Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major effect on IT infrastructure, security, and corporate workflows. Progent has two decades of experience assisting small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, administer, tune, and debug IT networks that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Lima organization to select the appropriate technologies and follow leading practices in building and operating a secure virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and delivers top value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed guidance for helping you past occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Lima, #(state) companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing work-from-home environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the network infrastructure needed for a remote workforce can be especially challenging if you must manage a combination of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from different vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online help for both legacy and current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help you to create a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to create a safe tunnel for authorized remote workers to use IT resources located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your at-home workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a wide range of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products allow a teleworker to see and use a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers more control over the computing environment of at-home employees and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier online consulting for integrating home routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by an entire household and guests, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and security problems. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP setup help.
  • Internet access methods impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Line-of-business applications might demand backup Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for identifying service providers, choosing sensible service bundles, and integrating redundant Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the corporate phone system to include remote users is vital to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based IP voice platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or maintain a remote IP voice environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer advanced support to help businesses optimize their existing Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends high-end IP telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software used throughout the network. CUCM supports other mixed media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can help your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, refer to CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients operating outside the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your wide area network 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 enable online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many organizations utilize multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can help you to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the engagement of your at-home employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Webex as well as for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video conferencing, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and debugging expertise for these products and assist you to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that create a consistent user interface for exchanging information throughout a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original publication and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration products to maximize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

SharePoint Server Configuration Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to create secure web portals that enables at-home workers to view and edit consolidated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

Exchange Deployment 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. For details about Progent's Exchange expertise, go to integration consulting services for Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can share them safely through a web browser. Provided with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-author documents. Revisions made offline are automatically synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers advanced online assistance for enabling businesses to build, manage and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, plus public cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers resolve issues with cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration for TelecommutersAzure is a leading family of cloud services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over 100 cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure access to Azure for telecommuters by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office applications and services are provided in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy remote contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist your business to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online Integration for Remote WorkersExchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing you to build hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to get you past challenging technical bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for Remote WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the world's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can help your organization to design, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to create a high-uptime network model so your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud Platform Integration for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud is a popular collection of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your organization to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your business to deploy virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity control for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help you to utilize GCP's management tools to control and track your GCP environment. For details, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting services.

Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A fast, company-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which might be activated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk support services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from help requests to trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to track or revise the status of their active tickets, enter details, and upload screenshots or relevant files. Desktop support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve complex problems. For more information, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service allows your company to supplement your existing Help Desk staff by splitting delivery of Call Desk support transparently between your in-house support personnel and Progent's extensive team of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk service is based on a collaborative support model utilizing the number one PSA tool for handling help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For information about how Progent's Support Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to deliver best-in-class IT support to your at-home employees, visit Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home staff members commonly utilize their own computers and usually operate in an unsecured physical area. This situation increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and calls for careful configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user education, and the creation of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of cybersecurity support experts can assist your business to design, configure and maintain a compliant security solution that guards vital IT resources in networks that include at-home workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to build a network environment that can be safely accessed by on-premises users as well as by at-home workers, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and the public. Modern firewall appliances permit you to configure and control different access rights to various classes 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 current and older firewall appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall support expertise, visit firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for TeleworkersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various computers used by at-home workers and either reject 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 secured endpoint, watching all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the infected endpoint from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo MFA service plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used for this second form of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several validation devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all types of external and local security threats for an environment that includes telecommuters. Progent can run online, automated security inventory software for quickly and affordably uncovering 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 data security professionals with advanced credentials including CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your processes and governance policies and review your network architecture to allow you to implement the highest level of security for your at-home workers.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection involves saving and restoring critical data in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in case of storage system problems due to hardware breakdowns, programming glitches, operator mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for at-home workers must address diverse kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick online help from experts familiar with a broad array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and includes granular recovery and unified management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often envision scenarios that call for a temporary changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity consultants can help you to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized environment for protecting critical information by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or business owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share information, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and erase sensitive data from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, see Intune telecommuter endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM platform that helps network managers to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient telecommuter environment for your Lima, #(state) company, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.