Computer Outsourcing for Small Businesses

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce can have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can help your organization to pick the right technologies and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent can provide support services that go from as-needed expertise for getting you over occasional technical bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help you to succeed with any facet of building a high-performing work-from-home ecosystem by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be especially challenging if you must manage a combination of worker-owned equipment such as desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both outdated as well as current technologies in remote office venues enables you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making necessary updates. Support services offered by Progent to help you to create a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to establish a safe connection for authorized at-home workers to access IT assets located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN connections for a broad selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow a teleworker to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the computing environment of at-home employees and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online consulting for deploying routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, often supporting an entire household and guests, are frequently used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise like Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup help.
• Internet connectivity solutions affect the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Vital processes may demand redundant Internet connections in case the primary connection fails. Progent offers guidance for selecting ISPs, choosing sensible service packages, and setting up redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the company phone environment to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice products are used by SMBs to support telecommuters. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or tune a telecommuter IP voice service that provides the versatility, convenience and protection required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to help businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's CUCM expertise, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP products, visit Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users working beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your wide area network architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from major vendors support online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local workers and telecommuters. Many companies utilize a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent can help your organization to maintain your existing conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that supports presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus editing and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for other 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 conversations, contacts, and content with features such as IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging services for these products and help you to optimize your network infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of applications that create a consistent user interface for exchanging data and ideas across a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your remote workforce.

SharePoint uses web entities to facilitate collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build protected portals that enables at-home workforce to view and update aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint expertise, visit SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. For information about Progent's Exchange consulting services, visit planning and configuration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers can retrieve them securely via a browser. Provided with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home employees to co-author documents. Edits created offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide affordable remote support for enabling businesses to build, maintain and optimize integrated network models that incorporate internal data centers, at-home workers, branches, plus public cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help remote workers fix issues with public cloud access, authentication, and security.

Azure is a leading platform for public cloud software and services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure includes more than one hundred services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected access to Azure for at-home workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, see Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity applications and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and cloud services are provided in a selection of plans intended for customers ranging from students and households to large enterprises. Progent can provide fast and easy remote contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to evaluate the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your remote workers to achieve maximum business value. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed assistance to guide you through tough technical roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's support services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your business to plan, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For details about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular collection of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to scale your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your key apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist your business to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity management for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help your organization to use GCP's unified management tools to control and track your Google Cloud environment. For details, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting expertise.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
A fast, company-wide changeover to a telecommuter workforce, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk support services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to monitor or update the status of their active trouble tickets, add details, and append screenshots or relevant files. Technical support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent offers the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex issues. For more information, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service enables you to supplement your current Help Desk staff by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support services transparently between your in-house support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a collaborative support solution based on the number one PSA platform for handling service requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For information about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can enable your company to provide best-in-class technical support to your at-home workforce, see Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
At-home staff members commonly utilize their personal computers and often work in an unsecured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to malware attacks and requires careful configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user education, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned team of cybersecurity support experts can assist your business to design, configure and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital IT resources in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewalls enable you to create a network that can be safely utilized by local users and by teleworkers, mobile users, suppliers, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to assign and manage different permissions to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more complex. Progent works with both current and legacy security appliances from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, see firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by an at-home workforce and either block or spot and respond to the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is put on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the infected endpoint from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Progent's Duo authentication service plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you log into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are via a device that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized for this added means of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several validation devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security threats for an environment that includes telecommuters. Progent can deploy online, automated security analysis scanning for rapidly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be provided by security professionals with top credentials such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your operations and governance policies and review your WAN architecture to allow you to design top-level protection for your telecommuters.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers backing up and restoring vital data so as to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in the event of storage problems resulting from hardware breakdowns, software glitches, user error, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that combine private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and includes granular restore and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies commonly anticipate circumstances that require a rapid changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity specialists can help your business to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a unified platform for protecting critical information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of at-home workers can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for permission to access information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share information, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and erase sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune runs with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To find out about Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the devices of your teleworkers, refer to Intune teleworker device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management product that helps network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices powered by 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-site deployment through a perpetual license. Key features of Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To learn about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home environment, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.