Enlarging your remote workforce can have a significant impact on IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Perth company to pick the right tools and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and delivers maximum business value. Progent can provide support services that go from as-needed expertise for getting you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Perth, Western Australia businesses to with any aspect of building a high-performing remote work environment by delivering infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Help Desk augmentation, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required to support an at-home work environment can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a combination of personal hardware like desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering online help for both legacy as well as current IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist your company to create a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

  • VPN technology makes it possible to create a secure tunnel for authorized at-home workers to access IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can help you to deploy and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA experts can assist your remote workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software for secure VPN connections for a broad selection of devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote consulting for setting up home routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, often supporting families and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to mitigate these problems by providing expertise that include Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point integration help.
  • Internet access solutions affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Line-of-business processes may demand redundant Internet connections in case the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for identifying Internet service providers, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Telecommuters
Extending the company phone environment to accommodate teleworkers is critical to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice platforms are popular with SMBs to support teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP service that provides the flexibility, convenience and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see CUCM consulting services.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist you to support your existing CallManager environment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, refer to CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working beyond the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and provide online deployment and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from major vendors support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many organizations use a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to maintain your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your at-home employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • 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 versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for other IP video products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities such as video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, 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 debugging services for these conferencing platforms and assist you to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for exchanging information across a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial releases and can assist businesses to deploy these critical collaboration products to maximize 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 Consultants for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Deployment Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint uses web sites to enable collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-based access to content, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to create protected web portals that allows remote workers to see and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

Exchange Deployment Consultants 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 learn about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see integration consulting services for Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Deployment Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers anywhere can share them securely via a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables home employees to co-author documents. Edits made offline are automatically synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent offers affordable online support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and optimize integrated hybrid network architectures that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration for Remote WorkersAzure is a leading platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure AD, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish protected access to Azure services for teleworkers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of business productivity applications and cloud services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy remote access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help you to assess the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration services.

Exchange Online Integration Services for Remote WorkersExchange Online is among the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local Exchange environments, allowing customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed help to guide you past challenging IT roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for TelecommutersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to create a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Integration Services for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a popular suite of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your business to extend your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify access control for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also assist you to utilize GCP's management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For information, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Support for Teleworkers
An emergency, company-wide transition to a from-home business model, which could be activated by an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services allow organizations of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support specialists combined with world-class ticketing and tracking technology to provide an economical, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to monitor or revise the status of their active trouble tickets, add details, and upload screenshots or relevant files. Support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with advanced issues. For details, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Call Center Augmentation Service enables your company to augment your current Call Desk team by splitting delivery of Help Desk Call Center services transparently between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service uses a collaborative support solution utilizing the leading PSA tool for managing service requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your business to deliver world-class technical support to your telecommuters, see Progent's Call Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers commonly utilize their own computers and often work in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive end-user training, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of cybersecurity solutions experts can help you to design, deploy and manage an effective security solution that guards critical information resources in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by telecommuters, mobile users, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to configure and control appropriate access rights to various groups of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy security appliances from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall support expertise, see firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management Services for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices used by teleworkers and either reject or identify and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the impacted device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TelecommutersProgent's Duo authentication Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a device that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used as this added form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can register multiple validation devices. For details about Duo identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of outside and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates remote workers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for rapidly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be managed by network security experts with top credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to audit your workflows and governance policies and review your IT architecture to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your an at-home workforce.

NodeZero Pen Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your work-from-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, fix, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to use NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more information about Progent's threat assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's PEN test products, see Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper about critical areas to concentrate on for securing a network that includes telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical data in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage system failures due to hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, operator error, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must cover diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online access to experts familiar with a broad range of products for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans commonly anticipate circumstances that require a rapid switch to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning specialists can help you to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Endpoint Manager offers a unified environment for protecting corporate information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and validate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and resources, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share information, establish threat protection, verify security compliance, and erase sensitive information from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. For information about Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your teleworkers, see Intune teleworker device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site product through a one-time purchase. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining a productive telecommuter solution for your Perth, Western Australia company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.