Expanding your at-home workforce may have a significant effect on network architecture, security/compliance, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of background assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can help your Charleston company to pick the right tools and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual office solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers services that go from on demand guidance for helping you past challenging IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Charleston, South Carolina businesses to with any facet of building a high-performing telecommuting environment by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, Call Desk augmentation, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the network 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 variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering online support for both legacy and modern IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Services available from Progent to help your company to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authorized remote employees to access IT resources situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can assist your remote workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a wide range of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable an at-home worker to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This provides network managers substantial control over the digital environment of at-home employees and ensures remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
  • Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier online consulting for configuring home routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically supporting the whole family and guests, are frequently used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can create throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these issues by providing expertise that include Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup assistance.
  • Internet connectivity methods affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Vital applications may demand backup Internet connections in case the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for selecting service providers, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for Teleworkers
Extending the corporate phone environment to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based digital PBX products are used by SMBs to server telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice service that provides the versatility, convenience and security required for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist businesses optimize their existing Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers high-end telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. CUCM supports additional mixed media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your current CallManager environment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these solutions and provide online integration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from major vendors enable online discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many organizations use multiple conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that supports presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to support your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for additional video conferencing products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities that include voice/video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional 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 products and help you to tune your WAN infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office families, offering a powerful environment of applications that create a consistent user interface for exchanging information throughout multiple sites and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can help businesses to tune these flagship collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness of your remote workforce.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium Integration Consultants for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build secure web portals that allows remote workers to see and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, go to SharePoint configuration and application 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 expertise, refer to integration consulting services for Exchange.

Onedrive Configuration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can retrieve them securely through a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to co-author files. Edits made offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote support for helping businesses to build, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive network models that include physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and public cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help remote workers fix issues with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure Integration for TelecommutersMicrosoft Azure is a leading family of cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over 100 cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent offers fast and easy online contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help your business to assess the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your teleworkers to achieve top business value. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run smoothly with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional help to guide you through tough IT roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your teleworkers have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's support services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for TeleworkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to plan, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-uptime network model to make sure your employees have a productive computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud Platform Integration for At-Home WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading set of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your organization to scale your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your key apps cloud ready so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage, and simplify identity management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. For details, visit Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Remote Workers
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a teleworker workforce, which could be activated by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Call Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or expand their Help Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide network of online IT support experts along with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, modern Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial service requests to trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to monitor or revise their current tickets, add details, and append screen captures or relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service charges, and Progent makes available the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced problems. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Supplemental Service allows you to supplement your existing Help Desk Call Center organization by sharing responsibilities for Call Desk support services seamlessly between your in-house support personnel and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk service is based on a collective support solution based on the leading professional services automation platform for handling help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Services can enable your business to deliver world-class desktop support to your telecommuters, visit Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically utilize their own computers and usually operate in an unsecured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to malware threats and requires careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user education, and the development of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of data security solutions experts can help your business to plan, configure and manage an effective security solution that guards critical information assets in environments that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by local users and by telecommuters, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances allow you to assign and manage different access rights to various groups of users and to expand your network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy firewall appliances from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, refer to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for At-Home WorkersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices used by teleworkers and either block or spot and mitigate modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every protected endpoint, watching all activity and using advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the impacted endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are asked to verify who you are on a device that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used as this added means of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity validation services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates remote workers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and affordably detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by security experts with advanced certifications including CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your business to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and review your WAN infrastructure to allow you to implement top-level protection for your telecommuters.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, fix, and verify security weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your current security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to strengthen your network security and can help you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional information about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment
To view or download a white paper describing key areas to focus on for securing a network that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring vital data in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in the event of storage failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, human mistakes, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for teleworkers must cover multiple kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote help from consultants familiar with a wide range of products for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features fine-grained restore and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically anticipate scenarios that require a rapid switch to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning specialists can help your company to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

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

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and validate apps on devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how home-based workers share information, establish threat defense, ensure security compliance, and erase corporate data from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune can be used with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. To find out about Intune and how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the devices of your teleworkers, go to Intune mobile device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing an efficient work-from-home environment for your Charleston, South Carolina business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.