Expanding your remote workforce can have a major effect on network architecture, security, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of experience helping businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that support at-home workers. Progent can help your Austin organization to select the appropriate tools and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a secure virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and returns top value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand expertise for helping you past occasional IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Austin, Texas companies to with any aspect of building a high-performing remote work ecosystem by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Help Desk services, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be especially complex if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering remote help for both outdated and current technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to assist your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network technology allows you to create a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to access IT resources located at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your remote workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad range of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow a telecommuter to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This technology provides network managers more control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, local wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier online support for setting up routers from a range of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically supporting the whole family and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise that include Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP integration help.
  • Internet connectivity methods affect the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Mission-critical applications might demand backup Internet connections in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking ISPs, choosing sensible service bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the company PBX environment to accommodate telecommuters is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to design or maintain a remote VoIP environment that provides the flexibility, convenience and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer advanced support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers enterprise telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia software used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional mixed media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, visit CUCM expertise.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users working beyond the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your wide area network architecture to work with these solutions and deliver as-needed integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors support virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations use a mix of products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent can help you to maintain your current conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your remote workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's consulting services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting services for Webex as well as for additional IP video products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with features such as voice/video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent 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 network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a rich environment of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can assist your company to configure these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the effectiveness of your remote workers.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium Solutions Experts for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Deployment Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint uses web sites to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven delivery of data, workflow, and utilities for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create secure web portals that enables remote workers to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, visit SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

Exchange Configuration 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. For details about Progent's Exchange support services, go to integration consulting for Exchange.

Onedrive Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues can retrieve them safely via a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home employees to co-edit files. Revisions made offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's support services for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote support for helping organizations to create, manage and optimize integrated hybrid network models that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, and cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters fix issues with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration for TelecommutersMicrosoft Azure is a leading platform for public cloud services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and plan backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create secure access to Azure for telecommuters by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and cloud services are marketed in a selection of bundles intended for users ranging from students and small offices to large enterprises. Progent can provide quick and affordable remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your teleworkers in a way that delivers top business value. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online Integration for At-Home WorkersExchange Online is among the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed help to get you past tough technical roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your at-home workers have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for At-Home WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to create a high-uptime network model so 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 move. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud Platform is a leading suite of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity management for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
A sudden, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which might be driven by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses to outsource or supplement their Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote IT support specialists along with world-class ticketing and tracking technology to provide an economical, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests to trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to check or revise their active trouble tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures or relevant files. Support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent offers the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve complex issues. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service allows your company to expand your existing Help Desk Call Center organization by sharing delivery of Help Desk Call Center support seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's nationwide roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Help Desk service is based on a collaborative support model based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing service requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and generating management reports. To find out how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to provide world-class IT support to your at-home workforce, see Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
At-home staff members typically utilize their own devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and requires careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive user education, and the development of policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of IT security support experts can help your business to design, configure and manage an effective security solution that protects vital information assets in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users as well as by at-home workers, mobile employees, vendors, customers, and the public. Modern firewall appliances allow you to assign and manage different permissions to different classes of users and to expand your network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks become more complex. Progent works with both current and older firewall appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate devices used by an at-home workforce and either reject or spot and mitigate modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is put on each protected endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify new attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and give 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 broad range of devices can be used as this added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. For more information about Duo identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all types of outside and local security threats for an environment that includes teleworkers. Progent can run remote, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be managed by security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your company to audit your operations and policies and review your IT infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your teleworkers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you identify, rank, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional information about Progent's threat assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital data in order to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in the event of storage system failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, software hiccups, human mistakes, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that combine in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for an at-home workforce must address multiple types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote help from experts knowledgeable about a wide array of products for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery products supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly envision circumstances that call for a temporary changeover to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist you to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager offers a unified platform for protecting corporate data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the endpoint computers of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for permission to access data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, go to Intune mobile device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network managers to keep offsite endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices 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-premises deployment via a one-time purchase. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Austin, Texas business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.