Enlarging your telecommuter workforce can have a major effect on IT architecture, security/compliance, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Orlando organization to pick the right technologies and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent can provide support services that go from as-needed expertise for helping you over occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Orlando, Florida businesses to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing telecommuting environment by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, Call Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be especially complicated if you must accommodate a mix of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both outdated as well as current IT products in remote office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential updates. Support services available from Progent to help your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated remote workers to use IT assets located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN connections for a broad selection of devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable a telecommuter to view and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This technology provides IT managers more control over the digital environment of at-home employees and offers them a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert remote support for configuring routers from all major manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically supporting families and visitors, are frequently used by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can cause performance as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by providing expertise that include Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP integration assistance.
  • Internet access solutions affect the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Business-critical applications might demand backup Internet connections in case the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for identifying ISPs, picking appropriate service bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the business PBX environment to accommodate teleworkers is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to plan or maintain a telecommuter VoIP environment that provides the flexibility, transparency and protection required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer advanced support to assist organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to support a growing at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers advanced IP telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating outside the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both local workers and telecommuters. Many organizations use multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can assist your organization to manage your current conferencing ecosystem and enhance the engagement of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to configure and manage Skype for Business clients to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support services for Webex and for additional video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as voice/video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and troubleshooting services for these products and help your business to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for exchanging data and ideas across multiple sites and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first publication and can help your company to configure these critical collaboration products to maximize the productivity of your remote workforce.

SharePoint Deployment Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint uses web sites to enable collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create secure web portals that enables at-home workers to view and update consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to SharePoint integration and application development consulting.

Exchange Deployment Consultants for Remote WorkersExchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. To find out about Progent's Exchange consulting services, go to deployment expertise for Microsoft Exchange.

Onedrive Deployment Experts for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can access them securely via a web browser. Provided with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home workers to co-edit files. Revisions created offline are uploaded when you go back online. For details about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable online support for enabling organizations to build, maintain and optimize integrated hybrid network architectures that combine physical data centers, teleworkers, branches, plus public cloud services. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers fix issues with public cloud access, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers more than one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure connections to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity software and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are provided in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from students and households 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 can assist you to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your at-home workers to achieve top business value. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Exchange Online Integration Services for TelecommutersExchange Online is among the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to get you through tough IT bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management services to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for TelecommutersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online contact with cloud integration consultants who can assist your organization to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the move. For details about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Integration for At-Home WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular set of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your business to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage services, and simplify identity management for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP environment. For information, refer to Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Telecommuters
A rapid, company-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as an element of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services allow businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center services utilize Progent's nationwide network of online technical support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from help requests through ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to monitor or update their active trouble tickets, add information, and upload screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with advanced problems. To learn more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your current Call Center organization by sharing delivery of Call Center support transparently between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service uses a co-sourcing support model utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling help requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class technical support to your telecommuters, refer to Progent's Support Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home employees commonly use their own computing devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical area. This increases their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough user education, and the development of policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of IT security support consultants can help your business to plan, implement and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital IT resources in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to create a network that can be safely accessed by on-premises users as well as by teleworkers, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to various groups of users and to scale your IT network and adjust your security as your business evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy firewall devices from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration services, go to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate computers used by remote workers and either reject or spot and mitigate modern threats like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new attacks on arrival. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint from the network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo MFA services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used as this added means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all classes of outside and internal security threats for an environment that incorporates remote workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for rapidly and economically detecting a broad range of security gaps that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be provided by security experts with top certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your procedures and governance policies and review your IT infrastructure to enable you to implement top-level protection for your remote workers.

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

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital data in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time in the event of storage system problems due to equipment issues, software glitches, human error, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to design and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for teleworkers must address diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast online access to experts knowledgeable about a wide range of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery products supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained restore and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies commonly envision circumstances that call for a rapid changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity specialists can help your business to develop, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized environment for protecting corporate information by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share data, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and delete sensitive information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. For information about Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, visit Intune mobile endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM product that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product through a perpetual license. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. To learn about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient telecommuter solution for your Orlando, Florida business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.