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Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major impact on IT infrastructure, security, and company culture. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support at-home workers. Progent can help your company to select the right technologies and adhere to best practices in building and operating a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide services ranging from on demand guidance for helping you past occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help you to with any facet of creating a high-functioning work-at-home environment by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required to support a remote workforce can be especially complex if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned equipment such as desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote support for both legacy and modern technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology allows you to establish a safe connection for authorized at-home employees to access IT resources located at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN configuration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software for secure VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable a telecommuter to see and interact with a remote computer's desktop. This technology gives network managers more control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert online support for integrating routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by an entire household and visitors, are commonly used by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as security issues. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by providing services that include Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP setup help.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Line-of-business processes might demand redundant Internet access in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for picking ISPs, selecting appropriate service offerings, and setting up redundant Internet access. See Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the company PBX environment to include teleworkers is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based VoIP products are popular with SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to plan or tune a remote IP voice environment that provides the flexibility, transparency and protection required for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to support a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications used throughout the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP products, visit CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver as-needed configuration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors support online meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can help you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to set up and manage Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for compatible iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for other video conferencing 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 hub for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging services for these products and help you to optimize your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, providing a rich environment of productivity apps that create a cohesive user experience for sharing information throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original releases and can help businesses to tune these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity of your at-home 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 works with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-driven access to content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build protected portals that allows remote workers to view and update aggregated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

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. To learn about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, visit deployment consulting for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can share them safely via a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows at-home employees to co-edit documents. Revisions created offline are uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable remote assistance for helping businesses to build, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network models that combine physical data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, plus cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with public cloud access, authentication, and security.

Azure is a popular family of cloud services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than one hundred cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and design data backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create protected connections to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of business productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent offers fast and easy online contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on 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 applications for your remote workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for as-needed help to guide you past challenging technical roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the world's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and economical online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to plan, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a leading set of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your key applications cloud ready so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity control for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent can also help your business to utilize GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your GCP environment. For information, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Teleworkers
A sudden, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be activated by a pandemic or as an element of a business continuity process, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide team of remote technical support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an economical, modern Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 PC support from service requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to monitor or revise their active tickets, add details, and upload screenshots or relevant files. Technical support services are delivered 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 experts to resolve advanced problems. For details, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Support Desk Supplemental Service enables you to supplement your existing Call Desk staff by sharing responsibilities for Call Desk support seamlessly between your regular support personnel and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service uses a collective support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation tool for handling help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class desktop support to your at-home employees, visit Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home workers commonly utilize their personal computing devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical environment. This situation increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and requires careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough user education, and the development of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security solutions consultants can help you to design, configure and maintain an effective security solution that protects critical information assets in environments that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network that can be safely accessed by local users and by telecommuters, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage appropriate permissions to various classes of users and to expand your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various computers used by remote workers and either block or spot and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on every protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect new attacks at inception. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint from the network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay protected even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, when you log into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to verify your identity via a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized for this added form of ID validation including a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity validation services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with advanced credentials including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your procedures and policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to implement top-level security for your telecommuters.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you identify, rank, fix, and verify security weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can help you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your current security posture. Progent can also assist you to harden your network security and can help you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more information about Progent's threat assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper describing key areas to concentrate on for protecting an IT environment that includes telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical information so as to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in the event of storage problems resulting from hardware breakdowns, software hiccups, user mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to design and manage in hybrid environments that combine in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for at-home workers must address multiple types of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers fast remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a wide range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes granular restore and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often anticipate circumstances that call for a temporary switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can help you to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a unified solution for safeguarding critical information by controlling local, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting mobile computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for permission to access data and networks, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, establish threat protection, verify compliance, and delete corporate data from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune works with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS devices. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint devices of your teleworkers, see Intune telecommuter endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network managers to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To find out about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter environment, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.