Enlarging your remote workforce can have a major effect on network infrastructure, security, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to design, configure, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Centennial company to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand expertise for getting you over occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Centennial, Colorado companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, helpdesk augmentation, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required for a remote workforce can be particularly complex if you have to accommodate a combination of personal hardware like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering online support for both outdated as well as current IT products in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to assist you to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity makes it possible to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home employees to access IT resources situated at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to configure and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall experts can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to view and use a remote PC's desktop. This technology provides network managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier online support for configuring home routers from a variety of vendors. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, often shared by families and guests, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help you to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise like Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup help.
  • Internet connectivity methods affect the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Business-critical applications may require redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for picking ISPs, choosing appropriate service packages, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Telecommuters
Extending the company PBX environment to accommodate telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are used by SMBs to support teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or older products for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or maintain a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the versatility, convenience and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other combined media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, refer to CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users operating beyond the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many companies utilize multiple conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that enables presence, instant messaging, 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, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex as well as for additional IP video solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a powerful environment of productivity apps that create a cohesive user interface for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoints. Progent has provided online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original releases and can help businesses to deploy these critical 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 Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-based delivery of content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build protected portals that enables remote workforce to see and update consolidated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, visit SharePoint configuration and development expertise.

Exchange Deployment Consultants for At-Home 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 consulting expertise, see integration expertise for Exchange.

Onedrive Deployment Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers can share them securely via a browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables home workers to co-edit documents. Edits created offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's support services for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers advanced remote support for enabling organizations to build, manage and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, plus cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters resolve issues with cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersAzure is a popular platform for public cloud software and services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes over 100 services services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create protected connections to Azure for teleworkers by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Microsoft apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and affordable remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to assess the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Exchange Online Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to guide you through tough technical roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your remote workers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for TeleworkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to plan, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to build a high-availability network architecture to make sure your users 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, go to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Integration Services for At-Home WorkersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a popular collection of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to scale your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist you to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline identity control for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To find out, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which might be the result of an epidemic or as an element of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for businesses to outsource or expand their Help Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online IT support specialists along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to monitor or edit their active tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures and relevant files. Support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent makes available the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve complex problems. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows you to supplement your current Help Desk Call Center staff by splitting delivery of Support Desk support seamlessly between your in-house support personnel and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service uses a collaborative support model based on the number one professional services automation tool for managing help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Services can enable your business to deliver best-in-class technical support to your at-home employees, go to Progent's Help Desk supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Telecommuters
At-home staff members commonly utilize their personal computers and usually operate in a poorly secured physical environment. This multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and requires careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of IT security solutions consultants can assist you to plan, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards critical IT resources in environments that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by telecommuters, mobile users, vendors, clients, and the public. Modern firewall devices allow you to assign and control appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to expand your network and modify your security as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy security devices from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support expertise, visit firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate devices utilized by teleworkers and either block or spot and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every protected endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the impacted endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo authentication Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected application and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are on a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad range of devices can be used as this second means of authentication including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo identity validation services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of external and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be provided by security experts with advanced credentials including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your workflows and governance policies and assess your IT architecture to allow you to implement the highest level of protection for your at-home workers.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, prioritize, fix, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts 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 profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers optimum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional information about Progent's threat analysis services based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To view or download a white paper describing critical things to focus on for protecting a network that includes work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Remote Workers
Data Protection covers backing up and restoring vital data so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time in case of storage system failures resulting from equipment issues, software glitches, user mistakes, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for an at-home workforce must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote access to experts familiar with a wide array of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data spread across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained restore and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically anticipate scenarios that call for a rapid switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a unified environment for protecting corporate data by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting off-premises computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and networks, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat defense, ensure compliance, and wipe sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For details about Intune and how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, refer to Intune telecommuter device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment through a one-time purchase. Key features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining a productive telecommuter solution for your Centennial, Colorado company, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.