Expanding your telecommuter workforce can have a major effect on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate workflows. Progent has two decades of experience helping businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, tune, and debug IT environments that support at-home workers. Progent can help your Wichita company to pick the right tools and follow best practices in building and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and delivers top value. Progent offers services that go from as-needed guidance for getting you past occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Wichita, Kansas companies to succeed with any facet of building a high-functioning remote work ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, data security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home workforce can be especially complex if you must manage a combination of personal hardware such as PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing remote support for both outdated as well as current IT products in remote office venues allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for implement essential upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authenticated at-home employees to access IT assets situated at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can assist your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of endpoint devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable an at-home worker to see and use a remote PC's desktop. This provides IT managers significant control over the digital environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote support for integrating routers from a range of vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by families and guests, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput and security issues. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise that include Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point integration assistance.
  • Internet connectivity solutions affect the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Business-critical processes might require redundant Internet connections in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying service providers, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and configuring fault-tolerant Internet connections. See Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for Teleworkers
Expanding the company PBX system to include remote users is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are popular with SMBs to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the versatility, transparency and security needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco VoIP systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) extends enterprise telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed throughout the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see Cisco Unified CM expertise.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, see Cisco CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working beyond the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide online deployment and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide range of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite users and telecommuters. Many companies utilize a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent can help you to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex as well as for additional video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful environment of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing information throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original publication and can help your company to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your remote workers.

SharePoint Server Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create protected portals that allows remote workforce to see and update aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

Exchange Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersExchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. To learn about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, go to integration expertise for Exchange.

Microsoft Onedrive Configuration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers anywhere can retrieve them securely through a web browser. Included with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to jointly author files. Edits created offline are uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's expertise for OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent can provide advanced online assistance for enabling organizations to create, maintain and optimize cohesive hybrid network architectures that include internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration for TeleworkersAzure is a popular platform for public cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes more than 100 services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management 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 access to Azure for at-home workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity applications and cloud services offered by subscription. Office apps and services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and households to large enterprises. Progent can provide fast and affordable remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help you to assess the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular 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 benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, enabling you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide occasional help to guide you past tough IT bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your remote workers have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for At-Home WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's leading provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can help your organization to plan, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-availability network model so your users have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. For details about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Integration Services for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a popular set of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify identity management for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent can also help your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Support for At-Home Workers
A sudden, organization-wide switchover to a telecommuter business model, which might be motivated by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow businesses to outsource or augment their Help Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

  • Progent's Standard Support Desk support services leverage Progent's nationwide team of remote technical support experts combined with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up software to provide an economical, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 PC support from initial service requests to trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to monitor or update the status of their active trouble tickets, add information, and append screen captures or attachments. Support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve complex problems. To learn more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Supplemental Service allows your business to expand your existing Call Desk organization by sharing delivery of Help Desk support services transparently between your in-house IT support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support model based on the leading professional services automation tool for managing help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Services can enable your business to deliver best-in-class desktop support to your teleworkers, visit Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home employees typically utilize their own computing devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical environment. This increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and requires judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of data security solutions experts can assist your business to plan, implement and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects critical IT resources in environments that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to build a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users and by telecommuters, mobile workers, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different permissions to different groups of users and to expand your network and modify your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and legacy security devices from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support services, visit firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Security Monitoring Services for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various computers used by telecommuters and either reject or identify and respond to modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is put on each secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for remote workers.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo authentication managed services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity verification on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are asked to verify who you are via a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be used for this added form of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo identity validation services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for a network that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to audit your operations and policies and review your IT infrastructure to enable you to implement top-level security for your teleworkers.

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

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical information in order to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage system failures due to hardware issues, software hiccups, operator error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote access to experts familiar with a wide array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes granular restore and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically envision circumstances that call for a rapid changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity consultants can help you to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for safeguarding critical information by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting mobile computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and validate apps on devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for permission to access information and networks, manage passwords, create VPN connections, control how telecommuters share information, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to administer the devices of your at-home workers, go to Intune mobile endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment through a perpetual license. Key features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Wichita, Kansas business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.