Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major impact on IT architecture, security, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of background helping SMBs to design, deploy, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Minneapolis organization to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in building and maintaining a secure virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum value. Progent offers services that go from on demand guidance for getting you over occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Minneapolis, Minnesota businesses to with any aspect of creating a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the network infrastructure required for a remote workforce can be especially challenging if you have to manage a mix of personal hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from different manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online help for both legacy and modern IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential updates. Services available from Progent to assist you to create a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

  • VPN technology allows you to establish a safe tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to access IT resources situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can assist your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to view and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This technology gives network managers substantial control over the computing environment of at-home employees and offers them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
  • Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert online support for deploying home routers from a range of vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by an entire household and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can cause performance and security issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these issues by providing expertise that include Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point integration assistance.
  • Internet connectivity solutions affect the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Business-critical processes might demand backup Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for selecting ISPs, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Remote Workers
Expanding the business PBX system to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older products for VoIP solutions. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or tune a remote IP voice environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to assist organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media software used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can assist your company to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, visit Cisco CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users operating outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver as-needed configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from major technology companies support online discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both local workers and at-home workers. Many companies utilize a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your remote workforce.

  • 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, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to configure and manage Skype for Business clients to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex as well as for additional IP video products from Cisco, visit 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 content with features such as IP voice and video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging services for these products and help you to optimize your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first publication and can help businesses to configure these flagship collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness of your remote 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 and Teams Premium Integration Experts for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is closely 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 full range of features. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Deployment Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven access to data, business processes, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to build protected web portals that permits remote workforce to view and edit aggregated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, refer to SharePoint configuration and application development expertise.

Exchange Integration Experts for Remote WorkersExchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. To find out about Progent's Exchange expertise, see planning and configuration expertise for Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Consultants for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them securely through a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to jointly author documents. Revisions created offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable online assistance for helping businesses to create, manage and optimize cohesive hybrid network models that combine physical data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, plus public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all types of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration for TeleworkersAzure is a popular family of public cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than one hundred services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design data backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure access to Azure for remote workers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from students and small offices to major corporations. Progent offers fast and affordable online access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist you to evaluate the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersExchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed assistance to guide you past challenging IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for TeleworkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's biggest source of cloud services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Integration for At-Home WorkersGoogle Cloud is a leading set of cloud services that offers 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 existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity management for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist you to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your GCP ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Teleworkers
A fast, company-wide changeover to a teleworker workforce, which could be driven by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Call Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Center services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, modern Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to monitor or update their current tickets, add information, and append screenshots and attachments. Support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with advanced problems. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your current Help Desk Call Center staff by splitting delivery of Help Desk Call Center support services seamlessly between your regular IT support organization and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Center service is based on a co-sourcing support model based on the number one professional services automation tool for handling help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class technical support to your telecommuters, go to Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home staff members commonly use their own computing devices and often work in an unsecured physical area. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and requires careful deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough user training, and the creation of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran group of IT security support consultants can help you to design, configure and manage a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT assets in environments that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow you to create a network that can be safely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to assign and manage different permissions to different classes of users and to expand your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and legacy firewall appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, see firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Security Monitoring and Management for TelecommutersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by an at-home workforce and either reject or spot and mitigate modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is installed on each secured endpoint, watching all activity and using advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to detect new attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the infected device from the network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a unit that only you have and that uses a separate network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be used as this added means of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all classes of external and internal security threats for an environment that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can deploy online, automated security analysis software for rapidly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by network security experts with advanced certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your operations and governance policies and review your network architecture to enable you to design the highest level of security for your remote workers.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your network security and can help you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and delivers optimum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's threat assessment services powered by on NodeZero's penetration test 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 critical areas to concentrate on for protecting a network that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital information so as to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time in case of storage failures due to equipment issues, programming hiccups, operator error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery strategies for an at-home workforce must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote help from experts knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate circumstances that call for a temporary changeover to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity specialists can help your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager provides a unified solution for safeguarding corporate data by managing on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft 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 computers and applications. Managed endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of at-home workers can use Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for accessing information and networks, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat protection, verify compliance, and wipe sensitive data from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your teleworkers, visit Intune teleworker device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google 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 through 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 devices, aggregated management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To find out about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Minneapolis, Minnesota business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.