Computer Network Help for Small Businesses

Expanding your telecommuter workforce can have a significant impact on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate processes. Progent has 20 years of background helping small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can assist your company to select the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a secure virtual solution for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and returns top business value. Progent offers support services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you past occasional IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help you to with any facet of building a high-performing work-from-home ecosystem by providing network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Help Desk services, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed for a remote work environment can be particularly challenging if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned equipment such as desktop computers and laptops, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering online support for both legacy and current IT products in remote office venues enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help your company to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to establish a safe connection for authorized at-home employees to access IT resources situated at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA experts can help your remote workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow a teleworker to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers substantial control over the computing environment of at-home employees and ensures them a familiar experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent offers expert remote consulting for deploying routers from a range of vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, often supporting families and visitors, are commonly used by telecommuters to connect to their router for work. This can cause performance and security issues. Progent can help you to resolve these issues by providing expertise like Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP integration assistance.
• Internet access solutions affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Mission-critical applications may require backup Internet access in the event the primary connection fails. Progent offers guidance for picking service providers, selecting appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and setting up high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the business PBX system to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX products are used by small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older products for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to design or tune a remote VoIP service that delivers the flexibility, transparency and security required for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media apps deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional mixed media services such as messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can assist your company to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your wide area network architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver on-demand deployment and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and telecommuters. Many companies use multiple conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help you to manage your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the experience of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote employees. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for other 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 conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office families, providing a rich environment of applications that deliver a cohesive user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to tune these critical collaboration platforms to optimize 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 supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, 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 Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web sites to allow collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-based delivery of data, workflow, and utilities for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to create protected portals that enables remote workers to view and edit consolidated corporate intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint support services, see 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, visit planning and configuration consulting services for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can share them safely via a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote employees to co-edit files. Edits created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced remote assistance for helping organizations to build, manage and optimize cohesive network architectures that combine physical data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a popular family of cloud services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure includes more than one hundred cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure access to Azure for teleworkers by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity applications and cloud services available by subscription. Office apps and services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help your business to assess the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

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 lower spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run transparently with local Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional help to get you through challenging technical roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management services to make sure your remote workers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's support services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your organization to plan, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-availability network architecture to make sure your employees have a productive computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular set of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to extend your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your key apps cloud ready so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist your organization to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline identity control for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also help your organization to use GCP's unified management technology to administer and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To find out, visit Google Cloud Platform consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Remote Workers
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which might be the result of an epidemic or as part of a business continuity plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services utilize Progent's nationwide team of remote technical support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to provide an economical, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to monitor or update the status of their current tickets, add information, and upload screenshots or relevant files. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent offers optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve complex issues. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service enables you to augment your existing Support Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk support seamlessly between your regular IT support organization and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support solution based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class technical support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically utilize their own computing devices and often work in an unsecured physical environment. This situation increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and requires judicious deployment of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security support experts can assist you to plan, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards critical IT assets in networks that incorporate remote workers.

Firewalls enable you to build a network that can be securely utilized by local users and by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control different permissions to different groups of users and to scale your network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and older security appliances from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, refer to firewall support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices used by at-home workers and either reject or spot and respond to the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the impacted device from the network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized for this second form of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. To learn more about Duo identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of outside and local security threats for an environment that incorporates remote workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security inventory scanning for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be managed by data security professionals with top certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to audit your procedures and policies and assess your IT architecture to enable you to design the highest level of security for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a cutting-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 to help you uncover, prioritize, remediate, and confirm security weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to use NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your present security profile. Progent can also help you to harden your existing network security and can help you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn more details about Progent's threat analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection involves saving and recovering vital data so as to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage system problems resulting from hardware issues, programming glitches, user error, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for remote workers must address diverse types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast online help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often envision circumstances that require a rapid changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified environment for protecting corporate data by managing local, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting remote computers and applications. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how home-based workers share information, set up threat defense, verify compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune works with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS devices. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the devices of your at-home workforce, go to Intune remote endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Key capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home environment, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.