Arlington Work from Home Employees Connectivity Consulting Partner

Expanding your telecommuter workforce can have a significant impact on IT infrastructure, security, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience helping businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Arlington company to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in building and operating a safe virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum business value. Progent can provide support services that go from on demand expertise for helping you past challenging IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Arlington, Texas companies to with any facet of creating a high-performing work-from-home ecosystem by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Call Desk outsourcing, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure required to support a remote work environment can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a combination of personal equipment like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing online help for both outdated and current technologies in remote office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help you to create a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources situated at your company data center 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 with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow a telecommuter to see and use a remote PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers significant control over the computing environment of at-home employees and offers them a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert remote consulting for setting up routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by an entire household and visitors, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these problems by delivering expertise that include Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP integration help.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Line-of-business applications might require backup Internet connections in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for identifying service providers, choosing sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and configuring redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the corporate PBX environment to accommodate teleworkers is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older products for VoIP management. Progent can help businesses of any size to design or maintain a remote VoIP service that delivers the flexibility, transparency and security needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer advanced support to help businesses optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends advanced IP telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed throughout the network. CUCM supports other mixed media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to maintain your current CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, refer to CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed configuration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide range of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies use multiple products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the engagement of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications product that supports presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to support your remote employees. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for additional 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 hub for conferencing, contacts, and content with features that include video conferencing, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist you to tune your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad range of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first publication and can help your company to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to optimize the effectiveness 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 deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, 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 (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to enable collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that allows remote workers to view and update aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to 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 details about Progent's Exchange consulting services, see planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can access them securely via a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-author files. Edits made offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent offers fast and affordable remote support for enabling businesses to build, maintain and repair cohesive network models that incorporate internal data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all types of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Azure is a leading platform for cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure connections to Azure for teleworkers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Azure, see Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of plans intended for users ranging from students and small offices to major corporations. Progent offers fast and easy online access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your remote workers to achieve maximum business value. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide occasional assistance to get you past challenging IT bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management services to make sure your teleworkers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's leading provider of cloud services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online contact with cloud integration experts who can assist your business to design, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud 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 experts to help you to create a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the road. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your business to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your key applications cloud ready so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage services, and simplify access control for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help your business to use GCP's unified management technology to control and track your Google Cloud environment. For information, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Support for At-Home Workers
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a telecommuter workforce, which might be activated by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk services allow businesses of any size to outsource or expand their Support Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk support services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to offer an affordable, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests to trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to track or edit their current tickets, add information, and upload screen captures or attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced problems. For details, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Support Desk Supplemental Service allows your business to expand your current Help Desk Call Center team by splitting delivery of Help Desk services transparently between your regular support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Support Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing service requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and generating reports. For information about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class desktop support to your teleworkers, go to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security for Remote Workers
At-home staff members typically utilize their own computing devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to malware threats and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the creation of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security support experts can help you to plan, configure and maintain an effective security solution that guards vital IT resources in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewalls allow you to build a network that can be securely utilized by on-premises users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and the public. Modern firewall appliances permit you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks become increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and older security devices from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices used by at-home workers and either reject or spot and respond to modern threats like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on each secured endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately disconnects the impacted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to verify your identity on a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide selection of devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may register multiple validation devices. To learn more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all types of external and internal security threats for a network that includes remote workers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security gaps that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment experts, which can be provided by security professionals with advanced credentials including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your workflows and governance policies and assess your network architecture to enable you to design top-level security for your telecommuters.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, rank, fix, and confirm security weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to evaluate your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers optimum cyber defense for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional details about Progent's threat analysis services powered by on NodeZero's PEN test platform, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To view 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 Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers backing up and restoring critical data in order to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in case of storage system failures resulting from hardware issues, software glitches, user mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for an at-home workforce must cover multiple types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick online access to experts knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features fine-grained restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly anticipate circumstances that require a temporary switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity consultants can help your business to create, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for protecting corporate data by controlling on-premises, 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 remote computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share data, establish threat protection, verify security compliance, and delete sensitive information from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the devices of your at-home workers, go to Intune mobile device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management product that allows network administrators to keep remote endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises product through a perpetual license. Key capabilities of Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. To learn about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Arlington, Texas organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.