Expanding your at-home workforce can have a major impact on network architecture, security, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Bristol company to select the right tools and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum business value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand expertise for helping you past occasional IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent can help Bristol, United Kingdom organizations to succeed with any facet of building a high-performing remote work ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, helpdesk outsourcing, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the network infrastructure required to support a remote workforce can be particularly complicated if you must accommodate a mix of worker-owned equipment like PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both outdated as well as current IT products in virtual office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making essential upgrades. Services offered by Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to create a safe connection for authorized at-home employees to access IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to deploy and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide range of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable a teleworker to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This provides network managers more control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier remote consulting for integrating routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by the whole family and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to resolve these problems by delivering services that include Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup help.
  • Internet access methods impact the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Line-of-business processes might require redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for identifying service providers, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet access. See Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Integration for Remote Workers
Expanding the business PBX system to accommodate telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or older products for IP voice solutions. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to plan or tune a remote VoIP environment that provides the versatility, transparency and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide high-level support to assist businesses tune their current Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP 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 additional mixed media services like messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, see CUCM consulting services.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, visit Cisco CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including 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 expertise.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and provide online configuration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from major vendors enable online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and telecommuters. Many companies utilize a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to manage your existing conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow 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 online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus editing and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex and for other IP video products from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities that include voice/video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your network infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful environment of productivity apps that create a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can assist your company to deploy these critical collaboration products 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 Integration Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Deployment Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-driven delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to build protected web portals that permits remote workers to view and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, visit SharePoint configuration and development expertise.

Exchange Integration 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. For details about Progent's Exchange support services, refer to deployment consulting 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 save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can access them securely through a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to co-author files. Edits made offline are uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's support services for OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers affordable online assistance for enabling businesses to build, maintain and troubleshoot integrated hybrid network architectures that incorporate internal data centers, remote workers, branches, and cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers resolve issues with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create secure access to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from students and households to large corporations. Progent offers fast and easy online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your remote workers to achieve maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersExchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, enabling you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for as-needed help to get you past tough technical bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for At-Home WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the world's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your organization to plan, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist you to create a high-availability network model to make sure your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Integration for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a leading set of cloud computing 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 you to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can help your organization to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline identity control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist you to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your Google Cloud environment. To learn, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
A fast, organization-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which might be activated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive network of remote technical support experts combined with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC support from initial service requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to check or edit the status of their active tickets, enter details, and append screenshots or attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex problems. To learn more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service allows your business to expand your current Help Desk Call Center organization by splitting delivery of Support Desk support services transparently between your regular support personnel and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk service is based on a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To learn how Progent's Support Desk Supplementation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class desktop support to your teleworkers, visit Progent's Call Desk supplementation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members typically utilize their own computers and often work in an unsecured physical space. This increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive user education, and the creation of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security solutions experts can assist your business to design, implement and manage an effective security solution that protects critical information resources in environments that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by on-premises users as well as by telecommuters, mobile employees, suppliers, customers, and the public. Modern firewall devices permit you to assign and manage appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security appliances from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration services, visit firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various computers used by telecommuters and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is installed on every protected endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay protected even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a protected application and give your password you are asked to confirm who you are via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be used as this second means of ID validation such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all types of outside and internal security threats for an environment that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for rapidly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be managed by data security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your operations and policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your telecommuters.

NodeZero Pen Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, rank, fix, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers maximum cyber defense for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more information about Progent's vulnerability assessment services based on on NodeZero's pentest products, see Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Network
To view or download a white paper describing critical things to concentrate on for securing an IT environment that supports telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital information in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in case of storage failures due to equipment issues, software glitches, operator error, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast remote access to experts knowledgeable about a wide range of products for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery products supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically envision circumstances that call for a quick changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity consultants can assist your business to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for protecting critical data by managing local, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing remote computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat protection, verify security compliance, and delete sensitive data from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For details about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the devices of your at-home workforce, see Intune mobile device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, 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 via a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. For information 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 managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Bristol, United Kingdom business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.