Wichita Offsite Workforce Connectivity Consulting

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of experience helping SMBs to plan, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Wichita company to select the right tools and adhere to leading practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand expertise for helping you over challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent can help Wichita, Kansas companies to with any facet of building a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, helpdesk services, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the network infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be particularly complex if you have to accommodate a mix of personal equipment like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online support for both outdated as well as modern technologies in remote office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist your company to create a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to create a safe tunnel for authenticated at-home employees to access IT resources situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your remote workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software for secure VPN connections for a wide range of devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable a teleworker to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides IT managers more control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and offers them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote consulting for setting up home routers from all major manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting families and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by delivering services like Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP integration assistance.
• Internet access solutions affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Mission-critical processes might demand backup Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for selecting Internet service providers, selecting sensible service offerings, and integrating redundant Internet connections. See Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the corporate PBX system to accommodate telecommuters is vital to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based VoIP products are used by small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to design or tune a telecommuter IP voice environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers advanced telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, refer to Cisco Unified CM expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, visit CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working outside the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand integration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies support online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent can help your organization to maintain your current conferencing environment and enhance the experience of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that supports presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your remote employees. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for other IP video solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conferencing, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other 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 conferencing platforms and assist your business to tune your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich environment of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing data and ideas across a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication 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 supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven access to content, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build protected web portals that enables at-home workforce to view and update aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint integration and application development expertise.

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. For information about Progent's Exchange support services, see deployment consulting for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues can share them securely through a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-author files. Edits created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable online support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network architectures that include internal data centers, teleworkers, branches, and cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers fix problems with cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a leading platform for cloud services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes over 100 services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create secure connections to Azure services for telecommuters by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, go to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent can provide fast and easy remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to assess the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate transparently with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for as-needed help to guide you through challenging IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management services to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the world's leading source of cloud services. Progent can provide fast and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your organization to plan, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-availability network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. For information about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud (GCP) 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 experts can assist you to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your organization to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline identity management for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also help your organization to utilize GCP's management tools to control and track your Google Cloud environment. To find out, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting services.

Help Desk Services for Telecommuters
A rapid, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be motivated by an epidemic or as a component of a business continuity process, can overwhelm even a well-staffed internal Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services allow organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk services utilize Progent's extensive team of online technical support experts along with world-class ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an affordable, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 PC technical support from service requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to check or revise their active tickets, enter information, and append screen captures or attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent offers the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve advanced issues. To find out more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Augmentation Service allows you to expand your existing Call Center team by sharing delivery of Help Desk support services transparently between your in-house support staff and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Center service is based on a collective support model utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class desktop support to your at-home workforce, refer to Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home staff members typically utilize their personal computing devices and often work in an unsecured physical environment. This increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and requires judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough user training, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of cybersecurity support consultants can help you to plan, deploy and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards critical information resources in environments that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewalls allow you to build a network that can be safely utilized by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices permit you to assign and control appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to scale your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older security devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall support expertise, go to firewall configuration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various computers used by at-home workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is put on every protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoints stay protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a device that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be used as this added means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register several validation devices. To learn more about Duo identity authentication services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that includes remote workers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for rapidly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security experts with advanced certifications such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, prioritize, remediate, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your current security profile. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more details about Progent's threat assessment services powered by on NodeZero's PEN test products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

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

Data Protection for Remote Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital information in order to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage system problems resulting from equipment issues, software hiccups, user error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for remote workers must address diverse types of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online access to experts knowledgeable about a broad range of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically anticipate circumstances that call for a rapid switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity specialists can help your business to create, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for safeguarding corporate data by managing local, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and networks, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat defense, ensure security compliance, and wipe sensitive data from lost, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune runs with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To find out about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, visit Intune mobile endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by 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-premises product via a one-time purchase. Top features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient telecommuter solution for your Wichita, Kansas business, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.