Expanding your remote workforce may have a major effect on IT architecture, security/compliance, and company workflows. Progent has two decades of background helping SMBs to plan, configure, administer, tune, and debug IT environments that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Midland company to select the right tools and adhere to leading practices in creating and operating a secure virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand expertise for helping you over occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Midland, Texas organizations to with any facet of building a high-functioning work-from-home environment by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be especially challenging if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from different manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online support for both legacy and current technologies in virtual office venues enables you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for implement essential updates. Services offered by Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • VPN technology makes it possible to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated remote workers to access IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your remote workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable an at-home worker to view and use a remote PC's desktop. This gives IT managers more control over the computing environment of at-home employees and ensures them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier online consulting for configuring home routers from all major vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by families and guests, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their router for work. This can create throughput as well as security problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by providing services that include Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup help.
  • Internet access solutions affect the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Business-critical applications might require backup Internet connections in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying ISPs, picking appropriate service packages, and integrating redundant Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

VoIP Integration for Teleworkers
Extending the corporate PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to supporting a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based digital PBX products are popular with SMBs to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help businesses of any size to design or maintain a remote IP voice service that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer high-level support to assist businesses optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media apps used across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see CUCM consulting services.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can assist you to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice platforms, see CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users working beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your wide area network architecture to support these VoIP solutions and deliver online deployment and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of video conferencing products from major technology companies enable online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many organizations utilize a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, IM, audio and video conferencing plus the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works on 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 support expertise for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support expertise for Webex and for additional IP video 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 hub for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities that include voice/video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting expertise for these products and help your business to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a powerful ecosystem of applications that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing information across multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoints. Progent has provided remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can help your company to tune these flagship collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness of your remote workforce.

SharePoint Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to build protected portals that allows remote workers to view and edit consolidated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, visit SharePoint integration and development consulting.

Exchange Deployment 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. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see deployment consulting services for Exchange.

Onedrive Configuration Experts for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can access them safely through a browser. Included with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home employees to co-author files. Edits created offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent can provide affordable online support for helping businesses to build, maintain and troubleshoot integrated network models that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud access, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over one hundred cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure for telecommuters by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, see Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and affordable remote contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can help you to assess the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers to achieve maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration Services for At-Home WorkersExchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to get you through challenging IT roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your teleworkers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration for At-Home WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's top source of cloud services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-uptime network model so your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Integration for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud Platform is a leading set of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to extend your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your key applications cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and simplify access management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also help your organization to use GCP's unified management technology to administer and monitor your GCP ecosystem. To find out, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
A sudden, organization-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which could be driven by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses to outsource or supplement their Call Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Support Desk support services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote IT support experts combined with world-class ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, advanced Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop technical support from service requests through trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to track or edit their active trouble tickets, add information, and upload screen captures or attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent offers the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve advanced issues. To find out more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows your business to supplement your current Help Desk staff by splitting delivery of Help Desk Call Center services transparently between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service uses a co-sourcing support solution based on the leading professional services automation tool for managing help requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For information about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplementation Services can help your company to provide best-in-class desktop support to your teleworkers, go to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security for Teleworkers
At-home workers typically use their own computing devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security solutions consultants can help you to design, deploy and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards vital information resources in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to build a network that can be safely utilized by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and manage different permissions to various groups of users and to scale your network and modify your security as your business evolves and as network attacks grow more complex. Progent works with both current and legacy firewall appliances from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Security Monitoring for TelecommutersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the disparate computers utilized by remote workers and either block or identify and mitigate modern threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on every protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the impacted endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo MFA services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and give your password you are asked to verify who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used for this added means of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of outside and local security attacks for an environment that includes remote workers. Progent can run online, automated security inventory software for rapidly and affordably detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be provided by data security professionals with top credentials including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to audit your procedures and governance policies and review your WAN infrastructure to allow you to implement the highest level of security for your teleworkers.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper describing key things to focus on for securing a network that incorporates telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection involves backing up and restoring critical data so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in the event of storage system problems due to hardware issues, software glitches, user error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for at-home workers must address multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick online help from consultants knowledgeable about a wide range of products for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery products supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features granular restore and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate circumstances that require a quick changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity consultants can help your business to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized solution for protecting critical data by controlling local, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing off-premises computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the endpoint computers of at-home workers can use Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, control how home-based workers share data, set up threat defense, verify security compliance, and wipe sensitive information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the devices of your at-home workers, visit Intune teleworker device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network managers to keep remote endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your Midland, Texas company, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.