Reston At Home Workers Solutions Support Partner

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major impact on network infrastructure, security, and company culture. Progent has two decades of experience assisting small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Reston organization to select the appropriate technologies and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum business value. Progent offers support services ranging from as-needed guidance for getting you past challenging IT bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Reston, Virginia organizations to with any facet of building a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, helpdesk services, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required to support a remote work environment can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a combination of personal hardware like desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote support for both outdated as well as modern IT products in remote office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential updates. Support services available from Progent to help you to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• VPN connectivity allows you to establish a secure connection for authorized at-home employees to access IT assets located at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy 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-certified ASA experts can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad range of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to view and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers expert remote support for integrating routers from a range of manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting families and guests, are frequently used by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can create throughput as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can help you to mitigate these issues by providing services like Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point integration help.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Vital applications may require redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for selecting service providers, choosing appropriate service bundles, and integrating high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Expanding the corporate phone environment to accommodate telecommuters is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP products are used by small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or legacy products for VoIP solutions. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter VoIP service that provides the versatility, transparency and protection required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) extends advanced telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media apps deployed throughout the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can assist your company to support your existing CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, refer to CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with users operating outside the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN architecture to support these solutions and provide online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from major vendors enable online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize multiple conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to configure and manage Skype for Business clients to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's support services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for other IP video products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and content with features that include voice/video conferencing, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoints. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial publication and can help businesses to configure these critical collaboration products to maximize the productivity 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 works with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven access to content, business processes, and tools for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that enables remote workers to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to SharePoint integration and development consulting.

Exchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. To learn about Progent's Exchange support services, go to integration consulting services for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can retrieve them securely via a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote employees to co-author files. Revisions made offline are automatically synced when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers fast and affordable online support for helping organizations to create, maintain and optimize integrated network models that include physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus public cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers fix issues with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure is a popular family of public cloud services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over 100 cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable 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 storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish protected access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans intended for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent offers quick and affordable online contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for occasional help to get you through tough technical roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's top source of cloud services. Progent offers fast and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT 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 build a high-uptime network model to make sure your employees have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a leading collection of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to extend your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can help you make your critical apps cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. For details, see Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Telecommuters
A rapid, organization-wide switchover to a teleworker business model, which could be activated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses to outsource or augment their Call Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online IT support specialists combined with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from service requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to monitor or update the status of their active tickets, enter information, and upload screen captures and relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent offers optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex problems. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
• Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service enables you to augment your existing Support Desk team by sharing responsibilities for Call Center support seamlessly between your regular support organization and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Center service is based on a collective support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation platform for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can enable your company to provide best-in-class desktop support to your teleworkers, visit Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home staff members commonly utilize their own devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical space. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to malware threats and calls for careful deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security support experts can assist you to plan, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards critical IT assets in networks that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by telecommuters, mobile employees, suppliers, customers, and the public. Modern firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different permissions to different groups of users and to scale your IT network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks grow more sophisticated. Progent supports both current and legacy firewall devices from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall support services, see firewall support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices used by remote workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is put on each protected endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple validation devices. To learn more about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all types of external and internal security threats for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can run remote, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be managed by security professionals with advanced credentials including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your business to evaluate your operations and policies and review your WAN architecture to enable you to implement the highest level of security for your telecommuters.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, rank, fix, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your network security and can help you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper describing key areas to focus on for securing a network that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital data so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in the event of storage problems resulting from equipment issues, programming glitches, operator error, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast remote access to experts knowledgeable about a broad array of products for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular restore and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically envision circumstances that call for a quick changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity specialists can assist your business to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager provides a unified environment for protecting critical information by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing off-premises computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, set up threat protection, verify compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. For information about Intune and how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the devices of your at-home workforce, visit Intune teleworker endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, 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 deployment through a perpetual license. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. To learn about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Reston, Virginia organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.