Brooklyn Offsite Workforce Connectivity Advisor

Enlarging your at-home workforce can have a significant effect on network architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate processes. Progent has 20 years of background helping SMBs to design, configure, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that support work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Brooklyn organization to select the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers support services ranging from as-needed guidance for getting you over challenging IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Brooklyn, New York companies to succeed with any facet of building a high-performing work-from-home ecosystem by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, Help Desk outsourcing, data security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Configuring the network infrastructure needed for a remote workforce can be particularly challenging if you must manage a combination of worker-owned hardware like desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from various manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing online support for both legacy as well as modern technologies in remote office venues enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary updates. Services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authorized at-home workers to access IT resources situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide selection of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow a teleworker to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This gives IT managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote support for setting up routers from all major vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these issues by providing services that include Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP setup help.
• Internet access methods impact the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Vital applications may require backup Internet access in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers expertise for picking ISPs, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the business PBX system to include remote users is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP products are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or maintain a remote IP voice environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer high-level support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional mixed media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see CUCM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, visit Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your wide area network architecture to support these solutions and provide on-demand integration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad range of video conferencing products from leading technology companies enable online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can assist you to maintain your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex and for additional IP video products from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities that include IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video 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 conferencing platforms and help you to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can help your company to tune these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness of your at-home workers.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven access to data, workflow, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create secure portals that enables remote workers to view and edit consolidated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, see SharePoint configuration 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 expertise, refer to deployment consulting services for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can access them safely via a web browser. Provided with Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to jointly author files. Edits made offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent offers advanced online support for enabling businesses to create, manage and repair integrated network architectures that include physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, and public cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers fix problems with cloud access, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish secure access to Azure services for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are marketed in a selection of bundles designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and affordable online access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to guide you past tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's support services for Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's leading provider of cloud services. Progent can provide quick and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help you to create a high-uptime network model so your users have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular collection of public cloud 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 scale your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your critical apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist you to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help you to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP environment. To find out, refer to Google Cloud Platform integration expertise.

Help Desk Services for Telecommuters
A fast, organization-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which could be activated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support experts along with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests to trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to check or edit the status of their current tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent offers the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced problems. For details, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
• Progent's Support Desk Supplemental Service enables your business to expand your existing Call Desk team by splitting delivery of Call Desk support services transparently between your regular IT support staff and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Desk service is based on a collaborative support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling help requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For information about how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your company to deliver best-in-class technical support to your telecommuters, visit Progent's Call Desk supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
At-home staff members commonly use their own computers and usually work in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to cyber attacks and requires careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough user training, and the development of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned team of data security solutions experts can assist you to plan, implement and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT resources in networks that include at-home workers.

Firewalls allow companies to create a network that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by at-home workers, mobile users, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate permissions to different classes of users and to scale your network and modify your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly complex. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall devices from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, go to firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various computers utilized by at-home workers and either block or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and using advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new attacks on arrival. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to verify who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide range of devices can be used for this second means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) 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 an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy online, automated security analysis software for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced certifications such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your procedures and policies and review your IT architecture to enable you to implement top-level protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, rank, remediate, and verify security vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests 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 strengthen your existing network security and can help you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers maximum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn more information about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

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

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital information so as to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time in the event of storage system problems resulting from equipment issues, software hiccups, human mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore strategies for remote workers must cover diverse types of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online access to consultants familiar with a wide array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data spread throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically envision scenarios that require a temporary switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity consultants can assist you to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized platform for safeguarding critical data by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote devices and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, control how home-based workers share information, set up threat defense, ensure compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For details about Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, refer to Intune remote endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that helps network managers to keep remote endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your Brooklyn, New York company, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.