Expanding your at-home workforce may have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Anchorage organization to select the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in building and maintaining a secure virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and returns top business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand expertise for helping you past occasional IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Anchorage, Alaska companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing work-at-home environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, Help Desk services, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required for an at-home work environment can be especially complicated if you have to manage a combination of personal equipment like PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless appliances from different vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering remote support for both outdated and current IT products in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network technology allows you to create a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to access IT resources located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA experts can assist your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software for secure VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a telecommuter to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides network managers more control over the computing environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent offers expert online consulting for configuring routers from a range of vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically supporting an entire household and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by providing services like Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP integration assistance.
  • Internet access solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Mission-critical applications may require redundant Internet access in case the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for picking Internet service providers, choosing sensible service offerings, and configuring fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the company PBX system to include telecommuters is vital to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric IP voice products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or tune a remote IP voice environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and security needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize 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 capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist you to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients 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 series and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many organizations use multiple products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home 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 phone app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for other IP video products from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities that include IP voice and video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist you to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for exchanging data and ideas across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial publication and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity of your at-home workers.

SharePoint Server Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-driven access to content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create secure web portals that permits at-home workforce to see and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, go to SharePoint integration and development consulting.

Exchange Integration 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. To learn about Progent's Exchange expertise, visit planning and configuration expertise for Exchange Server.

Onedrive Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them safely through a browser. Included with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-author documents. Edits created offline are automatically synced when you go back online. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent offers advanced remote assistance for enabling businesses to create, manage and repair integrated hybrid network architectures that include internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus cloud resources. Progent offers 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 (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers fix problems with public cloud access, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure Integration for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected access to Azure services for teleworkers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Azure, visit Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of plans designed for users ranging from individuals and small offices to large corporations. Progent can provide quick and affordable online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your at-home workers to achieve top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed assistance to guide you through challenging IT roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for Remote WorkersAmazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and economical online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist you to build a high-availability network model to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Integration Services for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading set of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your key applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist you to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and track your GCP ecosystem. For information, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Services for Teleworkers
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a telecommuter business model, which could be motivated by a pandemic or as part of a business continuity plan, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or expand their Support Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

  • Progent's Standard Support Desk support services leverage Progent's nationwide team of online IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests through trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to monitor or edit their current tickets, add details, and upload screen captures and attachments. Technical support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex problems. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service allows your company to expand your current Help Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk support services transparently between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service is based on a collective support solution based on the number one professional services automation platform for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. For information about how Progent's Support Desk Supplementation Services can help your company to provide world-class desktop support to your teleworkers, see Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically utilize their personal devices and often work in an unsecured physical space. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to malware attacks and requires careful deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user education, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security support consultants can help your business to plan, configure and manage a compliant security solution that guards vital IT assets in environments that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to create a network that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different permissions to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats become more complex. Progent works with both current and older security devices from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support expertise, go to firewall support services.

Remote Security Monitoring Services for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the disparate devices used by teleworkers and either block or spot and respond to the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on every protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the infected device from the network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo MFA services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity verification on iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to verify your identity on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used for this added means of authentication including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register multiple validation devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for at-home workers.

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 a network that includes remote workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by network security professionals with advanced certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your workflows and policies and assess your IT infrastructure to enable you to implement the highest level of security for your remote workers.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring critical data in order to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in case of storage failures resulting from equipment issues, software glitches, human mistakes, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast remote access to experts knowledgeable about a broad range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often envision scenarios that require a temporary changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist you to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager offers a unified solution for safeguarding corporate data by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure rules for permission to access information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how teleworkers share information, set up threat defense, ensure compliance, and wipe corporate data from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For information about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the devices of your at-home workforce, visit Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises product through a one-time purchase. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing a productive telecommuter solution for your Anchorage, Alaska business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.