Atlanta Remote Workforce Integration Advisor

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a significant impact on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate processes. Progent has 20 years of background helping businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Atlanta company to pick the right technologies and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide services ranging from on demand expertise for getting you over occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Atlanta, Georgia companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing work-at-home environment by delivering infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed for an at-home workforce can be especially complex if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned equipment like desktop computers and laptops, routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both legacy as well as current IT products in virtual office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to help your company to create a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN technology allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to access IT assets located at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad selection of devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a telecommuter to view and use a remote computer's desktop. This technology gives IT managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online consulting for configuring routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by an entire household and guests, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can create performance as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Line-of-business applications might demand redundant Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for identifying ISPs, choosing sensible service packages, and integrating redundant Internet connections. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Teleworkers
Extending the company phone system to include remote users is vital to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to design or tune a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, convenience and security needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers enterprise telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media apps used throughout the network. CUCM manages additional mixed media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help your company to support your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice products, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver online deployment and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad selection of video conferencing products from leading vendors enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and telecommuters. Many companies use a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the experience of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex and for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these products and assist you to tune your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that create a cohesive user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoints. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can help your company to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven access to data, workflow, and tools for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that enables remote workers to view and update aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to SharePoint integration and 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. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting services, refer to planning and configuration consulting services for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can access them safely through a browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows at-home employees to co-author files. Edits created offline are synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced online support for enabling organizations to create, manage and repair cohesive network architectures that include physical data centers, remote workers, branches, and cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers resolve issues with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for public cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over 100 services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure access to Azure for at-home workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting services for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable online contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist your business to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide occasional assistance to get you past challenging IT roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the world's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and economical online access to cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to build a high-availability network architecture to make sure your employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. For information about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular set of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your business to extend your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist your organization to deploy VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline identity control for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's management tools to administer and monitor your GCP ecosystem. For information, refer to Google Cloud Platform integration expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Teleworkers
A rapid, enterprise-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which could be driven by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery process, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Call Center. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or expand their Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services utilize Progent's nationwide network of online IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up software to provide an economical, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from help requests to trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to check or revise the status of their active trouble tickets, add details, and upload screen captures or attachments. Support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent offers the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex problems. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service enables you to supplement your current Help Desk Call Center team by splitting delivery of Call Center support services seamlessly between your regular support staff and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Support Desk service uses a collective support model utilizing the leading PSA platform for managing help requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and generating management reports. To learn how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can enable your company to provide world-class technical support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home employees typically use their own computing devices and often work in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and requires careful deployment of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive end-user education, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of data security support experts can assist your business to design, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital information assets in environments that include telecommuters.

Firewalls allow you to build a network that can be securely accessed by local users as well as by at-home workers, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices allow you to assign and manage appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to expand your IT network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration services, visit firewall support services.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate computers utilized by telecommuters and either block or identify and respond to modern threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on each protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify new threats before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight ASM 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, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are via a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized as this added means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several validation devices. To learn more about Duo identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of external and internal security threats for a network that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated security inventory software for rapidly and economically uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be managed by security professionals with top credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your operations and policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and provides maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's threat assessment services based on on NodeZero's PEN test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
Data Protection involves saving and recovering vital information in order to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage failures due to hardware issues, programming hiccups, human mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for an at-home workforce must cover multiple kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast remote help from consultants familiar with a broad range of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular restore and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often envision scenarios that require a quick changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity consultants can assist your business to create, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for safeguarding critical information by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and resources, set passwords, create VPN connections, control how telecommuters share information, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and erase corporate information from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To find out about Intune and how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, refer to Intune telecommuter device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, application management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Atlanta, Georgia organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.