Enlarging your remote workforce may have a significant impact on network infrastructure, security, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Brighton organization to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers services that go from on demand guidance for getting you over occasional IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Brighton, United Kingdom companies to succeed with any facet of creating a high-performing telecommuting environment by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, helpdesk outsourcing, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support an at-home workforce can be particularly complex if you have to accommodate a mix of personal hardware like PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless APs from various vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both legacy as well as current IT products in virtual office venues enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for implement essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help you to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to establish a safe tunnel for authenticated remote workers to use IT resources situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA experts can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software for safe VPN connections for a wide selection of devices including Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow a telecommuter to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
  • Routers attach home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote consulting for setting up routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically supporting an entire household and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their router for work. This can create performance as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by providing expertise that include Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP integration help.
  • Internet access solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Line-of-business applications might require redundant Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying Internet service providers, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume bundles, and configuring high-availability Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the corporate phone environment to include teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice products are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or tune a remote VoIP service that delivers the versatility, transparency and security needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer high-level support to help businesses optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends high-end IP telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP platforms, see CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with users operating beyond the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network infrastructure to support these solutions and provide online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing platforms from major vendors enable virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many organizations use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your existing conferencing ecosystem and optimize the engagement of your remote workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for other IP video 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 portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with features that include video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging expertise for these products and assist your business to optimize your WAN infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a rich environment of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first publication and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness 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 deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Server Configuration Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-driven delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create secure web portals that allows at-home workers to view and edit consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, visit SharePoint configuration and application development expertise.

Exchange Deployment Consultants 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange expertise, go to deployment consulting for Exchange.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Consultants for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues can retrieve them safely through a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows home workers to co-author documents. Edits made offline are synced when you go back online. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent can provide fast and affordable online support for helping businesses to build, manage and repair integrated network architectures that include internal data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers fix issues with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft 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 applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features more than 100 services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and plan data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create protected access to Azure for remote workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, visit Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Office apps and services are provided in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to large corporations. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent 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 maximum business value. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online Integration for TelecommutersExchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing you to create hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for as-needed help to get you past challenging IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your remote workers have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for TeleworkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can help your organization to design, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-uptime network model so your employees have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform is a popular set of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical apps cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your business to deploy VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity control for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also assist your business to use GCP's management tools to administer and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To find out, visit Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk services leverage Progent's extensive network of remote IT support experts combined with world-class ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of online Level 1 PC technical support from initial service requests through trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to check or edit their active tickets, add information, and append screenshots and relevant files. Technical support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available optional fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve complex problems. To find out more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
  • Progent's Call Center Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your current Support Desk team by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center services seamlessly between your regular support personnel and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service is based on a collaborative support model utilizing the number one PSA tool for handling service requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To learn how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to deliver best-in-class technical support to your at-home employees, visit Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
At-home staff members typically utilize their own computers and usually work in an unsecured physical space. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security solutions experts can help you to design, implement and manage a compliant security solution that protects critical information assets in networks that incorporate remote workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to build a network that can be safely utilized by local users and by telecommuters, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances allow you to assign and manage different access rights to various groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your security as your business evolves and as network attacks become more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older security appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Security Monitoring for TelecommutersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices utilized by at-home workers and either block or spot and respond to modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint software agent is put on each protected endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the impacted endpoint from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a secured application and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this second form of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register several verification devices. For more information about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all types of external and internal security threats for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy online, automated security analysis scanning for rapidly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by network security experts with top certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help you to audit your procedures and governance policies and assess your network infrastructure to enable you to implement top-level security for your at-home workers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, prioritize, fix, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more details about Progent's threat analysis solutions powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
Data Protection involves saving and restoring critical information so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in the event of storage system problems resulting from hardware issues, programming glitches, user error, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for an at-home workforce must cover multiple kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast remote access to experts familiar with a broad array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans often anticipate circumstances that call for a temporary changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning consultants can help your company to produce, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified solution for safeguarding corporate information by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting mobile computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for permission to access data and networks, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For information about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, visit Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment through a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, unifies reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. To find out about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about building and maintaining a productive telecommuter environment for your Brighton, United Kingdom business, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.