Expanding your remote workforce may have a major effect on IT infrastructure, security, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of background helping businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Charlotte organization to pick the right tools and follow best practices in building and maintaining a secure virtual solution for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers top value. Progent offers services that go from as-needed expertise for getting you past occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Charlotte, North Caroline businesses to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-functioning work-from-home environment by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required to support an at-home workforce can be particularly challenging if you must manage a mix of personal equipment like desktop computers and laptops, routers, and wireless APs from various manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering online support for both outdated and current technologies in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary updates. Services offered by Progent to help you to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to create a secure connection for authorized remote workers to use IT assets situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad range of endpoint devices such as Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable a telecommuter to see and use a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote support for setting up home routers from all major vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by an entire household and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these problems by delivering services like Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point setup assistance.
  • Internet access methods impact the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Mission-critical applications may require backup Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking service providers, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the corporate PBX system to accommodate remote users is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based VoIP products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to plan or maintain a telecommuter VoIP service that provides the versatility, convenience and protection needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to assist organizations optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers high-end telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, see Cisco Unified CM expertise.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your current CallManager environment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, visit Cisco CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver online deployment and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from major vendors enable virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local users and teleworkers. Many organizations use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can help your organization to manage your current conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus editing and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing products from Cisco, see 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 information with features such as voice/video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist you to optimize your WAN infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user interface for exchanging information across multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first publication and can assist your company to configure these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness of your at-home 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings that include 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 (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit solution design and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Server Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to promote collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-driven access to data, workflow, and utilities for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build protected web portals that allows remote workforce to see and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, visit SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange Integration Experts 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 support services, visit integration expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Consultants for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can retrieve them securely via a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-author files. Edits made offline are uploaded when you go back online. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent can provide fast and affordable online assistance for helping businesses to create, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network architectures that include physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers fix problems with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that enables you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features over 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and plan backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish protected connections to Azure for telecommuters by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, go to Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and services are marketed in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your remote workers to achieve maximum business value. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online Integration for Remote WorkersExchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with local deployments of Exchange, enabling you to create hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for as-needed assistance to guide you past challenging IT bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for TeleworkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the world's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can assist your organization to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to create a high-uptime network model to make sure your users have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Integration Services for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular suite of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your organization to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and simplify access control for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To learn, see Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Services for Teleworkers
An emergency, company-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which might be driven by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Call Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Support Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide team of online IT support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an affordable, modern Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all aspects of online Level 1 PC technical support from service requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to track or revise their current tickets, enter information, and upload screenshots and relevant files. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent makes available optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with advanced problems. To find out more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
  • Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service enables your company to augment your existing Call Desk team by sharing responsibilities for Call Desk support services seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service is based on a collaborative support model utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing help requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class technical support to your from-home workers, see Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home staff members commonly utilize their personal computers and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive user training, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security support consultants can assist you to design, implement and manage a compliant security solution that protects critical IT assets in networks that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to create a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by telecommuters, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and the public. Modern firewall appliances permit you to configure and control different access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate devices used by at-home workers and either reject or spot and mitigate modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the infected endpoint from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are via a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added means of ID validation including a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several validation devices. To find out more about Duo identity authentication services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates at-home workers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be provided by network security experts with top certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your workflows and policies and review your network architecture to allow you to design top-level security for your teleworkers.

NodeZero Pentetration 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 environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can expose, prioritize, fix, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your network perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to design and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's PEN test platform, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection involves saving and recovering critical data in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time in the event of storage problems resulting from hardware issues, software glitches, user error, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for at-home workers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and includes granular recovery and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically envision circumstances that require a temporary switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning specialists can assist your company to develop, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of moving 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 encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a unified solution for safeguarding critical data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting remote computers and applications. Managed endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and networks, manage passwords, create VPN connections, determine how teleworkers share information, establish threat protection, verify compliance, and erase sensitive data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To find out about Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the devices of your at-home workers, visit Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management product that allows network managers to keep remote endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top features of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. For details about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home environment for your Charlotte, North Caroline organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.