Expanding your remote workforce can have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, security, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of background assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and debug IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Brighton organization to select the right tools and adhere to best practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide support services that go from on demand guidance for getting you over occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Brighton, United Kingdom organizations to succeed with any facet of creating a high-performing remote work ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, data security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required for an at-home work environment can be particularly complicated if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote support for both legacy as well as modern technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to assist you to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to establish a safe tunnel for authorized at-home employees to access IT assets situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to deploy and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your at-home workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software for secure VPN connections for a wide range of devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This gives network managers more control over the digital environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers attach home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier remote support for integrating home routers from a range of vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically supporting the whole family and visitors, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can create throughput as well as security problems. Progent can assist you to resolve these problems by delivering services like Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP integration assistance.
  • Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Vital applications might require backup Internet access in the event the primary connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for selecting ISPs, choosing sensible service offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

VoIP Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the company PBX environment to include teleworkers is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are used by SMBs to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP service that delivers the versatility, convenience and security needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers high-end telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia software deployed throughout the network. CUCM manages additional combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified CM expertise.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your WAN architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide online integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from major vendors support virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and telecommuters. Many organizations utilize multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent can assist you to manage your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, IM, audio and video conferencing plus the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to configure and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex as well as for additional video conferencing products 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 content with capabilities that include IP voice and video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging services for these conferencing platforms and help you to tune your network infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, providing a powerful environment of applications that deliver a cohesive user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoints. Progent has provided remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial releases and can assist businesses to configure these flagship collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness 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 Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of 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 can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Deployment Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build protected web portals that permits at-home workforce to see and update consolidated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, refer to SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange Deployment Experts for Remote 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 information about Progent's Exchange consulting services, go to deployment expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can access them securely through a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to co-author files. Edits created offline are synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide advanced online support for enabling businesses to create, manage and repair cohesive network architectures that include physical data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers fix issues with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure Integration for At-Home WorkersAzure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure AD, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting services for Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud services available by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to large corporations. Progent offers quick and easy online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your teleworkers in a way that delivers top business value. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for Remote WorkersExchange Online is one of the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to get you past tough IT roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management services to ensure your teleworkers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for Remote WorkersAmazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's top source of cloud services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can help your business to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to create a high-availability network model so your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Integration Services for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform is a leading set of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your critical applications cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist you to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify access management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your business to utilize GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your GCP environment. For details, go to Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Telecommuters
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which might be activated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services allow businesses to outsource or augment their Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center support services leverage Progent's extensive network of remote IT support experts combined with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an affordable, modern Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 PC support from service requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to check or update the status of their active tickets, add details, and upload screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service charges, and Progent offers optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve advanced problems. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service enables your company to augment your existing Help Desk Call Center team by splitting delivery of Help Desk Call Center support services seamlessly between your regular IT support staff and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service uses a co-sourcing support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing reports. For information about how Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Services can enable your business to provide best-in-class desktop support to your telecommuters, go to Progent's Help Desk supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members typically utilize their own devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to cyber threats and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough user education, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of data security solutions experts can assist your business to design, implement and manage a compliant security solution that protects vital IT assets in environments that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to create a network that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate access rights to various classes of users and to expand your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both current and legacy firewall devices from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall configuration services, go to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for At-Home WorkersOnline Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices used by remote workers and either reject or spot and respond to modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every secured endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Two-factor Authentication Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and give your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a device that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used as this added means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity validation services, go 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 classes of external and local security threats for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security analysis scanning for quickly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be provided by data security experts with advanced certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your operations and governance policies and assess your network architecture to enable you to implement the highest level of security for your remote workers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, remediate, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional information about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
The field of Data Protection involves saving and recovering vital data in order to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in case of storage problems due to equipment issues, software glitches, operator error, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features granular recovery and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies often envision scenarios that call for a temporary changeover to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity consultants can assist you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a centralized solution for safeguarding critical information by managing on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and software. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the endpoint devices of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the devices of your at-home workforce, see Intune mobile device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified MDM platform that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product through a one-time purchase. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about building and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Brighton, United Kingdom company, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.