Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a significant impact on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and company workflows. Progent has two decades of background helping businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, manage, tune, and debug IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Albany company to select the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns top business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you past challenging technical roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Albany, New York organizations to with any aspect of creating a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, helpdesk augmentation, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the network infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be especially complex if you have to accommodate a mix of personal equipment such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering online help for both outdated as well as current technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for implement essential updates. Services available from Progent to assist you to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

  • VPN technology makes it possible to create a safe tunnel for authenticated remote workers to access IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can assist you to configure and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products allow a telecommuter to view and interact with a remote computer's desktop. This provides network managers significant control over the computing environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
  • Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert online consulting for integrating home routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, often supporting families and visitors, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these problems by delivering services like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP integration assistance.
  • Internet access methods impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Business-critical applications might demand redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying service providers, picking sensible service offerings, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the business PBX environment to accommodate telecommuters is vital to supporting a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older products for VoIP management. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to plan or tune a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the flexibility, transparency and protection required for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, see Cisco Unified CM consultants.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to maintain your existing CallManager environment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many companies use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications product that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex and for other IP video products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and troubleshooting services for these products and help your business to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich environment of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing information across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can help your company to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity of your remote workforce.

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 Solutions Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit solution design and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Deployment Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-driven delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to create secure web portals that allows remote workforce to see and edit consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint support services, see SharePoint configuration and development consulting.

Exchange Configuration Consultants 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. For details about Progent's Exchange support services, visit deployment consulting services for Exchange Server.

Onedrive Integration Consultants for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can store files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can access them securely via a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables home employees to jointly author documents. Revisions made offline are uploaded when you go back online. To find out about Progent's support services for OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent offers fast and affordable online assistance for helping organizations to build, manage and repair integrated network architectures that incorporate physical data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, plus cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers fix problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers more than one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and plan backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create protected connections to Azure services for teleworkers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's expertise for Azure, see Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of plans intended for users ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help you to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your teleworkers to achieve maximum business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run smoothly with local Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to guide you through challenging IT bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to make sure your telecommuters have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for TeleworkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's leading source of cloud services. Progent offers fast and affordable online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your organization to plan, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to build a high-uptime network model to make sure your employees have a productive computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a popular collection of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to scale your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline access management for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help you to utilize GCP's management tools to control and track your Google Cloud environment. For information, see Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
A rapid, company-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which might be activated by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed internal Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote technical support specialists along with world-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an affordable, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from initial service requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to check or edit their current trouble tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with complex issues. For details, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service allows your business to augment your current Help Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk services seamlessly between your regular support organization and Progent's extensive team of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service is based on a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and generating management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class desktop support to your telecommuters, go to Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home workers typically use their personal computers and usually operate in an unsecured physical environment. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and requires careful deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive end-user training, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security support consultants can assist your business to design, configure and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT resources in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to create a network that can be securely accessed by local users and by telecommuters, mobile users, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to configure and control appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow more complex. Progent works with both current and legacy security devices from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration services, see firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management Services for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices used by at-home workers and either reject or spot and respond to modern threats like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is put on every protected endpoint device, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the impacted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to verify who you are via a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized as this second means of authentication including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of external and local security attacks for a network that incorporates remote workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security inventory software for rapidly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be managed by data security experts with advanced certifications such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to audit your processes and policies and review your network infrastructure to allow you to implement top-level security for your teleworkers.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, fix, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to perform thorough penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your network security and can help you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional information about Progent's threat analysis services based on on NodeZero's pentest products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Network
To view or download a white paper describing key areas to concentrate on for securing a network that includes telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital data so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage system failures resulting from equipment issues, programming hiccups, operator error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for at-home workers must address multiple types of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a wide array of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Popular backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly envision scenarios that call for a quick changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can help your business to create, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized platform for safeguarding critical data by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing remote devices and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to deploy and validate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the devices of your telecommuters, visit Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management platform that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment via a one-time purchase. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Albany, New York business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.