Atlanta Remote Workers Solutions Consultants

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of background assisting small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, administer, tune, and debug IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Atlanta company to select the appropriate technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and returns top business value. Progent can provide services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Atlanta, Georgia companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing work-at-home environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be especially complex if you have to accommodate a mix of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from different vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background providing remote help for both legacy and modern IT products in virtual office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources located at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall experts can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the digital environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote consulting for configuring routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by an entire household and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as security problems. Progent can help businesses to resolve these issues by delivering services like Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity methods impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Vital processes may require redundant Internet connections in case the primary connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for identifying ISPs, selecting sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Integration for Telecommuters
Extending the business PBX system to include telecommuters is vital to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX products are used by SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or legacy products for VoIP solutions. Progent can help organizations of any size to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer high-level support to assist organizations optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media apps used throughout the network. CUCM supports additional mixed media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP products, see Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with clients working beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your WAN architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed configuration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of video conferencing products from major vendors enable online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies utilize a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the engagement of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to set up and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help your business to optimize your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of applications that create a cohesive user interface for exchanging data and ideas across a corporate network and on a broad selection of endpoints. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can help your company to configure these critical collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness of your at-home workers.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to promote collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-driven delivery of data, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that allows at-home workers to see and edit aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint expertise, see SharePoint integration 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 learn about Progent's Exchange consulting services, go to planning and configuration expertise for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can access them safely via a browser. Included with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to jointly author files. Revisions made offline are uploaded when you go back online. For details about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent offers fast and affordable online assistance for helping businesses to build, manage and optimize cohesive network architectures that include internal data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, and public cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with cloud access, authentication, and security.

Azure is a popular family of cloud services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure features over 100 services services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create secure connections to Azure for telecommuters by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, visit Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and services are provided in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from students and households to large enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange experts are available for occasional assistance to get you through tough IT roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the world's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your organization to design, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other public clouds such as Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist you to build a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a productive computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading collection of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your business to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with GCP Storage, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your GCP environment. For details, see Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Remote Workers
A rapid, enterprise-wide switchover to a from-home workforce, which might be the result of an epidemic or as an element of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even a high-performing in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses to outsource or supplement their Call Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk support services utilize Progent's extensive network of remote IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all aspects 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 enables telecommuters to monitor or update their current tickets, enter information, and append screenshots and relevant files. Desktop support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available optional fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex problems. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service enables your business to supplement your current Help Desk organization by splitting responsibilities for Call Center support transparently between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive team of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Support Desk service uses a collective support solution based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class desktop support to your teleworkers, visit Progent's Help Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home employees typically utilize their personal devices and often work in a poorly secured physical area. This multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user training, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of cybersecurity solutions experts can help you to design, deploy and manage an effective security solution that guards critical information assets in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network that can be safely utilized by on-premises users and by teleworkers, mobile users, vendors, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and manage appropriate permissions to different classes of users and to scale your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats become more sophisticated. Progent works with both new and older firewall devices from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, go to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate devices utilized by teleworkers and either reject or identify and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on each secured endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect new threats before they can spread. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. To learn more about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo authentication service plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity verification with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to verify your identity on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several validation devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all types of external and internal security threats for a network that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security professionals with top certifications such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to evaluate your operations and policies and review your WAN architecture to enable you to design the highest level of security for your an at-home workforce.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital information in order to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in case of storage system failures resulting from equipment issues, software glitches, user error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for teleworkers must address diverse kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote access to experts knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/restore products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies typically anticipate scenarios that call for a quick changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can assist your business to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized environment for protecting corporate data by managing local, 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 remote devices and software. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat defense, ensure compliance, and wipe sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, go to Intune remote endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM platform that allows network managers to keep off-premises endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates 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 service or as an on-premises product through a one-time purchase. Key features of Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. To learn about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing an efficient work-from-home solution for your Atlanta, Georgia company, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.