Expanding your remote workforce may have a significant impact on IT architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can assist your London organization to select the right technologies and adhere to best practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers services ranging from as-needed expertise for getting you over occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help London, United Kingdom businesses to with any aspect of building a high-functioning work-at-home environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, helpdesk services, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be especially complicated if you have to manage a mix of personal equipment like PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi APs from different manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing online support for both outdated as well as modern technologies in virtual office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and offers ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help you to implement a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology makes it possible to establish a secure tunnel for authorized remote employees to access IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a wide selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to see and use a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers more control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert online support for setting up home routers from a range of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput and security problems. Progent can assist you to mitigate these problems by providing services that include Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point integration help.
  • Internet access methods impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Business-critical processes might require redundant Internet access in case the primary connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for selecting service providers, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Remote Workers
Extending the business PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are popular with SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or legacy products for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to design or maintain a remote IP voice service that delivers the flexibility, convenience and security needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer high-level support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software used throughout the network. CUCM supports additional mixed media services like messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, see Cisco Unified CM consultants.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP platforms, see Cisco CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with users operating outside the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent can help you to manage your existing conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that supports presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus editing and playback for future reference. 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 conferencing, contacts, and content with features that include IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas across multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoints. Progent has provided online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original publication and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Server Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven access to content, workflow, and tools for looking through company-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to create protected web portals that permits at-home workforce to see and edit consolidated corporate intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, see SharePoint configuration and development expertise.

Exchange Deployment Consultants for At-Home WorkersExchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. For information about Progent's Exchange expertise, visit integration expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Deployment Experts for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can access them securely through a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to co-edit files. Edits created offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent can provide advanced remote assistance for helping businesses to build, manage and repair cohesive network architectures that incorporate physical data centers, remote workers, 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, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers resolve issues with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration Services for TelecommutersMicrosoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud software and services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish protected connections to Azure for teleworkers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for users ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent offers fast and affordable remote access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can help your business to evaluate the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your remote workers to achieve top business value. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for occasional help to guide you through challenging technical bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your remote workers have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for Remote WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud integration consultants who can help your organization to design, deploy, maintain, 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 can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to create a high-availability network architecture to make sure your employees have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Integration Services for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud is a popular collection of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your critical apps cloud friendly so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your business to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline access control for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help your business to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For information, visit Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
A sudden, organization-wide switchover to a from-home workforce, which might be activated by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk support services leverage Progent's extensive team of online IT support specialists along with world-class ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an affordable, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial service requests through trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to track or revise the status of their active tickets, add details, and append screen captures or attachments. Technical support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve advanced issues. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows you to expand your current Help Desk Call Center staff by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk services seamlessly between your in-house IT support personnel and Progent's nationwide roster of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Call Center service uses a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation tool for managing help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating management reports. To learn how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class IT support to your from-home workers, visit Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home staff members commonly use their personal computers and usually operate in an unsecured physical environment. This situation increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran group of IT security solutions experts can help your business to design, implement and manage a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects critical IT assets in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users as well as by at-home workers, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and the public. Modern firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage different access rights to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security as your business evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both current and legacy security appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration services, visit firewall support expertise.

Remote Security Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate devices utilized by teleworkers and either reject or spot and respond to the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is put on every secured endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks on arrival. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint from the network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TelecommutersProgent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and give your password you are requested 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 out-of-band devices can be utilized as this second form of authentication such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several validation devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, see 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 network to all types of external and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and affordably detecting a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by security professionals with advanced credentials including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your procedures and policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of security for your an at-home workforce.

NodeZero Pen Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, prioritize, fix, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security profile. Progent can also assist you to harden your network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment services powered by on NodeZero's PEN test platform, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection for Remote Workers
The field of Data Protection involves backing up and recovering vital data in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in the event of storage system problems due to equipment breakdowns, programming glitches, operator error, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Restore strategies for at-home workers must address multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote access to consultants familiar with a broad range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically anticipate scenarios that call for a rapid changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity specialists can assist your business to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for safeguarding critical information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting mobile devices and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can use Intune to deploy and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share information, set up threat defense, verify security compliance, and wipe corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For information about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, go to Intune teleworker device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that helps network managers to keep remote endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises product via a one-time purchase. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. For information about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To contact Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your London, United Kingdom business, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.