Boston At Home Workforce Solutions Support Services

Enlarging your at-home workforce can have a significant effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and company workflows. Progent has two decades of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to design, configure, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Boston company to select the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide services that go from as-needed guidance for helping you past challenging IT bottlenecks to full project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Boston, Massachusetts organizations to with any aspect of building a high-performing telecommuting environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, helpdesk augmentation, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a mix of personal hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online support for both legacy as well as current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing network infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to create a safe tunnel for authenticated remote employees to access IT resources located at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to configure and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing online VPN integration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable a telecommuter to see and interact with a remote computer's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of telecommuters and offers them a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert online support for configuring home routers from all major vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can create throughput as well as security problems. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these problems by providing services that include Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP integration help.
• Internet connectivity solutions affect the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Vital applications may demand redundant Internet access in case the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for selecting service providers, picking sensible service bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet connections. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Teleworkers
Extending the business PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based digital PBX products are used by small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or tune a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, transparency and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide high-level support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional mixed media services such as messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, refer to Cisco Unified CM expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help you to maintain your current CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, refer to CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with clients working beyond the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations use multiple products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and optimize the experience of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to support your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for compatible iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex and for additional IP video solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with features such as IP voice and video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help your business to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a powerful ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing data and ideas across multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial publication and can help businesses to tune these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of features. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to promote collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to build protected web portals that enables remote workers to see and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, go to SharePoint configuration and development expertise.

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

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can access them securely through a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-edit documents. Revisions created offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent offers affordable online assistance for enabling organizations to create, manage and optimize integrated network models that include internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and public cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all modes of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers resolve problems with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading platform for public cloud services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features over 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Office apps and services are provided in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from students and households to large corporations. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to evaluate the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional assistance to get you past challenging technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your remote workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with cloud integration experts who can help your organization to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to create a high-availability network model so your employees have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of public cloud 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 expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your business to deploy virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline access management for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help your business to utilize GCP's management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For information, see Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Teleworkers
A fast, company-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which could be driven by a pandemic or as a component of a business continuity process, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk 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 utilize Progent's extensive team of online technical support specialists along with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from service requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to check or revise their active trouble tickets, add details, and append screen captures and attachments. Technical support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent makes available the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced issues. To learn more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your current Help Desk organization by splitting responsibilities for Call Center support transparently between your regular support personnel and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Call Center service uses a collective support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and generating management reports. To find out how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class desktop support to your teleworkers, visit Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
At-home staff members typically utilize their own devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and requires judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the creation of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of IT security solutions experts can assist your business to design, deploy and manage an effective security solution that protects vital information resources in environments that include at-home workers.

Firewalls enable companies to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by on-premises users as well as by telecommuters, mobile workers, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances allow you to assign and control appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to expand your network and adjust your security profile as your company evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall devices from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, refer to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate devices used by at-home workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is installed on each secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the infected endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you log into a protected application and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be used as this second means of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register several verification devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and local security threats for an environment that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can run online, automated security analysis software for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security experts with advanced credentials including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your business to evaluate your processes and governance policies and review your IT infrastructure to allow you to design top-level security for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you identify, prioritize, remediate, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your network security and can help you to design and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers maximum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional information about Progent's vulnerability analysis services based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper describing key things to concentrate on for securing a network that supports telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical information so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage system failures due to hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for an at-home workforce must cover multiple types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick online access to consultants familiar with a wide range of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies commonly envision circumstances that call for a temporary switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can assist you to develop, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses 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 critical information by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share data, set up threat protection, verify compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune can be used with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For information about Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, refer to Intune remote device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management platform that helps network administrators to keep offsite endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, 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 features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of out-of-the-box laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To find out about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient telecommuter solution for your Boston, Massachusetts business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.