Enlarging your at-home workforce can have a significant impact on network infrastructure, security, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background assisting SMBs to plan, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Des Moines organization to select the right tools and follow leading practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand guidance for helping you over challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent can help Des Moines, Iowa companies to with any aspect of building a high-performing work-at-home environment by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, helpdesk services, security monitoring, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed for a remote work environment can be especially complicated if you must manage a mix of worker-owned hardware like PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless APs from an assortment of vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering online support for both outdated as well as current technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary updates. Services available from Progent to assist you to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to establish a safe tunnel for authorized remote workers to use IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to configure and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can assist your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software for secure VPN connections for a broad selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable an at-home worker to view and use a remote computer's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier remote support for integrating routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically supporting an entire household and guests, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can help you to resolve these problems by providing expertise like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP integration help.
  • Internet access methods impact the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Vital applications may require redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking ISPs, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume bundles, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. See Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the corporate phone system to accommodate remote users is vital to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to design or tune a remote VoIP service that delivers the versatility, convenience and protection needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide high-level support to help businesses tune their current Cisco IP voice systems to handle a growing at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications used across the network. CUCM supports additional mixed media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see CUCM consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice platforms, visit Cisco CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver on-demand deployment and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad range of video conferencing products from major vendors enable online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies use multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. For details about Progent's consulting services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support expertise 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 hub for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities such as video calling, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these products and assist your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that create a cohesive user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

SharePoint Server Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build secure web portals that enables at-home workers to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, go to SharePoint integration and development consulting.

Exchange Integration 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. To learn about Progent's Exchange expertise, see deployment consulting services for Exchange.

Onedrive Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can retrieve them safely via a browser. Provided with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows at-home workers to co-edit files. Edits created offline are uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent can provide affordable remote support for helping organizations to create, maintain and repair cohesive network architectures that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, plus cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers resolve problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for TelecommutersMicrosoft Azure is a popular platform for public cloud software and services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features over one hundred services services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected connections to Azure for teleworkers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's support services for Azure, visit Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy online contact with 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 plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run smoothly with local deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for occasional help to guide you past tough technical roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's support services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for Remote WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the world's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online access to cloud integration consultants who can assist your organization to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-availability network architecture to make sure your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the road. For information about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud Integration for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud is a popular collection of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your critical apps cloud ready so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline identity management for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your business to utilize GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud environment. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
A sudden, company-wide switchover to a from-home workforce, which might be driven by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Call Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of remote IT support specialists along with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking software to offer an economical, advanced Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests to trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to track or update their current trouble tickets, add details, and append screenshots and attachments. Support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex problems. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
  • Progent's Call Center Augmentation Service enables your business to supplement your current Call Center staff by splitting responsibilities for Call Desk support services seamlessly between your regular support staff and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Center service is based on a co-sourcing support model based on the leading professional services automation platform for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and producing reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class desktop support to your teleworkers, go to Progent's Call Desk supplementation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically utilize their personal computers and often work in a poorly secured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and calls for careful deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive user education, and the creation of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of cybersecurity support consultants can assist your business to design, implement and maintain an effective security solution that protects vital information resources in environments that include remote workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to build a network that can be safely utilized by local users and by at-home workers, mobile workers, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to configure and control different permissions to various groups of users and to scale your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, refer to firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Security Monitoring and Management for TelecommutersOnline Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various computers used by teleworkers and either reject or identify and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on every secured endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the infected endpoint device from the network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoints remain protected even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo MFA services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity verification on iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a device that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be used as this added form of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all types of external and internal security threats for a network that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be provided by security professionals with top certifications such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your processes and policies and assess your network architecture to allow you to design top-level security for your at-home workers.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper about key things to focus on for securing an IT environment that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection involves saving and recovering critical information in order to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in case of storage system failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, user mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to design and manage in hybrid environments that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad array of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained restore and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies typically envision circumstances that call for a temporary changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized solution for safeguarding critical information by managing on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting remote computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. Network 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 resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat defense, ensure security compliance, and erase corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For information about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, see Intune telecommuter device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product through a one-time purchase. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. For information about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home solution for your Des Moines, Iowa organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.