Expanding your at-home workforce can have a major effect on IT architecture, security, and company culture. Progent has two decades of experience helping SMBs to design, configure, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Akron organization to pick the right tools and adhere to best practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and returns top value. Progent can provide services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you over challenging technical roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Akron, Ohio organizations to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing telecommuting environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, Help Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Configuring the network infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be especially challenging if you have to manage a mix of personal equipment such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from various vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online support for both outdated as well as modern technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to create a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network technology allows you to establish a safe tunnel for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a telecommuter to view and use a remote computer's desktop. This gives network managers substantial control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert online support for setting up home routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, often shared by families and visitors, are commonly used by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can create throughput as well as security problems. Progent can help you to mitigate these issues by delivering services like Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point setup help.
  • Internet access methods impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Vital applications might require redundant Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for selecting ISPs, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the company phone environment to accommodate teleworkers is vital to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based IP voice products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or legacy products for IP voice solutions. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to design or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, convenience and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to assist organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle a growing at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers advanced telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. CUCM supports other mixed media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with users operating outside the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A broad range of video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local users and teleworkers. Many organizations use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to manage your existing conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to configure and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus editing and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex and for other IP video solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist your business to tune your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can help your company to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your remote workers.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium Solutions Experts for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Server Configuration Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint uses web sites to facilitate collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure web portals that allows remote workforce to see and update consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to SharePoint integration and application development expertise.

Exchange Deployment Experts for At-Home WorkersExchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. To find out about Progent's Exchange expertise, go to integration consulting for Microsoft Exchange.

Microsoft Onedrive Deployment Consultants for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can share them safely via a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to co-author documents. Revisions made offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide affordable online support for enabling organizations to build, maintain and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, and cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all types of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Azure Integration for TeleworkersAzure is a popular family of public cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features over 100 services services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create secure connections to Azure services for at-home workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, visit Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Office apps and services are marketed in a selection of bundles intended for customers ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and easy remote access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for At-Home WorkersExchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run transparently with local deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to create hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed help to get you past challenging technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration for TelecommutersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-availability network model to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Integration for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud is a leading suite of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical apps cloud ready so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help your business to deploy VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage, and simplify identity management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP environment. To find out, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which could be activated by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk support services leverage Progent's extensive team of remote technical support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an economical, modern Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC technical support from initial service requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to track or update the status of their active trouble tickets, add information, and upload screen captures or relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent offers optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with advanced problems. For details, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service enables your company to expand your existing Help Desk staff by splitting responsibilities for Call Center support transparently between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's nationwide roster of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service is based on a collaborative support model based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can enable your company to provide world-class desktop support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home staff members commonly use their personal devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical area. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the development of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of data security solutions consultants can assist you to plan, configure and manage a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects critical IT resources in networks that incorporate remote workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users as well as by teleworkers, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices allow you to configure and control appropriate permissions to different groups of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your company evolves and as network attacks become more complex. Progent works with both new and older security appliances from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration services, see firewall support expertise.

Remote Security Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate devices used by remote workers and either reject or spot and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every secured endpoint device, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to detect new threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TelecommutersProgent's Duo MFA Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity verification with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured online account and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all types of external and internal security attacks for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and economically uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be provided by security experts with advanced credentials including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your operations and policies and assess your IT infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous testing of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, prioritize, remediate, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to evaluate your present security profile. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides maximum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's vulnerability analysis services based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Network
To view or download a white paper about critical areas to focus on for protecting a network that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Remote Workers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring critical information in order to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in case of storage problems resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, user mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Restore strategies for telecommuters must address diverse kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online access to experts familiar with a wide range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data spread throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular recovery and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically envision scenarios that call for a quick switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity specialists can help your company to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a centralized environment for safeguarding corporate data by managing onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can use Intune to deploy and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for permission to access data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, set up threat defense, ensure security compliance, and wipe corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS devices. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, go to Intune mobile endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that helps network managers to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises product via a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Akron, Ohio company, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.