Expanding your remote workforce can have a significant effect on network architecture, cybersecurity, and company culture. Progent has 20 years of background helping SMBs to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Uniondale company to select the appropriate tools and follow leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed expertise for getting you past occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Uniondale, New York organizations to with any aspect of building a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, Help Desk services, security monitoring, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the network infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be particularly challenging if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware like PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from various vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote support for both legacy as well as modern IT products in remote office venues allows you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making necessary updates. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to create a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • VPN connectivity makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources located at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to configure and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable a teleworker to view and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This provides network managers significant control over the digital environment of at-home employees and ensures them a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers attach home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier online support for deploying routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by an entire household and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause throughput as well as security problems. Progent can assist you to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP integration help.
  • Internet connectivity methods affect the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Line-of-business processes might require redundant Internet access in case the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for identifying ISPs, picking appropriate service packages, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Extending the business phone environment to accommodate telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based IP voice platforms are popular with SMBs to support teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or older products for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to design or maintain a remote VoIP environment that provides the versatility, convenience and protection needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer advanced support to help businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) extends high-end IP telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media apps used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other mixed media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see CUCM consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can help you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, visit CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users working beyond the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver online configuration and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable online meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations use multiple conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your remote workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support expertise for Cisco Webex as well as for additional IP video solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conferencing, contacts, and content with features such as voice/video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging expertise for these products and help your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, providing a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that create a consistent user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint computers. Progent has provided online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their original publication and can help businesses to tune these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize 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 and Teams Premium Integration Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, 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 (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Deployment Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build protected web portals that enables remote workers to view and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, see SharePoint integration and application development consulting.

Exchange Configuration 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 consulting expertise, see integration consulting services for Exchange.

Onedrive Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can retrieve them securely via a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote employees to jointly author files. Edits created offline are uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers advanced online assistance for helping organizations to create, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network architectures that include internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, and public cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a leading family of cloud software and services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features over 100 services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and design data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to create secure connections to Azure for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, go to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity software and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are provided in a variety of plans intended for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable online access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help your business to assess the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for as-needed assistance to get you past tough technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management services to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for At-Home WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your employees have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the road. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud Integration for TeleworkersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular suite of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to extend your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline identity management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud environment. To find out, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
A rapid, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery process, can overwhelm even a high-performing internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center support services utilize Progent's extensive network of remote IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC support from help requests to trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to track or edit the status of their current trouble tickets, enter details, and append screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to deal with advanced problems. To learn more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small businesses.
  • Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service enables your business to supplement your existing Call Center team by sharing delivery of Call Desk support services seamlessly between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Center service is based on a collective support model utilizing the number one professional services automation platform for managing help requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class IT support to your teleworkers, see Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home staff members typically utilize their personal computing devices and often work in an unsecured physical environment. This multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of cybersecurity support experts can help your business to design, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards vital information assets in networks that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate permissions to various groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more sophisticated. Progent supports both current and legacy security devices from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support services, visit firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for TelecommutersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices utilized by teleworkers and either reject or identify and mitigate modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every secured endpoint device, watching all activity and using advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks before they can spread. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the targeted endpoint device from the network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoints stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for TelecommutersProgent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured application and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity via a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be used as this added form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can register multiple verification devices. For details about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all types of external and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with top credentials including CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your operations and policies and review your WAN architecture to allow you to implement top-level protection for your teleworkers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, prioritize, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your present security profile. Progent can also help you to harden your network security and can help you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional details about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and restoring critical data in order to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in the event of storage problems resulting from hardware issues, programming hiccups, user mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote help from experts knowledgeable about a wide range of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular recovery and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly envision scenarios that call for a rapid changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity consultants can help your company to develop, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for protecting critical data by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing off-premises computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, control how teleworkers share data, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, see Intune teleworker endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Uniondale, New York business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.