Expanding your at-home workforce can have a major impact on IT architecture, security, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of background helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Baltimore company to select the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide support services that go from on demand expertise for helping you over occasional IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.
Progent's consultants can help Baltimore, Maryland businesses to with any aspect of building a high-functioning remote work environment by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, helpdesk augmentation, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and centralized management.
Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed for a remote workforce can be particularly complex if you must manage a combination of personal hardware such as PCs and laptops, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing remote help for both outdated and modern technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and offers ready access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem include:
IP Voice Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the business PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help businesses of any size to design or tune a remote VoIP service that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide advanced support to help businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding remote workforce.
Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from major technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies use a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist you to maintain your existing conferencing ecosystem and optimize the engagement of your remote employees.
Microsoft Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a powerful environment of applications that create a consistent user interface for exchanging information throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original releases and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products to optimize 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 works with 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, video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, 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 Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.
SharePoint uses web entities to enable collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven access to content, business processes, and utilities for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build protected web portals that allows remote workforce to view and edit consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, go to SharePoint integration and development expertise.
Exchange 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. For information about Progent's Exchange expertise, see integration consulting services for Exchange Server.
OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can share them safely via a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows at-home workers to jointly author documents. Edits created offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.
Public Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent offers affordable online assistance for enabling businesses to build, maintain and troubleshoot integrated network models that combine physical data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud connectivity, identity, and security.
Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers more than 100 cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish protected access to Azure for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure expertise.
Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud services offered by subscription. Microsoft apps and services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for users ranging from students and households to major enterprises. Progent offers fast and easy online contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help your business to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and configure 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, visit Microsoft 365 integration support.
Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed help to get you through tough technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management services to ensure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can help your business to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-availability network model to make sure your users have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. For details about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting services.
Google Cloud is a leading collection of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your organization to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline access control for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist your business to utilize GCP's unified management tools to administer and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform consulting support.
Help Desk Services for Telecommuters
A sudden, organization-wide changeover to a from-home workforce, which could be activated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or expand their Call Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.
Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically use their own computing devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and calls for careful deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of security policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of IT security solutions consultants can assist your business to plan, configure and manage an effective security solution that protects critical information resources in networks that incorporate remote workers.
Firewalls enable companies to create a network that can be securely accessed by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, vendors, customers, and the public. Modern firewall devices allow you to configure and manage appropriate permissions to different groups of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall support services, visit firewall integration and support services.
Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate devices used by an at-home workforce and either reject or identify and mitigate modern threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is installed on every secured endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks before they can spread. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoints remain protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.
Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity via 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 added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.
Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all classes of external and local security threats for an environment that includes teleworkers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and affordably detecting a broad range of security gaps that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your processes and governance policies and review your network infrastructure to allow you to design top-level security for your at-home workers.
Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, fix, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to perform thorough penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to evaluate your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your network security and can help you to plan and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional information about Progent's threat assessment services based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.
Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To read or download a white paper about key things to focus on for protecting an IT environment that includes work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)
Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical data so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in the event of storage system failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, human mistakes, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine private data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.
Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for protecting critical data by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.
Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote devices and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for permission to access data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how teleworkers share information, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and delete corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For information about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use this platform to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, refer to Intune teleworker device management experts.
VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To learn about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.
Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive telecommuter environment for your Baltimore, Maryland company, phone