desk can send the ticket request back to Progent for assignment to Progent's Experts Team.
- Progent gets the revised ticket request, identifies the best suited subject matter exert from the Experts Team, and assigns the designated subject matter exert to co-operate with your IT staff until the issue is resolved or closed.
Highlights of Progent's Help Desk Service
Important features of Progent's Shared Service Desk offerings are:
- Pooled desktop help from Progent's Technical Response Center team
- Level 1 remote help provided 5 days a week, 5am-7pm Pacific Time, One-hour SLA
- Discounted per-hour rate and per-minute granularity for Level 1 support for end users
- Average price of Level 1 service is around $18 per user monthly
- Level 2 and Level 3 help from Progent subject matter expert provided on request at Progent's normal consulting rates
- De-escalation allows problems that initially call for Level 2 or Level 3 expertise to migrate to a lower, less costly Tier after solutions are documented
- StreamlineIT provides a complete version of ConnectWise Manage with secure multitenancy
Progent's Shared Help Desk support program is designed to offer a flexible, co-operative call desk solution for medium-size businesses. Details of these services, with Progent responsible for Level 1 desktop support, include:
- Offered only in USA and territories
- Initial setup charge based on complexity of the deployment
- Live Answer of inbound support requests to Progent Technical Response Center with a target of 90% Live Answer of all requests
- After deciding whether server or networking support is required, some service calls will be passed to Level 2 or 3 support
- All support that needs Level 2 or Level 3 expertise will be worked on by a Progent SME pending customer authorization
- 1 hour SLA for Level 1 desktop support in most cases
- Level 1 Service is for users and covers Windows-based computers and Apple systems
- Progent Level 2 or Level 3 support will be charged at regular hourly consulting rates
- Progent will provide skilled resources - Technical Response Center desktop specialists daily, Level 2 and Level 3 as required
- Progent will provide a toll-free phone number and email mailbox for inbound support requests
- Free Remote Control app with screen sharing for streamlined technical support
- Free ProSight IT Asset Management solution for network documentation management
- All Level 1 remote support is charged at a discounted hourly rate with one-minute granularity
- All Level 1 support is done remotely, no onsite work included
- All onsite work is billed at regular hourly consulting rates
- All on-premises work will have an additional fixed charge plus any documented travel expenses
- All travel expense estimates will be disclosed and need customer agreement before support services or travel will be undertaken
- Projects and distinct Statements of Work (SoWs) will have their individual estimates and costs stated and will be performed only following approval by customer
Progent's non-disruptive onboarding procedure permits your organization to move transparently to a shared Help Desk and a modern ticketing and reporting system. Major phases of the deployment process for Progent's Shared Help Desk Service include:
Initial Steps
- Build your custom Service Desk experience, including your in-house team, locations, and client information
- Progent's consultants will work closely with your company's service group to analyze current inbound support requests
- Configure your inbound support request service to incorporate a mailbox, software agents, and a dedicated phone number
- Progent delivers ticket management training for your service team
- Jointly create core workflow and ticket escalation processes
- Integrate all your staff and assets that will provide IT support
- Develop the announcement description and selling of the new Call Desk solution
- Pick a specific location or small groups to onboard first
- Bring more groups of users into the solution at a workable pace
- Study reports and system setup for efficient data and processes
- Create any reports or fields required to improve the detection or monitoring of frequently seen IT problems
- Identify pivotal data that could allow a better success rate for Level 1 service requests
- All clients have been exposed to the service system and can access it
- All required client and equipment data is entered into the support system
- You can transfer and administer trouble tickets smoothly between your internal support group and Progent
- You can track daily, weekly and monthly support performance and trends
Progent's Shared Service Desk offers an array of advantages that allow you to give users fast and successful IT services while simultaneously cutting expenses and relieving management hassle. Advantages of Progent's Co-managed Help Desk services include:
- Keep total control of your IT service requests: you determine what trouble tickets are forwarded to Progent's support group or taken care of by your internal service team.
- Quick availability of supplemental IT support professionals when you require them: Progent's professional services automation (PSA) software automatically distributes internal tickets or allows you manually forward to Progent's Technical Response Center.
- Productivity: Progent's consultants will analyze your incoming support requests and identify missing data that would promote a higher resolution rate for typical Level 1 issues. Progent's IT support experts can also help you to improve tag management to expedite solutions.
- Transparency: Progent's Co-managed Service Desk acts as a seamless supplement to your internal Call Center with unified ticketing and reporting so no ticket drops between the seams.
- Happy employees: End users can follow the progress and status of their IT service requests quickly and easily.
- Management insight: You benefit from the metrics, responsibility assignments, and performance monitoring of an advanced PSA platform to assist your organization to create a custom Help Desk environment that provides maximum business value.
- Concentrate on your strategic business issues, not IT service calls and disgruntled workers: Your IT management personnel avoid being bogged down handling common support calls.
Even though supporting a self-sufficient internal IT services group can prove expensive from the cost standpoint, many organizations opt for that strategy since it allows greater control over their IT management. But did you know that your business can continue to leverage the advantages of a managed services firm using the co-managed IT support strategy. This shared services model permits your organization to stay in control over your network infrastructure while reinforcing your local IT services group simply and affordably.
To find out more, check out our white paper: Is co-managed IT a good idea? (PDF - 632 KB).
Download Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Datasheet
To view a single-page datasheet in PDF format describing Progent's Co-managed Help Desk, see:
Progent's Co-managed Service Desk Datasheet. (PDF - 108 KB)
Complementary Services
Progent has packaged the ProSight family of remote monitoring and management (RMM) services to automate vital activities related to IT administration, security and upkeep. These RMM services can be integrated with Progent's Shared Help Desk service by installing agent software on computers to be monitored and managed. Notifications generated by these software agents can be routed directly to Progent's Technical Response Center (TRC), processed via the ticketing and monitoring system, and categorized for Level 1, 2 or 3 support.
Samples of ProSight Remote Monitoring and Management services include:
- ProSight Email Guard: Email Content Filtering, Spam Blocking and Data Leakage Defense:
ProSight Email Guard is Progent's spam filtering service that incorporates the technology of top information security vendors to deliver web-based management and comprehensive security for all your email traffic. The powerful structure of Email Guard managed service combines a Cloud Protection Layer with a local gateway appliance to provide advanced defense against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks (DHAs), and other email-borne malware. Email Guard's Cloud Protection Layer acts as a preliminary barricade and keeps the vast majority of unwanted email from reaching your security perimeter. This reduces your vulnerability to inbound attacks and saves network bandwidth and storage space. Email Guard's on-premises security gateway appliance adds a deeper layer of analysis for inbound email. For outgoing email, the onsite gateway offers AV and anti-spam protection, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The on-premises gateway can also help Microsoft Exchange Server to track and safeguard internal email that stays inside your corporate firewall. For more information, see ProSight Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.
- ProSight Active Security Monitoring: AI-based Threat Scanning and Ransomware Protection:
ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection (EPP) service that utilizes cutting edge behavior machine learning technology from SentinelOne to guard physical and virtual endpoints against modern malware attacks like ransomware and email phishing, which easily get by traditional signature-matching anti-virus tools. ProSight Active Security Monitoring protects on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a unified platform to address the entire threat progression including filtering, infiltration detection, containment, remediation, and post-attack forensics. Key features include one-click rollback with Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic network-wide immunization against new threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner. Read more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) next-generation endpoint protection and ransomware recovery with SentinelOne technology. - ProSight Data Protection Services: Cloud-based Backup and Disaster Recovery:
Progent has partnered with leading backup/restore technology vendors to create ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a portfolio of subscription-based management offerings that provide backup-as-a-service. All ProSight DPS products manage and monitor your backup processes and allow transparent backup and fast restoration of critical files/folders, apps, images, and VMs. ProSight DPS helps your business protect against data loss resulting from equipment breakdown, natural calamities, fire, malware such as ransomware, human mistakes, malicious employees, or software bugs. Managed services available in the ProSight DPS family include ProSight DPS Ataro VM Backup, ProSight Ataro Office 365 Backup, ProSight ECHO Backup based on Barracuda dedicated hardware, and ProSight MSP360 Cloud and On-prem Backup. Your Progent service representative can help you to identify which of these fully managed services are best suited for your network.
- Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services:
Progent's support services for software and firmware patch management provide organizations of any size a versatile and affordable alternative for assessing, validating, scheduling, implementing, and documenting software and firmware updates to your ever-evolving IT system. Besides maximizing the protection and functionality of your computer network, Progent's patch management services permit your in-house IT team to focus on more strategic projects and activities that derive maximum business value from your information network. Read more about Progent's patch management support services.
- ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: Identity Validation, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Secure Single Sign-on:
Progent's Duo authentication service plans utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this added means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services.
As a Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, Progent offers your users fast and convenient access to a seasoned Service Desk team ready to deliver technical help. Progent has decades of background delivering phone support for networks built on Microsoft products. Progent's emphasis is on giving the Help Desk a positive image as a major contributor to your company's success. Progent attempts to fix rather than merely track problems, and Progent's goal for established customers is to fix at least 80% of Service Desk problems on the initial call. First-call resolution is an important factor in lowering Service Desk expenses, improving the reputation of the IT staff in general and the Service Desk in particular, and increasing client productivity.
How to Get Started with Progent's Shared IT Contact Center Support
To find out more information about Progent's Shared Network Call Center Support, phone
An index of content::
IT Consultant GIAC Web Application Security (GWAS)
Top Ranked Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE Voice) Information Technology Installation Service
Progent offers customers access to engineers who have earned some of the IT industry's most prestigious certifications. Progent thinks that customers deserve to be sure that their computer service consultants have accredited training as well as broad practical backgrounds so that Progent's customers can use Progent's service with confidence. Often, vendor certifications such as the Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts brings priority for significantly better vendor assistance than is available to non-certified service providers, allowing Progent to deliver clients a better level of IT support. In other cases, major credentials such as CISA or ISSAP for network security can aid corporate customers to demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements by engaging the services of accredited IT experts.
CRISC Risk Evaluation Integration Services
CRISC Certified IT Services
Progent's disaster recovery support and business continuity professionals can show you how to design a disaster recovery strategy to prepare for an IT network disaster. Progent can show you how to develop a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy that includes periodic disaster recovery evaluations and drills. Progent's Microsoft and Cisco-authorized professionals can also help you build an affordable, zero-downtime network architecture that addresses reliability issues involving a wide array of network technologies and procedures.
Technical Consultant Azure AD MFA
Windows Active Directory Domain Services Support Services
Progent can help you to plan and carry out an efficient move from onsite Active Directory to cloud-based Azure AD or to a hybrid solution that uses Azure AD DS and Azure AD Connect to unify identity services for both onsite and Azure assets.
wireless IP phone configuration Integration Support
wireless IP phone upgrades Information Technology Consulting
Cisco's wireless VoIP phones are hardened Wi-Fi handsets designed for professionals who are mobile within office, hospitality, health-care or other environments where management wants user endpoints that offer more administrative control, security and durability than is achievable with the BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) mode of mobile collaboration. Creating solutions with Cisco's wireless IP phones typically requires that you set up and optimize many key pieces of your Wi-Fi environment including access points, routers, Cisco wireless LAN controllers, and management tools. Progent's certified experts offer remote and on-premises support to help you create and administer a Cisco wireless VoIP phone solution by delivering integration services that can range from troubleshooting the configuration of a wireless VoIP phone or access point to providing project management outsourcing or co-sourcing for updating the Wi-Fi infrastructure of a campus.
Professionals SCCM 2012 Patch Management
Top Ranked Microsoft Experts Configuration Manager 2012 Online Technical Support
Progent's Microsoft-certified consultants can help your organization to prepare for, deploy, and administer Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager. Progent can help you to migrate efficiently to Configuration Manager 2012 from a legacy change management platform or help you to enhance your existing SCCM 2012 ecosystem to accommodate your evolving business needs. In addition, Progent can assist you to build an infrastructure that fully supports SCCM by delivering expertise with associated Microsoft technologies including ADDS, SQL Server and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), and Internet Information Services.
Solaris with Windows Consultant Services
UNIX with Windows Network Consultants
If your company operates a UNIX, Linux, or Sun Solaris environment or a mixed-platform network, Progent's CISM, CISSP and ISSAP-certified consultants can assist your entire enterprise in a wide array of security areas including security administration procedures, security design and models, connection management products and techniques, software development security, operations security, physical security, communications, network and web security, and workplace recovery planning. CISA and CISM define the core skills and international standards of knowledge that information security professionals are required to possess. These certification give executive management the assurance that those who have achieved their CISM or CISSP qualification have demonstrated the experience and knowledge to offer world-class security support and engineering services.
Consulting Support for Network Service Firms Help and Support
IT Services for Network Service Firms Setup and Support
Progent's Support for IT Service Organizations lets you use Progent's information technology experts under your own brand as a seamless arm of your IT consulting team.
Microsoft Certified Expert Windows 2012 Clustering IT Consultants
Specialists Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster
Progent's Microsoft-certified failover clustering experts can help companies of all sizes to evaluate the advantages of deploying Microsoft Windows Server 2012 clustering to create an advanced fault-tolerant/disaster recovery solution, help you to design and deploy a Windows Server 2012 system, provide online and on-premises consulting services and technical support for failover clusters that include physical servers or virtual ones, and help you to streamline the administration of failover clusters.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2013 Online Troubleshooting
SPS Integration
Progent’s Microsoft-certified experts offer small and midsize companies IT consulting, support, and repair services for Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server is an advanced portal solution for efficiently connecting people, teams and data. SharePoint Portal Server provides a central spot for your employees or clients to access, organize, share and interact with relevant data, documents, and software and to communicate with one another. It enables quicker and more intelligent decisions, more efficient access across teams and more streamlined business practices. The main goal of SharePoint Server is to gather together, in a relevant way, all of the diverse sources of information accessible inside and outside a business network. Windows SharePoint Services join workers, clients, workgroups and major tasks with the knowledge they’ve created in a manner that makes data easy to locate, download and apply.
Remote Technical Support Microsoft Windows 7 Migration
Microsoft Certified Expert Windows 7 Wireless IT Consultants
Progent's certified engineers can help your company to pilot
Penetration Testing Security Auditing
Security Penetration Testing Security Auditor
Stealth intrusion testing is a key part of any overall IT system security strategy. Progent’s security experts can perform thorough penetration checks without the awareness of your company's in-house network support staff. Stealth penetration testing shows whether current security defense systems such as intrusion incident warnings and event history monitoring are properly configured and consistently observed.
Virginia Computer Consultancy Firms
Urgent Consultancy Services Group Minnesota
If your organization does not need emergency remote support but you think you will need technical services with your information system in the near future, you can save time and expenses and guarantee that the right IT skill will be available when you want it by getting in touch with a Progent sales specialist and registering as a client. For more information, phone 800-993-9400 or send email to information@progent.com.
Altaro VM Backup Deduplication Help and Support
Urgent Altaro VM Backup with Azure Computer Consulting
Altaro VM Backup software offers small organizations a reliable and affordable solution for backing up and restoring Hyper-V and VMware-based virtual machines (VMs). Altaro VM Backup can be used for on-premises, offsite, multi-site, and cloud environments and also enables low-cost backup to Azure Block Blob storage. Top capabilities include industry-leading Augmented Inline Deduplication to reduce backup storage requirements, Continuous Data Protection (CDP) with backup spacing as low as five minutes for minimizing your exposure to data loss, advanced encryption, granular recovery capability for specific files and emails, extensive support for Windows Cluster Shared Volumes and for VMware vCenter for handling large-scale deployments, and support for Microsoft VSS technology to back up live virtual machines with zero downtime. Progent is an Altaro partner and offers a wide range of consulting services to assist you to design, install, manage and troubleshoot a backup/restore solution based on Altaro VM Backup software.
Urgent Consulting Services ProSight DPS ECHO Hybrid Cloud Backup/Recovery
ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO Consultants
ProSight Data Protection Services ECHO from Progent offer small and medium-sized organizations an affordable end-to-end solution for secure backup/disaster recovery (BDR). Available at a fixed monthly price, ProSight DPS automates and monitors your backup processes and allows rapid recovery of vital data, apps and VMs that have become lost or corrupted due to component failures, software glitches, natural disasters, human mistakes, or malware attacks like ransomware. ProSight DPS can help you protect, retrieve and restore files, folders, applications, system images, plus Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware images/. Critical data can be protected on the cloud, to a local device, or mirrored to both. Progent's BDR specialists can deliver advanced support to configure ProSight DPS to be compliant with regulatory requirements like HIPAA, FIRPA, and PCI and, when necessary, can assist you to recover your critical data.
Dynamics 365 AX Installation support
Help and Support Dynamics NAV
In addition to providing the expertise of Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) specialists, Progent can provide experts in Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV Business Management Software, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System, Macola ERP, MAS 90 by Sage Software, and QuickBooks Pro. Progent offers programming, troubleshooting, management help, migration assistance, and one-on-one or group webinar training customized to address your particular requirements. Progent's consultants also can show you how to integrate and support a protected, robust server and communications foundation to run your ERP, MRP and accounting solutions.
scom 2016 ACS database Online Support
Online Troubleshooting scom 2016
System Center 2016 Operations Manager (SCOM 2016) helps to ensure top performance and dependable uptime for critical workloads by providing centralized, mixed-platform tracking of IT infrastructure installed across on-premises datacenters and cloud environments. Progent's consulting team can provide world-class online and onsite support to assist organizations of any size to design, integrate, optimize, enhance and repair Operations Manager 2016 deployments. Progent can assist your company to move to Operations Manager 2016 from earlier versions or from different IT infrastructure monitoring platforms, or integrate multiple monitoring systems into a cohesive IT management ecosystem. Progent can also show you how to extend your Operations Manager 2016 environment to include infrastructure hosted on public clouds including Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS.
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