Atlanta Offsite Workforce Configuration Consultants

Expanding your remote workforce may have a significant effect on network infrastructure, security, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Atlanta organization to select the right tools and follow best practices in creating and operating a secure virtual solution for teleworkers that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed guidance for helping you past challenging technical roadblocks to full project management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent can assist Atlanta, Georgia organizations to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning work-from-home ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Call Desk services, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required for an at-home work environment can be especially complex if you must accommodate a mix of personal hardware such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering online support for both legacy as well as modern technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making necessary updates. Support services offered by Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to create a secure connection for authenticated remote employees to access IT resources located at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to configure and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN connections for a wide range of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a teleworker to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides IT managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and offers remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote consulting for setting up routers from a range of vendors. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by families and guests, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can create throughput and cybersecurity issues. Progent can help you to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise like Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP integration help.
• Internet connectivity methods impact the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Business-critical processes may require redundant Internet access in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for identifying service providers, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and configuring redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for Teleworkers
Expanding the business phone system to include remote users is vital to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice platforms are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older products for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or maintain a remote IP voice service that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide advanced support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can help you to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, visit Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients operating outside the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration expertise.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your wide area network architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed deployment and debugging expertise.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad selection of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors enable online meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many organizations use multiple products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications product that enables presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting services for Webex as well as for other IP video products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities such as video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist you to tune your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a rich environment of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoints. Progent has provided online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can help businesses to configure these flagship collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness of your remote workers.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-driven access to content, workflow, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create secure web portals that permits at-home workers to view and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, go to SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

Exchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. To find out about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see planning and configuration expertise for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can retrieve them securely through a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to co-author files. Edits made offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, see Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote support for helping businesses to build, manage and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network architectures that include physical data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, plus cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers resolve problems with public cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of cloud software and services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than one hundred services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines 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 can also help you establish protected connections to Azure services for at-home workers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity software and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and services are marketed in a selection of bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to large corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy remote access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to create hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide as-needed help to guide you through tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to plan, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture so your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For details about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading suite of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud ready so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and simplify access management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your business to utilize GCP's management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For information, see Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Remote Workers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services leverage Progent's nationwide team of remote IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up software to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to monitor or edit their active tickets, enter details, and upload screenshots and attachments. Technical support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced problems. For details, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service allows your company to augment your existing Help Desk Call Center staff by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support seamlessly between your regular IT support organization and Progent's extensive team of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Desk service uses a collective support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. To learn how Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class technical support to your from-home workers, visit Progent's Call Desk augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home staff members commonly utilize their own computers and usually operate in an unsecured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and requires careful deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user training, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of IT security solutions experts can help you to plan, implement and manage a compliant security solution that guards critical IT assets in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by telecommuters, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different permissions to various classes of users and to expand your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and older security appliances from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall configuration services, go to firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate computers utilized by an at-home workforce and either block or identify and mitigate modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is installed on every protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to identify new attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected application and give your password you are requested to verify your identity via a unit that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be used for this second means of authentication such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all types of outside and internal security attacks for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be provided by data security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your processes and policies and assess your network architecture to enable you to design the highest level of security for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, fix, and verify security weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to evaluate your current security profile. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers optimum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more information about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper about key things to concentrate on for protecting 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 so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage system problems resulting from hardware issues, programming glitches, human error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must cover diverse kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast remote help from consultants familiar with a wide range of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies typically anticipate circumstances that require a rapid switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist your business to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

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

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and delete sensitive data from lost, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune runs with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS devices. To learn about Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the devices of your telecommuters, go to Intune telecommuter endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that helps network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Atlanta, Georgia business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.