Computer Support for Small Businesses

Progent offers a variety of options for delivering network support services to small businesses. These service delivery modes are designed to meet both the technical requirements and budgetary restrictions common to small organizations and therefore stress efficiency and affordability.

Remote Support
Progent is a pioneer in delivering network support remotely and has significantly expanded the set of services that can be provided effectively and economically via phone or secure Internet connections. Progent has successfully delivered remote network support services to small businesses in every state in the U.S. (see Progent's customer testimonials). Progent offers a variety of remote services from emergency troubleshooting for Windows, Linux, Apple Mac, and Cisco-powered systems:

• Network Troubleshooting: Progent's Technical Response Center is staffed with certified service professionals who offer small businesses remote network troubleshooting support, avoiding the expense or delay of travel for onsite service calls. Progent bills by the minute for remote troubleshooting, has no sign-up charges, and requires no time minimum, so you are invoiced only for the support you receive. Specialists you can access remotely include Cisco-qualified CCIE infrastructure experts, Microsoft-qualified MCSE and MCTS consultants, Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSPs), and CISSP-certified security engineers. (See Progent's IT industry certifications.)
• Help Desk Call Center: Small businesses can save money and improve the quality of network support with Progent's Help Desk Call Center Services. Progent's Help Desk Call Center Services allow you to tap into the expertise of a Microsoft Certified Partner or a Cisco-certified networking expert with decades of experience providing phone support for small businesses. In the vast majority of cases IT problems can be resolved over the phone or through a combination of phone support and secure remote access.
• Extended Hours Support: 24x7 online support is available through Progent's economically priced Extended Hours Support Program, which offers round-the-clock access to the Technical Response Center to minimize network downtime. Services available outside regular business hours include resolving problems with Microsoft-based server products, Windows desktop support, help with Microsoft Office applications, network and system backup and restore, and basic routing and switching support for Cisco networking products.
• Training: Progent's remote training webinars offer small businesses the cost savings, convenience, and flexibility of virtual seminars plus the proven teaching techniques of seasoned instructors using advanced technology to simulate live, interactive classrooms. Progent can provide online training for desktop applications such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, Publisher, Visio, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Adobe Photoshop, and Crystal Reports.
• Security Assessment: Progent's remote Security Inventory Scanning Packages offer small businesses, at an affordable predetermined price, remotely administered scans of external and internal network security. The scanning results are evaluated by Progent's certified security engineers who then create a comprehensive report interpreting the security data and suggesting economical ways to mitigate any security vulnerabilities.
• Disaster Recovery: Progent offers small businesses an array of remotely managed disaster recovery support services that include business continuity planning, designing a resilient network architecture, help with selecting and using low-cost co-location data centers, expertise for installing Microsoft Data Protection Manager for dependable backup and restore, and help with using virtual server technology to minimize recovery time.
• Application Customization and Development: Progent's team of application development consultants offer in-depth knowledge of business application software and development tools. Progent can provide experts to customize and support Microsoft Dynamics accounting and management analytics software as well as applications from other publishers of software for financials, Enterprise Resource Planning, Manufacturing Resource Planning, project accounting, supply chain management, human resources, sales and marketing, retail, and distribution software.
• Network Consulting: Progent offers remote access to world-class consultants who can provide expertise in all facets of network architecture, security, disaster recovery, VoIP and unified communications, messaging and email, wireless infrastructure, server management, virtualization, telecommuting, mobile connectivity, remote offices, and other areas important to small business information networks. Progent's consultants are certified by major platform and infrastructure vendors including Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Citrix, Juniper, Sun, and various Linux publishers. This breadth of expertise has allowed Progent to become the provider of choice for supporting small business networks that incorporate a mix of platforms and technologies and lack the rigid standardization of big-company IT environments.

• Computer Installation and Troubleshooting: Progent offers nationwide on-site technical support for common tasks such as troubleshooting and computer or software installation and can usually dispatch a certified technician within 24-hours of receiving a request for service. Because most small business managers are not aware of the large range of technical support issues that can now be resolved remotely, and at a significant savings in time and money, Progent recommends that clients discuss this remote service alternative with Progent's sales representative before scheduling on-site service.
• Temporary Staff Augmentation: If you have special migration or upgrade projects that temporarily require additional IT staff, Progent can supplement your internal organization with experienced technicians and consultants so you can complete special projects on time and within budget.
• Site Relocation: Progent can provide consulting experts who can help you plan and manage a seamless move of your IT infrastructure to a new facility, including data center design and setup, project management, ISP and telecommunications carrier selection and coordination, and synchronized system upgrades ' all with comprehensive ongoing support throughout. Progent's site relocation teams can work during off hours and weekends in order to minimize business disruption.
• Temporary CIO Services: If your company is too small to justify a full-time senior IT manager, a part-time CIO offers an affordable solution for developing and executing a comprehensive strategy to maximize the business value of your information system. If you have lost the services of a full-time CIO, a part-time expert can help your network stay productive as you qualify candidates for a permanent position. Progent can connect you with an IT management professional who can provide strategic direction to help you deploy appropriate technology to improve business processes so they align more closely with your corporate goals.
• Consulting: Some IT tasks require on-site expertise, and some managers prefer face-to-face meetings instead of virtual ones. Progent's consultants often deliver on-site service to enterprise customers and in many cases initiate major projects with small businesses on the client's premises. All of Progent's advanced consulting services are available on premises at an added cost.

• Application Server Hosting: Progent's application hosting services for strategic servers such as Microsoft SQL Server offer many advantages to small organizations who lack the budgets or personnel to build an advanced in-house data center. Small businesses who rely on Progent to host application servers in enterprise-class data centers accrue multiple benefits including lower capital requirements, ongoing savings on operational costs, less distraction for company management, greater network resilience and recoverability, easier regulatory compliance, plus faster and more thorough disaster recovery.
• Private Cloud Hosting: Progent's Private Cloud hosting service combines proven virtualization technology, a state-of-the-art data center, and the support expertise of Progent's Microsoft-certified engineering team to provide small businesses with a comprehensive IT outsourcing alternative that enhances network dependability and security, eliminates management hassle, and saves money. With Virtual Server Hosting, a small business can have all of its software platforms and critical applications hosted in a secure and fault-tolerant data center on a fast, non-stop virtual host configured and maintained by Progent's network support experts.

• Network Monitoring and Management: ProSight WAN Watch is a remote monitoring and management (RMM) service that automates and simplifies network management tasks like mapping network topology, keeping track of device configurations, isolating traffic bottlenecks, implementing critical software patches, and troubleshooting network appliances. By automating tedious network management tasks and providing intuitive visualizations and actionable alerts, ProSight WAN Watch can drastically reduce operational costs, avoid configuration errors, and ensure that your network infrastructure delivers optimum performance. Find out more about ProSight WAN Watch network infrastructure management.
• Email Filtering and Encryption: Progent has worked with top data security companies to offer ProSight Email Guard, a hybrid solution that combines cloud and on-premises resources to defend against spam, viruses, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and other email-based threats. Email Guard offers both inbound and outbound filtering. Data Loss Protection (DLP) and cloud-assisted encryption use custom policies for automatically keeping sensitive information from leaking from your organization via intentional or careless emails. By blocking outbound spam and viruses, Email Guard also helps keep your organization off spam block lists. To assure consistent system performance, Email Guard offers adjustable, threshold-based rate control for inbound and outbound email traffic. Learn more about Progent's ProSight Email Guard Spam and Virus Filtering.
• Backup and Disaster Recovery: ProSight Data Protection Services offer small businesses an affordable managed solution for backup and recovery. ProSight DPS automates your backup workflow and enables fast recovery of vital data, applications and VMs. You can protect your critical data locally or to the cloud, or you can deploy an advanced hybrid solution that incorporates both on-premises and cloud resources. The technology behind ProSight DPS complies with important information assurance standards including HIPAA, FINRA, PCI and Safe Harbor. Learn more about ProSight Data Protection Services managed backup and disaster recovery.
• Active Security Monitoring and Ransomware Protection: ProSight Active Security Monitoring is an enterprise-class endpoint protection service that uses modern behavior analysis technology from SentinelOne to protect against the latest generation of threats such as ransomware and spear phishing, which routinely evade traditional signature-based anti-virus tools. ProSight ASM provides a unified solution for addressing the complete malware life cycle from front-line blocking through mitigation and remediation to visual forensics. Single-click rollback lets you quickly return compromised resources to a trusted state, and real-time immunization of all network endpoints limits the damage that can be caused by a successful intrusion. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. Find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring endpoint protection and ransomware defense.
• Unified Physical and Virtual Endpoint Protection: ProSight Enhanced Security Protection (ESP) managed services offer economical in-depth protection for physical servers and VMs, desktops, mobile devices, and Exchange Server. ProSight ESP utilizes adaptive security and advanced heuristics for continuously monitoring and reacting to cyber assaults from all attack vectors. ProSight ESP delivers two-way firewall protection, penetration alerts, endpoint management, and web filtering through leading-edge technologies packaged within a single agent accessible from a unified console. Progent's data protection and virtualization consultants can assist your business to plan and implement a ProSight ESP deployment that meets your organization's unique requirements and that allows you prove compliance with legal and industry information protection regulations. Progent will help you define and implement security policies that ProSight ESP will manage, and Progent will monitor your IT environment and respond to alerts that require urgent action. Progent's consultants can also assist your company to install and test a backup and disaster recovery solution such as ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS) so you can recover quickly from a destructive cyber attack like ransomware. Read more about Progent's ProSight Enhanced Security Protection unified physical and virtual endpoint protection and Exchange email filtering.
• Server and Desktop Remote Monitoring and Management: ProSight LAN Watch is Progent's server and desktop monitoring service that uses modern RMM technology to help ensure your critical computers are operating efficiently and reliably. ProSight LAN Watch continually monitors servers and desktops and, when a potential problem surfaces, immediately sends an alert to your designated management personnel and to your Progent support engineer so problems can be eliminated before they have a chance to impact your productivity. Find out more about ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring services.
• Virtual Machine and Private Cloud Hosting: ProSight Virtual Hosting service is an affordable way for small and mid-size businesses to have their key servers and applications hosted in a secure, Tier III datacenter in a virtualized environment configured and managed by Progent's IT experts. ProSight Virtual Hosting service allows clients to keep ownership of their data, OS licenses, and applications. Because the system is virtualized, it's easy and inexpensive to port to another host without requiring a time-consuming, costly and technically risky reconfiguration effort. This keeps you from being locked into a single hosting service. To learn more about ProSight Virtual Hosting services, see ProSight Virtual Hosting Services.
• Network Documentation and Password Management: ProSight IT Asset Management service is a network infrastructure documentation and password management service that allows you to create and maintain vital information about your IT infrastructure, procedures, apps and services. Authorized personnel can easily locate information like passwords, IP addresses or serial numbers and be alerted about impending expirations of SSLs, domains or warranties. By keeping you IT documentation updated and complete, you can eliminate half the time wasted looking for critical information about your network. ProSight IT Asset Management features a centralized resource for holding and sharing all documents associated with managing your IT infrastructure such as standard operating procedures (SOCs) and How To's for self-service. An advanced password management engine includes a secure password vault and allows policy enforcement, deep search, and comprehensive audit support. Whether you're expanding your infrastructure, performing maintenance, or responding to a crisis, ProSight IT Asset Management delivers the information you need when you need it. Find out more about ProSight IT Asset Management service.

• ProSight Network Audit Basic: IT Infrastructure Audit
  ProSight Network Audit Basic gathers and reports on essential server and workstation data and as an option reports details on additional network-attached devices. This value-priced health check includes a year of remote network monitoring based on Progent's ProSight WAN Watch remote monitoring and management platform. No more than 10 days after the audit begins, Progent delivers all documents gathered by ProSight WAN Watch. These items include the Active Directory Health Check document completed by a Progent Microsoft expert. The Active Directory Health Check document includes any errors or misconfigurations and suggests efficient solutions based on leading practices.

  An important deliverable of the ProSight Network Audit Basic service is the Active Directory (AD) Health Check. This report describes the health of Active Directory, DNS, DHCP and Group Policy; compares these critical services to leading practices; and proposes how any discovered errors could be corrected. This can be a valuable service because a carelessly maintained AD and related services can result in serious problems like network outages, significant wait times in authentication or access to file or print services, partial or complete data loss, bottlenecks to recovery, security vulnerabilities, and erratic Internet performance.

  To learn more about ProSight Network Audit Basic, see ProSight Network Audit Basic.

• ProSight Network Audit Advanced: IT Infrastructure, Server and PC In-depth Audit:
  ProSight Network Audit Advanced includes all services that come with ProSight Network Audit Basic plus a deep-dive, powered by ProSight LAN Watch server and desktop monitoring, into data concerning your Microsoft servers and workstations. ProSight Network Audit Advanced includes one year of remote network monitoring based on ProSight LAN Watch, and customers have access to the rich selection of documents and reports created by ProSight LAN Watch.

  Reports available with ProSight Network Audit Advanced service include Asset Summary, Client Health Standards, Computer Audit, Computer Health Standards, Patch Compliance, Software List, and Ticket Summary.

  For more details on ProSight Network Audit Advanced and to view sample reports, go to ProSight Network Audit Advanced.

24x7 Support
Progent offers optional 24x7 remote and on-site support as an added cost option for most IT services.

Service Costs
Progent bills for all support and troubleshooting services by the minute and offers substantial discounts for large projects and regularly scheduled service. Rates are based on the qualifications of the personnel who provide the service, which in turn is dependent on the nature of the task. This billing policy can be a major benefit to Progent's customers, because it minimizes the likelihood of paying high rates for simple jobs but still makes it possible to elevate the level of expertise assigned to a task in case of technical complications or expanded requirements.

If your small business network needs any of the support services available from Progent, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.