Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major impact on IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background helping businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Broomfield company to select the right technologies and follow best practices in building and operating a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and delivers top value. Progent can provide support services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you past challenging IT bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Broomfield, Colorado businesses to with any aspect of building a high-functioning remote work ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, Help Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a combination of personal hardware like desktop computers and laptops, routers, and wireless appliances from various vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background providing remote support for both outdated and modern IT products in virtual office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making necessary updates. Services available from Progent to help you to create a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to access IT resources located at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to see and use a remote PC's desktop. This technology provides network managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers attach home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert online support for setting up home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically shared by families and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput and security problems. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by delivering services like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless access point setup assistance.
  • Internet access methods affect the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Vital applications may require redundant Internet access in case the primary connection fails. Progent can provide expertise for picking ISPs, picking sensible service bundles, and setting up high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the business phone environment to include remote users is vital to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can help businesses of any size to design or maintain a remote IP voice service that delivers the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer high-level support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers advanced IP telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software deployed across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help you to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver on-demand integration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies support virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies use a mix of products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to support 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 platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support expertise for Webex and for other video conferencing products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting services for these products and assist you to optimize your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that create a consistent user interface for exchanging information across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoints. Progent has provided remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products 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 Solutions Consultants for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium 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 Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Deployment Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-driven delivery of content, workflow, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build secure web portals that enables remote workers to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, refer to SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

Exchange Deployment Experts for Remote 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 consulting expertise, go to deployment expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Onedrive Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can retrieve them securely through a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote employees to co-edit files. Revisions created offline are automatically synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent offers advanced online assistance for helping businesses to build, manage and optimize integrated hybrid network models that include internal data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, plus public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help at-home workers resolve problems with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for At-Home WorkersAzure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, see Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Office apps and services are provided in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and households to large enterprises. Progent can provide fast and affordable remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for as-needed help to get you past challenging technical roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration for TelecommutersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your business to design, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your employees have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the move. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a popular set of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your critical apps cloud ready so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your business to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline access management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist you to use GCP's unified management tools to administer and monitor your GCP environment. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be driven by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery process, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services allow organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Call Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

  • Progent's Standard Support Desk support services leverage Progent's extensive team of remote technical support specialists combined with world-class ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of online Level 1 desktop support from service requests to ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to check or revise the status of their active trouble tickets, enter details, and append screenshots and relevant files. Support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent offers optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve advanced issues. To find out more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
  • Progent's Help Desk Supplemental Service enables your company to supplement your current Help Desk Call Center organization by sharing delivery of Help Desk services seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Center service is based on a co-sourcing support model utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your business to provide best-in-class desktop support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home workers typically utilize their personal computing devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user education, and the creation of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of cybersecurity support consultants can help you to design, implement and manage an effective security solution that guards vital information resources in networks that incorporate remote workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to build a network that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by telecommuters, mobile users, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate access rights to various groups of users and to expand your network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both current and legacy security devices from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall support expertise, see firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various computers utilized by at-home workers and either block or spot and mitigate modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on each protected endpoint device, watching all activity and using advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately disconnects the infected device from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoints remain protected even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for Remote WorkersProgent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to verify your identity via a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be used as this added form of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several validation devices. For more information about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all types of external and local security threats for a network that incorporates remote workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with top certifications including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to evaluate your procedures and policies and review your IT architecture to enable you to implement top-level security for your at-home workers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can expose, prioritize, fix, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to evaluate your present security profile. Progent can also help you to harden your existing network security and can help you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more information about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's PEN test platform, see Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Network
To read or download a white paper describing key areas to concentrate on for protecting a network that incorporates telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring vital data in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time in case of storage problems resulting from equipment breakdowns, programming hiccups, user mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Restore strategies for remote workers must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast remote access to experts familiar with a broad array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data spread across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features granular recovery and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies often anticipate scenarios that require a temporary switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can assist your business to create, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager offers a unified solution for safeguarding critical information by controlling local, 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-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and applications. Managed endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and authenticate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and networks, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share information, set up threat defense, verify security compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune can be used with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to administer the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, refer to Intune remote device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment through a one-time purchase. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air deployment of new laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your Broomfield, Colorado company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.