Expanding your at-home workforce may have a significant impact on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and company workflows. Progent has two decades of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Chattanooga organization to pick the right tools and follow leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide services that go from as-needed guidance for getting you past occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.
Progent's consultants can help Chattanooga, Tennessee companies to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-functioning work-from-home environment by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.
Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be particularly challenging if you have to accommodate a mix of worker-owned hardware like desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from various vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering online support for both outdated and modern IT products in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making essential updates. Services offered by Progent to assist your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:
VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the company PBX system to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for IP voice management. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the flexibility, transparency and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.
Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies support online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many organizations utilize a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.
Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can assist businesses to configure these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness of your remote workforce.
SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven delivery of content, workflow, and tools for looking through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure web portals that allows at-home workers to view and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, see SharePoint configuration 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 learn about Progent's Exchange expertise, visit integration expertise for Exchange Server.
OneDrive is Microsoft's shared cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can access them securely via a web browser. Included with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-edit files. Revisions created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's support services for OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration experts.
Public Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent offers affordable online support for helping organizations to create, manage and repair cohesive hybrid network models that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branches, plus cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.
Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for public cloud services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features over 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create protected access to Azure services for at-home workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Azure, visit Microsoft Azure expertise.
Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from students and small offices to large enterprises. Progent can provide quick and affordable remote contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help you to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your at-home workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration services.
Exchange Online is among the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for as-needed help to guide you through challenging IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your remote workers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.
Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's leading provider of cloud services. Progent offers quick and economical online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to build a high-uptime network model so your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration support.
Google Cloud is a leading suite of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity control for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your organization to use GCP's unified management tools to administer and track your Google Cloud environment. To learn, see Google Cloud Platform integration support.
Help Desk Call Center Support for Teleworkers
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which might be activated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Call Center. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or expand their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.
Security and Compliance for Telecommuters
At-home staff members typically utilize their personal devices and often operate in an unsecured physical area. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user education, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security support experts can assist you to plan, deploy and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects critical information assets in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.
Firewalls enable you to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile employees, suppliers, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage appropriate permissions to different groups of users and to expand your network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both current and legacy security appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall support expertise, see firewall integration and support services.
Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the various devices used by teleworkers and either reject or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is installed on each secured endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the targeted device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.
Progent's Duo MFA managed services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to verify who you are via a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used for this second means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.
Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all types of external and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and affordably detecting a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be provided by network security professionals with top certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your company to audit your workflows and policies and review your WAN infrastructure to enable you to implement the highest level of security for your teleworkers.
Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment
To view or download a white paper describing critical areas to focus on for protecting a network that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)
Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers saving and recovering critical data so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in the event of storage problems resulting from hardware issues, software hiccups, user error, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that combine in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.
Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a unified environment for safeguarding corporate data by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.
Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. Network admins managing the endpoint devices of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and validate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and erase sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS devices. For information about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the devices of your at-home workers, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management consultants.
VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM product that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment through a perpetual license. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. For information about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.
Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient telecommuter environment for your Chattanooga, Tennessee company, phone