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 Progent's experience providing remote help for both outdated and modern technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and offers ready access to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:

  • VPN connectivity allows you to establish a safe connection for authenticated remote employees to access IT resources located at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist your company to configure and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a telecommuter to see and interact with a remote computer's desktop. This technology provides IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier online support for deploying routers from a range of vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically shared by the whole family and guests, are frequently used by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause performance as well as security issues. Progent can assist you to resolve these problems by delivering expertise like Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless access point setup help.
  • Internet access methods impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Mission-critical applications may require backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for selecting ISPs, selecting appropriate service packages, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

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.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers enterprise telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, visit CUCM consultants.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP platforms, see CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed deployment and debugging services.

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.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that supports presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to configure and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for compatible iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex as well as for other 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 information with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist you to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

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 Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 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 Integration Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint 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 Deployment Consultants 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. For information about Progent's Exchange expertise, see integration consulting services for Exchange Server.

Onedrive Integration Consultants for Remote WorkersOneDrive 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.

Azure Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 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 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 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.

Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 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 AWS Integration Services for TelecommutersAmazon 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 Platform Integration Services for TeleworkersGoogle 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.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services leverage Progent's nationwide network of online IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an affordable, advanced Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from service requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to monitor or edit the status of their active tickets, add details, and upload screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent offers optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve complex issues. To learn more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to supplement your current Call Center team by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk support transparently between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service is based on a collaborative support solution based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing service requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To learn how Progent's Support Desk Supplementation Services can help your company to provide world-class technical support to your teleworkers, go to Progent's Call Desk supplementation 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.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls 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 for TeleworkersRemote 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.

Two-factor Authentication Services for Remote WorkersProgent'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 Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity 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.

NodeZero Pen Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.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.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for an at-home workforce must address multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers fast remote access to experts knowledgeable about a wide range of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery products supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate circumstances that call for a temporary switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity specialists can assist your business to create, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

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 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.