Expanding your telecommuter workforce can have a major effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of experience helping SMBs to design, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Broomfield organization to pick the right tools and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand expertise for helping you over occasional IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can assist Broomfield, Colorado companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing remote work ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, data security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a combination of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both legacy as well as modern technologies in virtual office venues allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making essential updates. Support services offered by Progent to help you to implement a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • VPN connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home employees to access IT assets located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can assist your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide range of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) 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 at-home employees and ensures them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier online support for deploying home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically supporting an entire household and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these issues by providing expertise that include Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup help.
  • Internet connectivity methods impact the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Line-of-business applications may demand backup Internet access in the event the normal connection fails. Progent can provide expertise for identifying service providers, picking appropriate service packages, and configuring redundant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the business PBX environment to include teleworkers is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice service that delivers the versatility, convenience and protection needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer advanced support to assist businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends advanced IP telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia apps used across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional combined media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM support, see Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, visit CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with users working beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and provide online integration and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad selection of video conferencing platforms from major vendors enable online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can help your organization to manage your existing conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to set up and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support expertise for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities such as video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a rich environment of applications that deliver a cohesive user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial publication and can assist your company to deploy these critical collaboration products to optimize the productivity of your remote workforce.

SharePoint Server Deployment Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to build secure portals that allows at-home workers to see and update aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, refer to SharePoint integration and development consulting.

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 expertise, see planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Exchange.

Microsoft Onedrive Configuration Consultants for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can share them securely through a web browser. Provided with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows at-home employees to co-edit files. Edits made offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent offers affordable online support for helping organizations to build, maintain and optimize cohesive hybrid network models that include internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers fix problems with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers over 100 services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create protected access to Azure services for telecommuters by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of business productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office applications and cloud services are provided in a selection of bundles designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to large enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your teleworkers in a way that delivers top business value. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration Services for TelecommutersExchange Online is among the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for as-needed assistance to get you past tough IT bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration for At-Home WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top source of cloud services. Progent can provide quick and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your business to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other public clouds such as Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist you to build a high-availability network model so your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud is a popular collection of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to scale your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your critical apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity management for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. For information, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Telecommuters
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a from-home business model, which could be activated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services leverage Progent's nationwide team of remote technical support experts combined with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, modern Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop technical support from help requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to track or revise the status of their active tickets, add information, and append screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service charges, and Progent offers optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with complex problems. For details, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service allows your business to supplement your existing Help Desk staff by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk support transparently between your in-house IT support personnel and Progent's extensive roster of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service is based on a collaborative support model utilizing the leading professional services automation platform for managing service requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and producing reports. For information about how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to deliver best-in-class technical support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically utilize their own computers and usually work in a poorly secured physical space. This increases their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for careful deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user education, and the creation of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned team of data security support experts can help your business to design, implement and maintain a compliant security solution that guards critical information resources in environments that include remote workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users and by an at-home workforce, mobile users, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your security profile as your company evolves and as network attacks grow more complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, see firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Security Monitoring and Management Services for TelecommutersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various computers utilized by remote workers and either reject or identify and mitigate the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is put on every protected endpoint device, watching all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the impacted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for remote workers.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo authentication services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are on a device that only you have and that uses a separate network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added form of ID validation including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. For more information about ProSight Duo identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of outside and local security attacks for a network that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can run online, automated security inventory software for rapidly and affordably detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by network security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help you to audit your workflows and governance policies and review your network infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your telecommuters.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
The field of Data Protection involves backing up and recovering vital information in order to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage failures due to hardware breakdowns, programming glitches, operator mistakes, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially challenging to design and manage in hybrid networks that combine private data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick online access to experts familiar with a wide range of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery products supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes granular restore and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically anticipate circumstances that require a rapid switch to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning specialists can help you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a unified environment for safeguarding critical information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, control how home-based workers share data, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and delete sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the devices of your telecommuters, refer to Intune remote endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management product that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for authorization control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment through a perpetual license. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. To learn about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Broomfield, Colorado company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.