Network Help for Midsize Companies
Shared Help Desk Services
Progent's Co-managed Help Desk Service
Progent's Shared Service Desk is intended for organizations with between 50 and 500 users and permits your information technology group to divide activity for Help Desk services seamlessly between your in-house network support group and Progent's nationwide pool of certified IT service technicians, engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs). Progent's Shared Help Desk service is a joint IT support system based on ConnectWise Manage, the leading PSA platform for administering IT support calls, generating trouble tickets, designating responsibility, tracking status, and producing management reports. The price for Level 1 support for Progent's Co-managed Help Desk service averages less than $18 per user per month.
Progent's Shared Service Desk offers a smooth supplement to your internal IT support team. User interaction with the Service Desk, provision of support, escalation, trouble ticket generation and updates, efficiency metrics, and management of the service database are cohesive regardless of whether incidents are resolved by your core IT support organization, by Progent's team, or a mix of the two. All end-user support calls are ranked as Level 1, 2 or 3 issues. Progent focuses on whatever support levels you specify (typically Levels 1 and 3). Initial service requests are assigned to your internal network support group or to Progent's Technical Response Center, based on your preferences. Level 2 or 3 incidents can be escalated to Progent's Experts Team of subject matter experts (SMEs). The assignment procedure is transparent to your clients. You have unrestricted flexibility to extend or reduce your part of support work as circumstances demand. Progent takes care of startup deployment and provisioning of the professional services automation (PSA) software as well as documentation, validation and education.
Progent's Technical Response Center (TRC)
Progent's Technical Response Center (TRC) has been providing online technical assistance for more than twenty years and serves active clients in each state in the country (see Progent's client testimonials.) The Technical Response Center maintains the pool of certified desktop experts who can handle Level 1 tickets, which represent the bulk of Service Desk support calls. The TRC, like Progent's Experts Team, uses the ConnectWise Manage professional services automation platform to automate ticketing, tracking progress, ownership delegation, escalation and management reporting. This keeps problems from being ignored and gives clients continual visibility of all support services provided. The Technical Response Center targets 90% in-person answer performance and enables Progent's Shared Help Desk Services to offer a 60-minute service-level agreement. Service times are 5am to 7pm PST on standard business days. Extended support times and on-premises help are available at extra cost. To learn more about Progent's Technical Response Center, refer to Progent's Technical Response Center Customer Commitment.
Service Levels
Progent provides three levels of remote IT help, which correspond to industry-standard Tier 1 to Tier 3 service. You can define which support levels will be handled wholly or shared by Progent's support team and your internal staff. The size and technical breadth of Progent's roster of subject matter experts enables fast and efficient escalation and permits you to rely on Progent as a single source for the majority of IT problems at any service level. Also, Progent's provision of knowledge transfer permits important support issues to migrate from higher to lower Tiers as solution techniques become documented and normalized so they can be handled by less skilled and lower-cost support personnel.
Support levels are defined as:
- Level 1 Support: Categorizes Service Desk requests and provides baseline technical support and debugging, such as password issues, printer configurations, 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 provide assistance for familiar Level 2 and Level 3 problems where mitigation solutions have already been documented.
- Level 2 Support: Primarily addresses break/fix, setup issues, troubleshooting, application or OS installations, and hardware fixes such as in-house fixes or orchestrating depot services. This Level deals with promoted problems that Level 1 support is not qualified to handle. Level 2 can occasionally evolve to Level 3, based on the issue and the manner the Help Desk operates.
- Level 3 Support: Troubleshooting, setup, DBA, and migrations for OS and applications servers, cloud integration, messaging, file shares, and common infrastructure issues. Besides having the capability to find fixes to novel issues, a Level 3 engineer usually has the most expertise.
A common example of a ticket lifecycle is the situation where you want Progent's Technical Response Center to triage all service calls. In this case, Progent may be tasked with working with all the Level 1 desktop issues your end users report. Progent can forward other service requests to your internal network support team. Your internal network support team would take on the Level 2 incidents they have the skills and bandwidth to resolve and promote any residual issues to Progent's Level 3 Experts Team.
This sample deployment of Progent's Shared Help Desk Service has a four-stage ticket lifecycle:
- Your clients initiate requests through the online support, a dedicated phone number, or simply by sending a message to a dedicated email address. This immediately becomes an open request in the trouble ticket system.
- Progent's Technical Response Center (TRC) gets the open request and determines whether it will be serviced or promoted to your internal Service Desk.
- Your Service Desk gets the forwarded open request and decides the proper way to service the problem. If needed, your Help Desk can send the trouble ticket request back to Progent for resolution by Progent's Experts Team.
- Progent receives the revised ticket request, selects the most appropriate SME from the Experts Team, and assigns the chosen SME to work with your IT team until the problem is solved or closed.
Highlights of Progent's Service Desk
Important features of Progent's Shared Service Desk program include:
- Pooled desktop help from Progent's Technical Response Center staff
- Level 1 remote help provided 5 days a week, 5am-7pm Pacific Time, 60 Minute SLA
- Special hourly support rate and per-minute granularity for Level 1 desktop support for end users
- Average price of Level 1 service is approximately $18 montly per user
- Level 2 and Level 3 help from Progent subject matter expert provided on request at Progent's standard consulting rates
- De-escalation allows issues that at first require Level 2 or 3 expertise to drop to a lower, less expensive Tier after solutions are documented
- StreamlineIT provides a complete version of ConnectWise Manage PSA software with multi-tenant security
Progent's Shared Service Desk program is designed to provide a versatile, collaborative call desk system for mid-size businesses. Specifics of this service offering, with Progent providing Level 1 support, include:
- Offered only in the United States and US territories
- One-time setup charge dependent on complexity of the deployment
- Live Answer of inbound service requests to Progent Technical Response Center with a goal of 90% Live Answer of all calls
- After determining whether server or network infrastructure support is required, some service requests will be escalated to Level 2 or 3 support
- All assistance requiring Level 2 or Level 3 service will be handled by a Progent consultant pending customer approval
- 1 hour SLA for Level 1 desktop support in most cases
- Level 1 Support is for end users and covers Windows-powered computers and Apple systems
- Progent Level 2 or 3 services will be provided at standard hourly consulting rates
- Progent will provide resources - Technical Response Center (TRC) desktop specialists during standard hours, Level 2 and Level 3 as needed
- Progent will dedicate a phone number and email mailbox for inbound support calls
- Free Remote Control app with screen sharing for efficient IT troubleshooting
- Free ProSight IT Asset Management services for network documentation management
- All Level 1 online support is billed at a discounted hourly rate with per-minute granularity
- All Level 1 support is performed online, no onsite work included
- All on-premises work will be invoiced at regular consulting rates
- All onsite support will have an added fixed charge plus any specific travel costs
- All travel cost estimates will be disclosed and need client approval before support services or travel will be performed
- Contracted projects and separate Statements of Work will have their individual estimates and fees outlined and will be undertaken only after approval by customer
Progent's phased onboarding procedure permits your business to migrate seamlessly to a co-managed Service Desk and an advanced ticketing and reporting system. Key steps in the deployment procedure for Progent's Co-managed Service Desk include:
First Steps
- Create your personalized Help Desk environment, including your internal support group, service locations, and user data
- Progent's consultants will work closely with your service team to review current incoming service calls
- Configure your incoming support request system to incorporate a mailbox, software agents, and a dedicated telephone number
- Progent delivers trouble ticket management training for your company's support group
- Jointly create core workflow and escalation procedures
- Add all your groups and resources that will deliver IT support
- Create the announcement description and promotion of the new Service Desk solution
- Designate a specific location or manageably-sized clusters of users to onboard initially
- Bring more groups of users into the system at determined intervals
- Study reports and system configuration for efficient information and processes
- Create additional reports or fields needed to enhance the detection or monitoring of frequently seen IT problems
- Surface key information that might enable a higher success rate for Level 1 service calls
- All users have been exposed to the support desk and can access it
- All necessary client and hardware information is populated in the service system
- You can exchange and manage trouble tickets smoothly between your internal support group and Progent
- You can view daily, weekly and monthly support performance and trends
Progent's Co-managed Help Desk service delivers a range of benefits that allow businesses to provide end users rapid and effective IT services while at the same time cutting expenses and relieving administrative burden. Benefits of Progent's Co-managed Service Desk include:
- Retain total control over your IT service requests: you choose what trouble tickets are escalated to Progent's support group or taken care of by your internal service team.
- Immediate access to additional IT service experts when and if you require them: Progent's professional services automation software programmatically distributes internal trouble tickets or allows you manually escalate to Progent's Technical Response Center.
- Efficiency: Progent's team will review your inbound service requests and identify additional data that would promote an improved success rate for common desktop requests. Progent's consultants can also help you to improve tag creation to speed up problem resolution.
- Seamlessness: Progent's Shared Service Desk works as a seamless extension of your in-house Service Desk with unified ticketing and reporting so no ticket falls between the seams.
- Happy workers: Users are able to follow the progress of their IT support requests rapidly and conveniently.
- Management analytics: You have the metrics, responsibility assignments, and performance reporting of an advanced PSA platform to help you to build a custom Help Desk experience that delivers maximum business value.
- Concentrate on your core business activities, not IT service requests and disgruntled users: Your IT management personnel avoid being saddled with handling day-to-day support requests.
Download Progent's White Paper: Is Co-managed IT a Good Idea?
Although supporting your own self-sufficient in-house IT services staff can be expensive from the budgetary perspective, many companies opt for that approach since it allows greater control over their network management. Yet did you know that your organization can continue to reap the benefits of a managed services provider within the co-managed IT service strategy. The shared services model allows your organization to keep in control over your network infrastructure while reinforcing your internal IT team simply and economically.
For details, check out our white paper: Is co-managed IT a good idea? (PDF - 632 KB).
Download Progent's Shared Help Desk Datasheet
To view a one-page datasheet in PDF format describing Progent's Co-managed Help Desk, see:
Progent's Shared Help Desk Datasheet. (PDF - 108 KB)
Related Services
Progent has packaged the ProSight suite of remote monitoring and management (RMM) services to streamline vital processes associated with network management, security and maintenance. These RMM services can be used with Progent's Shared Call Desk service by installing agent software on computers to be monitored and managed. Notifications generated by these software agents can be forwarded automatically to Progent's Technical Response Center (TRC), processed through the ticketing and tracking platform, and triaged for Level 1, 2 or 3 treatment.
Samples of ProSight RMM services include:
- ProSight Email Guard: Email Content Filtering, Spam Blocking and Data Leakage Protection:
ProSight Email Guard is Progent's spam and virus filtering and email encryption service that uses the technology of top information security vendors to deliver centralized management and world-class security for all your email traffic. The powerful architecture of Email Guard integrates a Cloud Protection Layer with an on-premises gateway appliance to offer complete protection against spam, viruses, Denial of Service Attacks, Directory Harvest Attacks, and other email-based threats. Email Guard's cloud filter acts as a preliminary barricade and keeps most unwanted email from reaching your security perimeter. This decreases your vulnerability to inbound attacks and saves system bandwidth and storage. Email Guard's onsite security gateway device adds a further layer of analysis for incoming email. For outbound email, the local security gateway provides AV and anti-spam filtering, protection against data leaks, and email encryption. The on-premises gateway can also assist Exchange Server to monitor and safeguard internal email traffic that stays within your corporate firewall. For more details, see Email Guard spam filtering and data leakage protection.
- ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM): AI-based Threat Scanning and Ransomware Protection:
Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) is an endpoint protection (EPP) solution that incorporates cutting edge behavior machine learning tools from SentinelOne to guard physical and virtual endpoint devices against new malware attacks like ransomware and email phishing, which routinely evade legacy signature-matching AV products. ProSight ASM protects on-premises and cloud-based resources and offers a single platform to automate the entire malware attack progression including filtering, infiltration detection, mitigation, cleanup, and forensics. Key features include single-click rollback using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and automatic system-wide immunization against new threats. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) endpoint protection and ransomware recovery with SentinelOne technology.
- ProSight Data Protection Services: Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery:
Progent has worked with advanced backup/restore product vendors to create ProSight Data Protection Services, a selection of subscription-based management offerings that provide backup-as-a-service. All ProSight DPS services manage and track your backup operations and enable transparent backup and rapid recovery of vital files/folders, applications, images, and Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines. ProSight DPS helps your business recover from data loss caused by hardware failures, natural calamities, fire, malware like ransomware, user error, malicious employees, or application bugs. Managed backup services in the ProSight Data Protection portfolio include ProSight DPS Altaro VM Backup, ProSight 365 Total Backup (formerly Altaro Office 365 Backup), ProSight ECHO Backup using Barracuda dedicated hardware, and ProSight DPS MSP360 Cloud and On-prem Backup. Your Progent consultant can assist you to identify which of these fully managed services are most appropriate for your network.
- Progent's Patch Management: Software/Firmware Update Management Services:
Progent's support services for software and firmware patch management offer organizations of any size a versatile and cost-effective alternative for assessing, testing, scheduling, applying, and documenting software and firmware updates to your ever-evolving IT network. In addition to optimizing the protection and functionality of your IT network, Progent's software/firmware update management services permit your IT staff to concentrate on line-of-business projects and tasks that deliver the highest business value from your information network. Read more about Progent's patch management support services.
- ProSight Duo Two-Factor Authentication: Access Security, Endpoint Policy Enforcement, and Protected Single Sign-on (SSO):
Progent's Duo MFA services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity verification with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you log into a protected application and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be used for this added means of authentication including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for access security.
As a Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, Progent offers your clients quick and convenient access to a seasoned Service Desk team ready to deliver technical support. Progent has decades of experience delivering phone support for networks built on Microsoft products. Progent's focus is on earning the Help Desk a positive image as a major factor in your company's success. Progent attempts to fix and not merely monitor problems, and Progent's goal for established customers is to fix at least 80% of Call Desk service requests on the first call. First-call resolution is a key factor in lowering Call Desk expenses, improving the image of the IT group overall and the Service Desk in particular, and raising end-user satisfaction.
Get Started with Progent's Co-managed IT Help Desk Call Center Services
To learn more information about Progent's Shared Network Help Desk Services, phone
An index of content::
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Remote Desktop Small Business IT Consulting Firms
Recovery Services Desktop VPN
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Microsoft 365 Gmail migration Specialists
Open Now Microsoft 365 and iPhones Network Consultants
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Small Office Computer Network Companies
Small Business Upgrade
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Cisco Firepower AMP Consultants
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