Kansas City Offsite Workforce Integration Consulting Experts

Expanding your remote workforce can have a major effect on IT infrastructure, security, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of background helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support at-home workers. Progent can help your Kansas City company to select the appropriate technologies and follow leading practices in building and operating a secure virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent offers support services ranging from as-needed guidance for helping you over challenging IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Kansas City, Missouri businesses to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, Help Desk outsourcing, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed for an at-home workforce can be particularly complicated if you have to accommodate a mix of worker-owned hardware like desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both legacy and current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary updates. Support services available from Progent to help your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authorized at-home workers to access IT assets situated at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall experts can assist your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices such as Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable an at-home worker to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This provides IT managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and ensures remote users a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert online consulting for setting up home routers from all major vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting an entire household and guests, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can create performance and security issues. Progent can help businesses to resolve these problems by providing expertise like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point setup help.
• Internet access solutions affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Line-of-business processes may require redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking service providers, choosing appropriate service bundles, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Remote Workers
Extending the corporate PBX system to accommodate telecommuters is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based VoIP platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older products for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice service that provides the versatility, convenience and protection needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends high-end telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications used throughout the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand configuration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many organizations use a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to manage your existing conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex and for additional video conferencing products 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 information with features that include voice/video conferencing, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, visit 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 deliver integration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to tune your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for exchanging information across multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to tune these critical collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness 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 works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of features. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web sites to promote collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-based access to data, workflow, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build protected portals that allows remote workforce to see and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint integration 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 find out about Progent's Exchange consulting services, see deployment consulting for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can share them securely through a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to jointly author documents. Revisions created offline are uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's support services for OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers affordable remote assistance for enabling organizations to build, maintain and optimize cohesive network architectures that include physical data centers, teleworkers, branches, plus public cloud services. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve issues with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over 100 services services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create secure connections to Azure services for teleworkers by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, see Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity applications and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are provided in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from students and households to major enterprises. Progent can provide quick and affordable remote access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the numerous subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your teleworkers in a way that delivers top business value. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run transparently with local Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for as-needed assistance to guide you past tough technical roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can help your business to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to create a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular suite of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your organization to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline access control for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help you to utilize GCP's management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. To find out, go to Google Cloud Platform consulting support.

Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A rapid, organization-wide changeover to a telecommuter business model, which could be driven by an epidemic or as an element of a business continuity plan, can overstretch even the most efficient in-house Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or expand their Call Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk support services leverage Progent's extensive team of remote technical support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC support from help requests to trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to monitor or update the status of their active tickets, add information, and upload screen captures and attachments. Support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent offers the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced problems. For more information, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to supplement your existing Call Desk organization by splitting responsibilities for Call Center support services transparently between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Support Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the leading PSA platform for handling service requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. For information about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class IT support to your telecommuters, see Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically use their personal computing devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for careful deployment of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive user training, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of IT security solutions experts can assist your business to design, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that guards critical information resources in networks that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to assign and manage appropriate permissions to different groups of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent works with both new and legacy security devices from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, refer to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various computers utilized by at-home workers and either reject or identify and respond to the latest threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is put on every protected endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new attacks at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo authentication Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and enter your password you are asked to verify who you are on a unit that only you possess and that uses a different network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added means of authentication such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of external and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates remote workers. 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 data security professionals with advanced credentials including CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your workflows and policies and review your network architecture to allow you to implement the highest level of protection for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your present security posture. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's threat analysis solutions powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical information so as to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage system failures due to hardware issues, software glitches, human error, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to architect and manage in hybrid environments that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for an at-home workforce must address multiple types of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick online help from experts familiar with a broad range of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically anticipate circumstances that require a temporary changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity specialists can help you to create, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a unified environment for protecting critical information by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile computers and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the endpoint devices of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for accessing information and networks, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how telecommuters share data, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and delete corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For information about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist your company 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 a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about building and maintaining a productive telecommuter solution for your Kansas City, Missouri company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.