Enlarging your remote workforce may have a major impact on network infrastructure, security, and company culture. Progent has 20 years of background assisting small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Augusta-Richmond County organization to pick the right tools and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and delivers top value. Progent can provide services ranging from on demand guidance for helping you over challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia businesses to with any facet of creating a high-functioning work-from-home ecosystem by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the network infrastructure required to support an at-home work environment can be especially complex if you must manage a combination of personal equipment such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering online help for both outdated and current technologies in remote office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for implement necessary updates. Support services offered by Progent to assist your company to create a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to establish a secure connection for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources located at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow a telecommuter to see and use a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides network managers significant control over the computing environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
  • Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier online consulting for setting up routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, often shared by the whole family and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and security issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these issues by providing services that include Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration help.
  • Internet connectivity methods affect the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Vital applications might require redundant Internet connections in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for picking service providers, selecting sensible bandwidth and data volume bundles, and configuring high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Telecommuters
Expanding the corporate phone system to include remote users is critical to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are used by SMBs to support remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to plan or tune a remote IP voice environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers enterprise telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media apps deployed across the network. CUCM manages other combined media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, refer to Cisco Unified CM consultants.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to maintain your current CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with clients operating outside the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your wide area network architecture to work with these solutions and provide online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many companies use a mix of products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist you to manage your existing voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for iOS and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for additional video conferencing solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with features that include video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and assist you to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software 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 applications that create a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a broad range of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can assist businesses to tune these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness of your at-home workforce.

SharePoint Server Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-driven delivery of data, business processes, and tools for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure web portals that enables remote workforce to view and edit aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, visit SharePoint integration and development consulting.

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 consulting services, go to integration consulting services for Exchange.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers can retrieve them safely via a web browser. Included with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-edit documents. Edits created offline are uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent can provide fast and affordable online assistance for helping businesses to build, manage and optimize integrated hybrid network models that combine internal data centers, teleworkers, branches, and public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers fix issues with cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular family of cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure includes more than one hundred cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure AD, and design data backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to create secure connections to Azure for telecommuters by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting services for Azure, see Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity applications and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Office applications and services are provided in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to large corporations. Progent offers quick and easy online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your teleworkers in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed help to get you through tough technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your teleworkers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for Remote WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to plan, implement, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to create a high-uptime network model so your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Integration Services for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a leading set of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your organization to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline identity control for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist you to utilize GCP's management tools to administer and track your GCP ecosystem. For details, see Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A rapid, company-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be driven by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Call Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online technical support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to provide an economical, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests to ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to monitor or revise their active trouble tickets, enter information, and append screen captures and relevant files. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent offers the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve complex issues. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
  • Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service enables your company to augment your existing Call Desk team by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support services transparently between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive team of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Help Desk service uses a co-sourcing support model based on the number one PSA platform for managing service requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To learn how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to deliver best-in-class IT support to your telecommuters, refer to Progent's Support Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
At-home employees commonly utilize their own computing devices and often operate in an unsecured physical space. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to cyber threats and requires judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive end-user training, and the development of security policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of cybersecurity solutions experts can help you to design, configure and manage a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects vital information assets in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to build a network that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by at-home workers, mobile users, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to assign and manage different permissions to different groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow more complex. Progent supports both current and legacy firewall appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration expertise, refer to firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring Services for TelecommutersOnline Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various devices utilized by telecommuters and either reject or identify and respond to modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is installed on each secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to identify new attacks at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoints stay secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo MFA managed services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and give your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a device that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized for this added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate several validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all classes of outside and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for rapidly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your operations and policies and review your IT infrastructure to allow you to implement the highest level of security for your remote workers.

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

Data Protection for Telecommuters
Data Protection involves saving and recovering critical data in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in case of storage system problems due to equipment breakdowns, programming glitches, operator error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house 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 remote help from experts knowledgeable about a broad range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically envision scenarios that require a quick changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can help your company to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a unified solution for protecting critical data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the endpoint computers of teleworkers can utilize Intune to deploy and validate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing information and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat protection, verify security compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple 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-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home solution for your Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia company, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.