Greensboro Telecommuters Solutions Consulting Partner

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major effect on network architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate workflows. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Greensboro company to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and delivers maximum business value. Progent offers services that go from as-needed expertise for helping you over occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Greensboro, North Caroline companies to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-performing telecommuting environment by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk outsourcing, security monitoring, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home workforce can be especially complicated if you have to manage a mix of personal hardware like desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi APs from different manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background providing online help for both outdated as well as modern IT products in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for implement essential updates. Services available from Progent to assist your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem include:

• VPN technology allows you to create a secure connection for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key IT resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can assist your remote workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a broad range of devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a teleworker to see and interact with a remote computer's desktop. This technology gives network managers substantial control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, local wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier online consulting for integrating home routers from a range of vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can help you to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity methods affect the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Vital applications may require redundant Internet access in case the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for identifying Internet service providers, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume packages, and configuring high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the business PBX environment to accommodate telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based digital PBX products are popular with SMBs to support remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or tune a telecommuter VoIP service that delivers the flexibility, convenience and protection required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, visit CUCM expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can assist your company to support your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, see CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to support these solutions and provide online configuration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from major vendors support online discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and at-home workers. Many companies utilize multiple products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist you to manage your existing conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for iOS and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities such as voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these products and help you to optimize your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich environment of productivity apps that create a consistent user interface for sharing information across multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help businesses to configure these flagship collaboration platforms 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 works with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-based access to data, workflow, and utilities for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to build protected web portals that permits at-home workforce to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, refer to SharePoint configuration 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 consulting services, refer to integration consulting for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers anywhere can retrieve them safely via a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to jointly author files. Revisions made offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent offers advanced online support for helping organizations to build, manage and optimize integrated network models that combine internal data centers, remote workers, branches, and public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix issues with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of public cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features more than one hundred services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure for telecommuters by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for users ranging from students and small offices to large enterprises. Progent offers fast and easy remote access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to evaluate the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run transparently with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed help to guide you past tough technical roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to make sure your at-home workers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and affordable online contact with cloud integration experts who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular set of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline identity management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help you to utilize GCP's management tools to administer and monitor your GCP environment. For details, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting services.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which could be the result of an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations to outsource or expand their Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide team of online technical support specialists combined with world-class ticketing and tracking technology to provide an economical, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC technical support from initial help requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to monitor or revise their active trouble tickets, add details, and upload screen captures and relevant files. Desktop support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent offers the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced problems. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to augment your existing Call Center organization by splitting delivery of Call Desk services transparently between your regular support organization and Progent's extensive roster of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support model based on the leading PSA tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and generating management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class IT support to your at-home employees, go to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home workers typically use their personal computing devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical area. This multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for careful configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of data security support consultants can help your business to design, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that protects critical IT resources in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be safely utilized by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to assign and manage different permissions to various classes of users and to scale your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more complex. Progent works with both new and older security devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices used by remote workers and either reject or spot and respond to modern threats like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint software agent is put on each protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several validation devices. To learn more about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all classes of outside and local security threats for an environment that incorporates at-home workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security inventory software for rapidly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by network security professionals with top credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your processes and governance policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to implement the highest level of security for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous testing of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, prioritize, fix, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your current security posture. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more information about Progent's threat assessment services powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical information in order to prevent data loss and reduce recovery time in the event of storage system problems due to equipment issues, software hiccups, user mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must cover diverse kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote help from experts knowledgeable about a broad range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically envision scenarios that call for a temporary changeover to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning specialists can help your company to develop, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for protecting corporate information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and applications. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how telecommuters share data, set up threat defense, ensure compliance, and delete sensitive data from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To find out about Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, go to Intune mobile device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM product that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site product through a one-time purchase. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. To find out about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about building and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your Greensboro, North Caroline company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.