Enlarging your telecommuter workforce can have a major effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of experience helping SMBs to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that support work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Alpharetta organization to pick the appropriate tools and follow leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you past occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Alpharetta, Georgia organizations to with any aspect of building a high-functioning work-at-home environment by providing infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required to support a remote workforce can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a mix of personal equipment like desktop computers and laptops, routers, and wireless appliances from various manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online help for both outdated and modern IT products in virtual office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary updates. Support services offered by Progent to help you to create a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to use IT assets located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist you to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a broad range of endpoint devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a teleworker to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This provides network managers more control over the computing environment of telecommuters and offers them a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote support for integrating home routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, often supporting an entire household and visitors, are frequently used by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise like Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point integration help.
  • Internet access solutions impact the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Line-of-business applications may demand redundant Internet connections in the event the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for selecting service providers, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume packages, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Expanding the corporate phone environment to include teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based IP voice platforms are used by SMBs to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to plan or maintain a telecommuter IP voice environment that delivers the versatility, convenience and security required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to help businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends high-end telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed throughout the network. CUCM manages other mixed media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified CM consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice platforms, visit CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and deliver on-demand integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies enable online meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many companies utilize multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the engagement of your remote workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that enables presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing plus the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus editing and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for other video conferencing products from Cisco, see 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 features that include voice/video calling, persistent chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help your business to tune your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office families, providing a powerful environment of applications that create a cohesive user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can help your company to tune 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 Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Server Deployment Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint uses web entities to promote collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-based access to data, workflow, and tools for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that allows remote workforce to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint expertise, visit SharePoint configuration and development expertise.

Exchange Integration 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 learn about Progent's Exchange expertise, go to integration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can access them securely via a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-author documents. Revisions created offline are automatically synced when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced remote support for enabling businesses to create, manage and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, plus cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersAzure is a leading family of cloud services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers over one hundred cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and plan backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's support services for Azure, refer to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help you to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your at-home workers to achieve top business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run transparently with local deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed help to guide you past challenging technical bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management services to ensure your remote workers have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration for Remote WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top source of cloud services. Progent offers rapid and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud is a popular collection of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to extend your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also help you to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For information, see Google Cloud Platform integration expertise.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
An emergency, organization-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which might be driven by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services leverage Progent's nationwide team of online IT support experts combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an economical, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from initial service requests through ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to monitor or update their active tickets, add information, and append screenshots or relevant files. Desktop support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex issues. For more information, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Help Desk Supplemental Service allows your business to augment your current Help Desk organization by splitting delivery of Help Desk support services seamlessly between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service is based on a collaborative support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and producing reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can enable your business to deliver world-class technical support to your telecommuters, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees commonly use their personal devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical area. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to malware threats and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the development of security policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security solutions consultants can assist your business to plan, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards vital information resources in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to create a network that can be safely utilized by local users as well as by teleworkers, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage appropriate permissions to various classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your security as your company evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent works with both current and legacy firewall appliances from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall integration services, visit firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the various devices used by at-home workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on each protected endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new threats before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoints stay protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a device that only you possess and that uses a different network channel. A wide selection of devices can be utilized for this second form of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. To learn more about Duo identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all types of external and local security threats for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and economically uncovering a broad range of security gaps that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security experts with top certifications including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your workflows and policies and review your network infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of security for your an at-home workforce.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous testing of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, remediate, and confirm security vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your network security and can help you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To view or download a white paper describing critical areas to concentrate on for protecting an IT environment that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers saving and recovering critical information in order to prevent data loss and reduce recovery time in case of storage problems due to equipment issues, software glitches, user mistakes, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features granular recovery and unified management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically anticipate scenarios that call for a rapid switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can help you to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for protecting corporate information by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile computers and applications. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can use Intune to deploy and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing information and networks, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share data, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and wipe sensitive information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For information about Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management product that allows network managers to keep remote endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site product through a one-time purchase. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Alpharetta, Georgia business, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.