Enlarging your telecommuter workforce can have a significant effect on IT architecture, security, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of background assisting small and mid-size businesses to plan, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Chesapeake organization to pick the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual office solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns top business value. Progent can provide support services that go from as-needed guidance for getting you past occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Chesapeake, Virginia organizations to with any facet of creating a high-performing remote work environment by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Help Desk services, security monitoring, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be particularly complicated if you must manage a mix of personal equipment like desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from different manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering online support for both legacy and current technologies in remote office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity makes it possible to establish a safe tunnel for authorized at-home workers to access IT assets situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of endpoint devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a telecommuter to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of at-home employees and ensures them a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers attach home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote support for integrating routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by the whole family and guests, are frequently used by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause performance and security problems. Progent can help businesses to resolve these issues by delivering expertise like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point setup assistance.
  • Internet access methods affect the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Business-critical processes may require redundant Internet access in the event the normal connection fails. Progent can provide expertise for selecting ISPs, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and configuring high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Extending the corporate PBX environment to accommodate remote users is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP service that delivers the versatility, convenience and protection needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers advanced telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia software used across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services such as messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, visit CUCM consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, see CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and provide online configuration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad range of video conferencing products from leading vendors enable online meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many companies use a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent can assist your organization to maintain your existing conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support 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 conferencing, contacts, and content with features such as video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist your business to tune your network infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, offering a rich environment of applications that deliver a cohesive user experience for sharing information across a corporate network and on a broad selection of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can help your company to deploy these critical collaboration products to maximize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

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 Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports 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, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Configuration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint uses web entities to facilitate collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to create protected portals that enables at-home workers to view and edit aggregated corporate intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, go to SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange Deployment 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange consulting services, refer to planning and configuration consulting for Exchange Server.

Onedrive Configuration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them safely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home employees to co-author documents. Edits made offline are uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, see Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers affordable remote assistance for enabling organizations to build, manage and repair integrated hybrid network architectures that combine physical data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers over one hundred services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create secure access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent offers quick and affordable online contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help you to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your at-home workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Exchange Online Integration for At-Home WorkersExchange Online is among the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to get you through challenging technical roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your remote workers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for At-Home WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's top provider of cloud services. Progent offers fast and economical online contact with cloud integration experts who can assist your business to plan, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds such as Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-availability network model so 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 services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform Integration for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading collection of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to extend your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help your business to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline identity control for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist you to use GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your GCP ecosystem. To learn, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration expertise.

Help Desk Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which could be activated by an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or expand their Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support experts combined with world-class ticketing and tracking software to offer an economical, modern Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests through ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to check or update the status of their active trouble tickets, enter information, and upload screenshots or attachments. Support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service charges, and Progent makes available the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to deal with complex issues. To find out more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows your business to augment your existing Support Desk staff by splitting responsibilities for Support Desk services seamlessly between your regular support organization and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service uses a collaborative support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation tool for handling service requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your business to deliver best-in-class technical support to your at-home employees, visit Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
At-home staff members typically utilize their personal devices and usually work in an unsecured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for careful deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive end-user education, and the creation of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of cybersecurity solutions experts can help your business to design, configure and maintain an effective security solution that guards vital IT resources in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, clients, and the public. Modern firewall devices allow you to configure and manage different access rights to different groups of users and to expand your network and modify your security as your business evolves and as network attacks become more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older firewall appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, go to firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate devices used by remote workers and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is installed on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the targeted device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to verify your identity on a device that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. For more information about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all types of external and local security attacks for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy online, automated security inventory software for quickly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be provided by network security experts with advanced certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your procedures and governance policies and review your IT infrastructure to enable you to implement the highest level of protection for your remote workers.

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 testing of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, prioritize, fix, and verify security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your present security posture. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional information about Progent's vulnerability assessment services based on on NodeZero's pentest products, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper describing 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 for At-Home Workers
The field of Data Protection involves saving and recovering vital information in order to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage problems due to equipment breakdowns, software hiccups, human mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for teleworkers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote access to consultants familiar with a broad array of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data spread across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate scenarios that call for a temporary switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist your company to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for protecting critical data by managing local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the endpoint computers of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share data, establish threat defense, ensure compliance, and wipe sensitive data from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. To learn about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to administer the endpoint computers of your teleworkers, go to Intune mobile endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site product through a perpetual license. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To learn about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about building and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Chesapeake, Virginia business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.