Enlarging your remote workforce can have a major effect on IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, administer, tune, and debug IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Jacksonville organization to select the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a secure virtual solution for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and returns top business value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand expertise for getting you past occasional IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Jacksonville, Florida businesses to succeed with any facet of creating a high-performing work-at-home environment by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud integration, helpdesk services, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the network infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be particularly complex if you have to manage a combination of worker-owned equipment like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online support for both outdated and current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for implement necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to create a secure tunnel for authorized remote employees to access IT resources situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a broad selection of endpoint devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products allow an at-home worker to view and use a remote computer's desktop. This technology gives IT managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert online support for configuring home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting an entire household and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity problems. Progent can help businesses to resolve these issues by providing services like Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point setup help.
  • Internet access solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Business-critical processes might demand backup Internet access in case the normal connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for selecting service providers, selecting sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Telecommuters
Extending the company PBX system to accommodate remote users is vital to supporting a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-based VoIP products are popular with SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or tune a remote VoIP service that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection required for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to help organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice systems to handle a growing at-home workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers high-end telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other mixed media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice platforms, see CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with users working outside the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network infrastructure to work with these solutions and provide on-demand configuration and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide range of voice/video conferencing platforms from major vendors enable online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist you to manage your existing conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your at-home employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex as well as 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 acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with features that include IP voice and video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging expertise for these products and help your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing information across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help your company to configure these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness 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 with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Deployment Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based delivery of content, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create protected web portals that permits at-home workforce to see and update aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint expertise, refer to SharePoint integration 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, refer to integration consulting for Microsoft Exchange.

Onedrive Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them securely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-edit documents. Edits made offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent offers affordable remote assistance for enabling organizations to create, maintain and optimize integrated network architectures that incorporate internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, plus public cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular family of cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers more than one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. 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 restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create protected access to Azure services for teleworkers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's expertise for Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity applications and cloud services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are provided in a selection of bundles designed for users ranging from students and households to large enterprises. Progent offers fast and easy remote contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to assess the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your telecommuters in a way that delivers top business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Exchange Online Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for occasional help to get you through challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your teleworkers have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's support services for Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for TelecommutersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and affordable online contact with cloud integration experts who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-availability network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Integration Services for At-Home WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform is a leading collection of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your critical apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your business to utilize GCP's management tools to control and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. For details, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration support.

Help Desk Support for Teleworkers
A fast, company-wide switchover to a from-home workforce, which might be the result of a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even the most efficient in-house Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk services leverage Progent's extensive team of online IT support experts combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to offer an economical, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to check or revise their active trouble tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures and attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent offers the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve complex issues. For details, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service allows you to expand your existing Call Desk organization by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support services seamlessly between your in-house support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support solution based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplementation Services can help your company to provide best-in-class technical support to your at-home employees, go to Progent's Help Desk supplementation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home employees typically utilize their own computers and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and requires judicious deployment of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough end-user education, and the development of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran group of cybersecurity support consultants can help you to plan, configure and maintain an effective security solution that protects critical IT assets in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to create a network that can be safely accessed by on-premises users as well as by at-home workers, mobile workers, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage appropriate permissions to various groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more sophisticated. Progent works with both current and legacy security devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall support services, refer to firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring Services for At-Home WorkersOnline Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate devices utilized by telecommuters and either reject or identify and respond to modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on every protected endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the infected device from the network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoints stay protected even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo authentication Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are asked to verify your identity via a device that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several validation devices. For more information about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all classes of external and local security threats for an environment that incorporates remote workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security inventory software for rapidly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be provided by security professionals with advanced certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your processes and governance policies and review your IT architecture to allow you to design top-level security for your teleworkers.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you uncover, prioritize, remediate, and verify security vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal network in order to evaluate your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional information about Progent's vulnerability assessment services powered by on NodeZero's PEN test platform, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper about critical things to focus on for securing an IT environment that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and recovering critical information so as to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time in the event of storage failures resulting from equipment breakdowns, programming glitches, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for at-home workers must cover multiple kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans commonly anticipate scenarios that call for a temporary changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity consultants can assist you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a unified platform for safeguarding corporate data by managing on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing off-premises devices and software. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for permission to access data and networks, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share information, set up threat defense, verify security compliance, and wipe corporate information from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For details about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, go to Intune mobile endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoints. 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 service or as an on-site product via a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, unifies management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home solution for your Jacksonville, Florida organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.