Boston Remote Workforce Configuration Consulting and Support

Enlarging your remote workforce can have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, security, and company processes. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Boston organization to pick the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and operating a secure virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide services that go from as-needed guidance for getting you past occasional IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Boston, Massachusetts companies to with any facet of building a high-functioning work-from-home ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, security monitoring, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a combination of personal equipment like desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's background providing remote support for both legacy as well as current IT products in virtual office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential updates. Support services offered by Progent to assist you to create a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to establish a safe tunnel for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to configure and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a wide selection of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable a telecommuter to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees 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 expertise.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote consulting for setting up routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting families and guests, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can create performance and security issues. Progent can help businesses to resolve these issues by providing services like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP integration assistance.
• Internet access methods affect the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Business-critical applications may require redundant Internet connections in the event the normal connection fails. Progent can provide expertise for identifying Internet service providers, choosing appropriate service packages, and configuring high-availability Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the business PBX system to accommodate remote users is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based digital PBX platforms are used by SMBs to support teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or older products for IP voice management. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice service that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco VoIP systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers enterprise telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media software deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with clients operating outside the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional 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 solutions and deliver online integration and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors support online meetings, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can assist you to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home employees. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities that include voice/video calling, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich environment of applications that create a consistent user experience for sharing information throughout a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can help your company to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity of your remote workers.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-driven access to data, business processes, and tools for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create secure portals that enables remote workers to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, go to SharePoint integration and application development expertise.

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

OneDrive is Microsoft's shared cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can access them securely via a browser. Provided with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-author files. Revisions made offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine internal data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers resolve issues with cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers more than one hundred services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure AD, and plan data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure access to Azure for telecommuters by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, visit Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of business productivity applications and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and cloud services are marketed in a selection of bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent offers fast and affordable remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help you to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed assistance to get you past tough IT roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management services to make sure your teleworkers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-uptime network model to make sure your employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your organization to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud ready so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify access management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help you to use GCP's unified management technology to administer and monitor your GCP environment. To find out, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses to outsource or expand their Support Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk support services utilize Progent's extensive network of remote IT support specialists along with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up software to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from service requests through ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to track or edit their active trouble tickets, enter details, and append screenshots or relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex issues. For details, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows your company to augment your current Help Desk Call Center staff by sharing delivery of Call Center support transparently between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service is based on a collaborative support model based on the number one professional services automation platform for handling service requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class technical support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
At-home employees commonly use their personal computers and often operate in an unsecured physical area. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber attacks and requires careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user training, and the creation of policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of data security support experts can help your business to design, configure and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards critical information resources in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be safely utilized by local users and by telecommuters, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances permit you to configure and control different permissions to various groups of users and to scale your network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and legacy security appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration services, see firewall configuration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices used by telecommuters and either block or spot and mitigate modern threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is installed on each secured endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks at inception. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication service plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a unit that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of devices can be utilized for this added form of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may register multiple verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that includes telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with top credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your processes and policies and assess your network architecture to allow you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To view or download a white paper about key things to focus on for securing a network that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital data in order to prevent data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in case of storage system failures due to hardware breakdowns, software glitches, user mistakes, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for remote workers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast remote help from experts familiar with a broad array of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically anticipate circumstances that require a quick changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity specialists can help you to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified environment for safeguarding corporate information by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting mobile computers and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how telecommuters share information, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and erase sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For information about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, refer to Intune teleworker device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. For information about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient telecommuter environment for your Boston, Massachusetts company, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.