Enlarging your remote workforce can have a major impact on IT architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background helping small and mid-size businesses to design, configure, administer, tune, and debug IT networks that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Tucson organization to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in building and operating a secure virtual office solution for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide services that go from as-needed guidance for helping you over occasional IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent can help Tucson, Arizona organizations to with any facet of creating a high-functioning work-from-home environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, helpdesk outsourcing, data security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be especially challenging if you must manage a combination of personal hardware such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from various manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote support for both outdated and modern technologies in virtual office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help you to implement a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network technology allows you to establish a secure connection for authenticated remote employees to use IT assets situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can help your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall experts can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software for secure VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow an at-home worker to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This provides network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert remote support for setting up home routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting an entire household and guests, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless access point setup help.
  • Internet access methods affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Line-of-business processes may demand redundant Internet connections in the event the primary connection fails. Progent can provide expertise for selecting ISPs, choosing appropriate service bundles, and configuring redundant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Extending the company PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based digital PBX platforms are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers enterprise telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications used across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help you to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, visit Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with clients working beyond the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and provide on-demand integration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support online discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help you to manage your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications product that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities such as voice/video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging services for these conferencing platforms and assist you to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a rich environment of applications that create a consistent user experience for sharing information throughout a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to tune 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 Integration Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersSharePoint uses web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to create secure web portals that permits remote workers to see and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, refer to SharePoint configuration and application development expertise.

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 services, go to planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can access them safely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-edit documents. Edits created offline are uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent offers affordable remote support for enabling businesses to build, maintain and troubleshoot integrated network architectures that include internal data centers, at-home workers, branches, plus public cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all types of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersAzure is a popular platform for public cloud services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than 100 services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure access to Azure services for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Azure, refer to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are provided in a selection of plans designed for users ranging from students and small offices to major corporations. Progent offers quick and easy remote access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can help you to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run smoothly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed help to get you through challenging technical roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your remote workers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's support services for Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for At-Home WorkersAmazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online contact with cloud integration consultants who can assist your organization to plan, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to build a high-availability network architecture to make sure your employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Platform Integration for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform is a leading set of 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 expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline identity management for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your business to use GCP's unified management tools to administer and monitor your GCP ecosystem. To find out, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Teleworkers
An emergency, company-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be the result of an epidemic or as a component of a business continuity process, can overstretch even a high-performing in-house Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or expand their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

  • Progent's Standard Support Desk services leverage Progent's extensive network of online IT support experts along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an economical, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of remote Level 1 PC technical support from service requests to trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to check or revise the status of their active trouble tickets, add details, and upload screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent offers the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve complex problems. For details, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service allows you to expand your existing Help Desk staff by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk support seamlessly between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's nationwide roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk service uses a collaborative support solution based on the leading professional services automation tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing reports. For information about how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can enable your business to provide world-class technical support to your from-home workers, see Progent's Call Desk supplementation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members typically use their personal computing devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned team of data security support experts can assist you to design, deploy and maintain an effective security solution that guards vital information assets in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by local users and by telecommuters, mobile employees, vendors, customers, and the public. Modern firewall devices permit you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more complex. Progent supports both current and older security devices from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, go to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring Services for TelecommutersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate computers utilized by remote workers and either reject or identify and mitigate modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is installed on every secured endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the impacted device from the network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to verify who you are via a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added form of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all types of external and internal security threats for an environment that includes telecommuters. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and affordably detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by network security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your business to evaluate your processes and policies and assess your network architecture to enable you to implement top-level protection for your telecommuters.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, fix, and confirm security vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your current security posture. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your network security and can help you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional information about Progent's threat analysis services powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
Data Protection involves backing up and restoring vital data so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in case of storage system failures resulting from hardware issues, programming hiccups, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for teleworkers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online access to consultants familiar with a wide array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features granular recovery and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often envision circumstances that require a rapid switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist you to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a unified environment for protecting critical data by controlling onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and validate apps on devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for permission to access data and networks, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share data, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and wipe sensitive information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use this platform to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, refer to Intune remote device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM platform that helps network managers to keep remote endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for access 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 leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. For information about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing an efficient work-from-home solution for your Tucson, Arizona business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.