Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major impact on network architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of background helping businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, administer, tune, and debug IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Wichita company to select the right technologies and adhere to best practices in creating and operating a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from as-needed guidance for helping you past occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Wichita, Kansas companies to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-functioning work-at-home environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, Help Desk services, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required for an at-home work environment can be particularly challenging if you have to accommodate a combination of personal hardware such as PCs and laptops, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online help for both outdated and current IT products in remote office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making essential updates. Support services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to create a secure tunnel for authenticated remote employees to access IT assets situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to deploy and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall experts can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a telecommuter to see and use a remote PC's desktop. This provides IT managers more control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers attach home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier remote consulting for deploying home routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, often shared by an entire household and guests, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput and security problems. Progent can help you to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point setup help.
  • Internet connectivity solutions impact the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Vital processes might demand redundant Internet access in case the primary connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for selecting Internet service providers, selecting appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and setting up redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the business phone system to accommodate teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based VoIP platforms are used by SMBs to server remote users. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to design or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that provides the versatility, transparency and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers enterprise IP telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, see Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
  • CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can assist your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, refer to CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver online deployment and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad selection of video conferencing products from leading vendors enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies utilize a mix of products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist you to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that supports presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to configure and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus editing and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Webex and for additional video conferencing products from Cisco, visit 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 that include video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging services for these conferencing platforms and help you to tune your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich environment of applications that create a cohesive user experience for exchanging information across multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoints. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products to optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

SharePoint Server Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based access to data, workflow, and utilities for looking through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create protected portals that allows at-home workforce to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint integration and application development consulting.

Exchange Deployment 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 find out about Progent's Exchange support services, visit deployment consulting services for Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Deployment Experts for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's shared cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can access them safely through a browser. Included with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote employees to co-author documents. Revisions created offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers affordable online assistance for helping organizations to create, maintain and optimize cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, plus cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix issues with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create protected connections to Azure services for teleworkers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity applications and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Office applications and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy remote access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersExchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional advantages associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed help to get you past tough technical bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management services to ensure your remote workers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for Remote WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-uptime network model so your employees have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Integration Services for At-Home WorkersGoogle Cloud is a popular set of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to scale your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your critical apps cloud friendly so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist you to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage services, and streamline access management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist your business to use GCP's unified management technology to control and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To find out, go to Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a teleworker workforce, which could be activated by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center support services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support specialists along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to monitor or revise the status of their current trouble tickets, enter details, and upload screenshots or attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop service charges, and Progent offers the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex problems. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small businesses.
  • Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service allows your business to augment your current Support Desk staff by splitting responsibilities for Support Desk services transparently between your in-house IT support personnel and Progent's nationwide roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a collaborative support solution based on the leading PSA platform for managing help requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating reports. For details about how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to deliver world-class technical support to your at-home employees, refer to Progent's Call Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Telecommuters
At-home workers commonly use their own computing devices and often work in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to cyber attacks and requires careful deployment of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran roster of data security solutions consultants can help your business to design, implement and manage a compliant security solution that protects vital information resources in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by on-premises users as well as by teleworkers, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to configure and control appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and older security devices from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support services, see firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for TelecommutersOnline Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the disparate computers used by telecommuters and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is put on each protected endpoint, watching all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the infected endpoint device from the network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo authentication services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized for this added form of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register multiple validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of outside and local security attacks for a network that incorporates remote workers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for rapidly and affordably detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by security professionals with advanced certifications including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your processes and governance policies and review your network infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your an at-home workforce.

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

Data Protection for Remote Workers
Data Protection involves saving and recovering vital information so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage system failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, software glitches, human mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must cover diverse kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers fast remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data spread across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically envision scenarios that require a rapid switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help you to create, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for protecting corporate data by managing onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for permission to access information and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, control how teleworkers share information, establish threat protection, verify compliance, and delete corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For information about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, refer to Intune mobile device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product via a perpetual license. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your Wichita, Kansas business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.