Expanding your remote workforce can have a major impact on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of experience helping businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Savannah company to select the appropriate technologies and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you past occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

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

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the network infrastructure required for a remote workforce can be especially complicated if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both legacy and modern technologies in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

  • VPN connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authorized at-home employees to access IT assets located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to configure and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect client software for secure VPN connections for a broad selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This gives IT managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
  • Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, local wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier remote consulting for configuring routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, often supporting families and visitors, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause throughput and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these problems by providing expertise like Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point setup assistance.
  • Internet access methods impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Mission-critical applications might require backup Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for identifying ISPs, choosing appropriate service offerings, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for At-Home Workers
Expanding the company phone environment to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with SMBs to server remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, convenience and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide high-level support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM expertise, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist you to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP products, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your wide area network architecture to support these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad range of video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies support virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many companies use a mix of products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to manage your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your at-home employees. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to 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, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for 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 deliver configuration and troubleshooting expertise for these products and help you to optimize your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a rich environment of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas across a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products to maximize the productivity 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 and Teams Premium Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of features. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Configuration Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint uses web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-based access to content, workflow, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create protected web portals that permits at-home workers to view and update aggregated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint support services, see SharePoint integration 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 learn about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see planning and configuration consulting for Exchange Server.

Onedrive Deployment Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues can access them safely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables home workers to jointly author files. Edits created offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide affordable remote assistance for enabling organizations to build, manage and optimize integrated hybrid network models that incorporate physical data centers, remote workers, branches, and public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers resolve issues with public cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a popular family of public cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create secure connections to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans designed for users ranging from students and small offices to large enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable remote access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help your business to assess the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for Remote WorkersExchange Online is among the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide occasional help to get you through tough IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management services to make sure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for Remote WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide fast and economical online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your organization to design, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to create a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Integration for At-Home WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform is a leading collection of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to extend your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud ready so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with GCP Storage, and simplify identity management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to use GCP's management technology to control and monitor your GCP ecosystem. For details, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, company-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be activated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even the most efficient in-house Call Center. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Support Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support experts along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an affordable, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of online Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to track or edit the status of their active tickets, add details, and upload screenshots or attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent offers optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with advanced issues. To find out more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows your business to augment your existing Help Desk staff by splitting delivery of Support Desk services transparently between your regular IT support organization and Progent's extensive team of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation platform for managing help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and producing reports. To learn how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your business to provide world-class desktop support to your at-home employees, refer to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers commonly utilize their own devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical space. This increases their susceptibility to malware attacks and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive end-user education, and the creation of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of cybersecurity solutions experts can assist you to design, deploy and manage an effective security solution that guards critical information resources in environments that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be safely utilized by local users as well as by teleworkers, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances allow you to assign and manage different access rights to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your company evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and older security devices from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall support services, refer to firewall support services.

Remote Security Monitoring and Management Services for TeleworkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate computers used by telecommuters and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every secured endpoint device, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks at inception. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the infected endpoint from the network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TelecommutersProgent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected application and give your password you are requested to verify who you are via a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added form of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. To learn more about Duo identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of external and local security threats for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated security analysis scanning for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by network security professionals with advanced credentials including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your processes and policies and assess your IT infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of security for your telecommuters.

NodeZero Pen Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, prioritize, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your present security posture. Progent can also assist you to harden your existing network security and can help you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and delivers optimum cyber defense for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To read or download a white paper describing key things to concentrate on for securing an IT environment that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection involves saving and recovering critical information in order to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in case of storage system failures resulting from equipment breakdowns, software hiccups, operator mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for teleworkers must cover multiple types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick online access to experts familiar with a broad array of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained restore and unified management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often anticipate scenarios that call for a quick switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help your company to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager offers a unified platform for safeguarding critical data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting off-premises computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for permission to access data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how home-based workers share data, set up threat protection, verify compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For details about Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the devices of your teleworkers, refer to Intune teleworker device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that helps network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises product through a perpetual license. Key capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, unifies reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. For details about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Savannah, Georgia business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.