Enlarging your remote workforce can have a major effect on network architecture, security/compliance, and company processes. Progent has two decades of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, administer, optimize, and debug IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can help your Calgary organization to pick the appropriate tools and follow best practices in building and maintaining a secure virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed expertise for helping you past challenging technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Calgary, Alberta businesses to with any facet of creating a high-functioning work-from-home environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Call Desk outsourcing, data security, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be particularly complex if you have to accommodate a combination of personal hardware like desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless APs from various manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering remote help for both outdated as well as current IT products in virtual office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential updates. Support services available from Progent to assist you to create a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • VPN technology allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authorized at-home employees to use IT resources situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to see and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This provides network managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier online support for integrating routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by an entire household and guests, are frequently used by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can create performance and security issues. Progent can help you to resolve these problems by delivering expertise like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup assistance.
  • Internet access solutions impact the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Line-of-business applications might demand redundant Internet access in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying ISPs, selecting sensible bandwidth and data volume packages, and integrating high-availability Internet connections. See Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for Remote Workers
Expanding the company phone system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based VoIP platforms are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or tune a remote VoIP service that delivers the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support an expanding remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers advanced IP telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications used across the network. CUCM supports other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can assist your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, visit Cisco CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with clients working beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver on-demand deployment and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many companies use a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent can help your organization to manage your current conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to support your at-home employees. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus editing and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's consulting services for Webex as well as for additional IP video products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with features that include voice/video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Teams and 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 services for these conferencing platforms and help your business to tune your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, offering a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that create a cohesive user experience for sharing information throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can help your company to deploy these flagship collaboration products to optimize 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 and Teams Premium Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Configuration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-based access to data, workflow, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create protected web portals that enables remote workers to view and update aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, refer to SharePoint integration and application 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 details about Progent's Exchange consulting services, see integration expertise for Microsoft Exchange.

Onedrive Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers can retrieve them safely via a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to jointly author documents. Revisions made offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent offers advanced remote support for enabling organizations to build, maintain and repair integrated network models that include internal data centers, teleworkers, branches, plus cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure Integration for TelecommutersMicrosoft Azure is a popular family of cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers more than 100 services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish protected connections to Azure for remote workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are marketed in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from students and households to large enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help you to evaluate the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your teleworkers in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration services.

Exchange Online Integration for At-Home WorkersExchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run smoothly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for occasional help to guide you past tough IT bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for Remote WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's top source of cloud services. Progent can provide rapid and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can help your organization to plan, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to create a high-availability network model so your employees have a productive computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a leading suite of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your critical apps cloud ready so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline access management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent can also help your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To find out, go to Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Telecommuters
A sudden, organization-wide changeover to a from-home workforce, which might be activated by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a high-performing in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or expand their Call Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk services leverage Progent's extensive team of remote technical support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an affordable, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop technical support from initial service requests through ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to monitor or revise their current tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent offers optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with advanced problems. To find out more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service allows your business to supplement your existing Call Desk staff by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk services seamlessly between your regular IT support organization and Progent's nationwide team of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Call Center service uses a collaborative support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing service requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and generating reports. For information about how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your business to provide world-class IT support to your at-home workforce, see Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
At-home staff members typically use their own computing devices and often work in an unsecured physical space. This multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for careful deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of data security support experts can help your business to design, implement and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital information resources in environments that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to create a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users as well as by at-home workers, mobile users, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to assign and manage appropriate permissions to various groups of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks grow more complex. Progent supports both current and older security appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration services, refer to firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices utilized by teleworkers and either block or spot and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect new threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the targeted device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoints remain protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity verification on Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account 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 used for this second means of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. For more information about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

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 incorporates teleworkers. Progent can run remote, automated security inventory software for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be provided by security professionals with advanced certifications such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your workflows and policies and review your IT infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your remote workers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, fix, and confirm security vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security posture. Progent can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and provides optimum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's vulnerability analysis services powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To read or download a white paper describing key things to focus on for protecting a network that includes telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
Data Protection involves saving and recovering vital data in order to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage problems due to equipment breakdowns, software glitches, human error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must address multiple kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent offers fast remote help from experts familiar with a wide range of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular restore and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans commonly anticipate scenarios that require a temporary switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist you to develop, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for protecting critical data by managing onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft 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 off-premises devices and software. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, control how home-based workers share data, establish threat defense, ensure security compliance, and wipe sensitive data from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, visit Intune mobile device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM product that helps network administrators to keep offsite endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment through a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For details about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive telecommuter solution for your Calgary, Alberta company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.