Enlarging your remote workforce can have a significant impact on IT architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience helping businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Niterói organization to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns top business value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed guidance for helping you over occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Niterói, Rio de Janeiro businesses to with any facet of building a high-functioning telecommuting environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk services, data security, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support an at-home workforce can be particularly complex if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and laptops, routers, and wireless appliances from different vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing online help for both outdated as well as current technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your existing network infrastructure and offers ready access to top-tire consultants for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to help your company to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • VPN technology makes it possible to establish a safe connection for authenticated remote workers to use IT resources situated at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to configure and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN connections for a broad range of endpoint devices including Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable an at-home worker to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and offers them a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
  • Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert remote support for configuring home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by families and guests, are frequently 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 delivering services that include Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point integration assistance.
  • Internet access solutions affect the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Mission-critical processes may require redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for selecting Internet service providers, choosing appropriate service bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the business PBX environment to accommodate telecommuters is vital to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX products are used by SMBs to server remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older products for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, transparency and protection needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations optimize their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers high-end IP telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional mixed media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP platforms, visit CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with users working beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and provide online integration and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many organizations use multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the experience of your remote workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that enables presence, IM, audio and video calling and 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 specialists who can help your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support 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 online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex as well as for other video conferencing products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and content with features that include video calling, threaded 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 Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging services for these products and assist your business to optimize your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can assist your company to configure these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the effectiveness of your remote workers.

SharePoint Server Configuration Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven access to content, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create protected web portals that allows at-home workforce to view and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, go to SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange Configuration 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, refer to planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Onedrive Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can retrieve them securely through a web browser. Included with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to co-author documents. Revisions made offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers affordable online assistance for enabling businesses to build, maintain and optimize cohesive network models that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all types of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for At-Home WorkersAzure is a popular family of public cloud software and services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers more than 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create protected access to Azure services for telecommuters by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles designed for users ranging from students and small offices to large enterprises. Progent can provide fast and easy online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online Integration Services for TeleworkersExchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing you to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for occasional assistance to guide you through tough IT roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for At-Home WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to plan, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to build a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Integration for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading suite of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your key apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help you to deploy virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline identity management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help your organization to use GCP's management tools to administer and monitor your GCP ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Support for At-Home Workers
A rapid, enterprise-wide switchover to a telecommuter workforce, which might be driven by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or supplement their Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support specialists along with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, advanced Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to check or update the status of their current tickets, enter details, and append screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with advanced problems. For details, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your existing Help Desk Call Center organization by sharing delivery of Help Desk support transparently between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive team of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service is based on a collaborative support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation tool for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can enable your business to deliver best-in-class technical support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Support Desk augmentation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically utilize their personal computing devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical area. This situation increases their susceptibility to malware threats and requires judicious deployment of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user training, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of cybersecurity support experts can help your business to plan, configure and maintain an effective security solution that guards critical IT resources in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to build a network that can be safely utilized by on-premises users as well as by telecommuters, mobile workers, vendors, customers, and the public. Modern firewall devices permit you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to scale your IT network and adjust your security profile as your company evolves and as network attacks become more complex. Progent supports both current and older firewall appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support expertise, see firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for TeleworkersOnline Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the various computers used by an at-home workforce and either reject or identify and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is put on each protected endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint from the network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo MFA managed services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad range of devices can be used as this added means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all types of outside and local security threats for a network that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced credentials including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and review your WAN infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your telecommuters.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital information so as to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in case of storage problems resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, user error, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must address multiple kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans often anticipate scenarios that require a quick switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can help your business 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 title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for safeguarding corporate data by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft 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 remote computers and applications. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on devices, push patches and certificates, configure rules for permission to access data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat defense, verify compliance, and wipe corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For information about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, see Intune teleworker endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises product via a one-time purchase. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Niterói, Rio de Janeiro business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.