Portland Work at Home Employees Configuration Consulting

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a major impact on network infrastructure, security, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of experience assisting small and mid-size businesses to design, configure, administer, tune, and debug IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Portland organization to pick the right technologies and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and returns maximum value. Progent offers services ranging from on demand guidance for helping you past challenging technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Portland, Oregon companies to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, helpdesk outsourcing, data security, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed for an at-home workforce can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi APs from different vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering online support for both outdated as well as current technologies in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to create a secure connection for authenticated at-home employees to use IT assets located at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key IT resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a telecommuter to view and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This gives IT managers more control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and ensures remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote support for setting up home routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by an entire household and visitors, are commonly used by telecommuters to connect to their router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help businesses to resolve these problems by providing services that include Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Vital processes might require backup Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for picking service providers, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume packages, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. Refer to Internet access integration services.

VoIP Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the company phone environment to include remote users is critical to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are popular with SMBs to support remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to design or maintain a remote VoIP service that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection required for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize their current Cisco IP voice systems to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends advanced IP telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other combined media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to maintain your current CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP platforms, visit CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with users working beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network architecture to support these solutions and provide as-needed deployment and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad selection of video conferencing products from leading technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent can help your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs on 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 consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for additional IP video products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities that include video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Teams and for additional Office 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and assist your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas across multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your remote workers.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-based delivery of data, workflow, and tools for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that enables at-home workforce to see and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, see SharePoint integration and development consulting.

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

OneDrive is Microsoft’s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers anywhere can share them securely through a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-edit files. Revisions made offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable remote assistance for helping businesses to build, maintain and optimize integrated network models that include physical data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all types of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create protected connections to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's expertise for Azure, go to Azure expertise.

Office 365, now called Microsoft 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are provided in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from students and households to large corporations. Progent offers fast and affordable remote access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help you to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your at-home workers to achieve maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Office 365, refer to Microsoft Office 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Office 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide as-needed help to guide you through tough IT bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting expertise for Office 365 Exchange Online, go to Office 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online access to cloud integration consultants who can help your business to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud is a popular collection of cloud services that offers 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 Platform, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your key applications cloud ready so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your business to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage services, and simplify identity management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist your business to use GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your GCP ecosystem. To learn, refer to Google Cloud Platform consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Telecommuters
A sudden, enterprise-wide changeover to a from-home workforce, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as part of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing internal Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or augment their Call Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk support services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an economical, state-of-the-art Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop technical support from initial service requests to trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to track or update their current trouble tickets, add details, and upload screen captures and attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent offers optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve advanced problems. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service enables you to supplement your existing Support Desk staff by sharing delivery of Call Center support transparently between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service is based on a collaborative support solution based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating management reports. For information about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class technical support to your at-home workforce, refer to Progent's Call Desk augmentation Services.

Security for Teleworkers
Remote workers commonly use their own computers and work in an unsecured environment. This increases their vulnerability to cyber threats and demands careful use of security appliances, remote security monitoring, and the enforcement of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran team of certified cybersecurity professionals can help your organization to plan, implement and manage a compliant cybersecurity environment that guards vital data in IT networks that include an at-home workforce.

• Firewalls allow you to build a network that can be safely utilized by on-premises users and by teleworkers, mobile users, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and manage different access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and modify your security as your business evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both current and older firewall appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support expertise, go to firewall configuration and support expertise.
• Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the various devices used by telecommuters and either reject or spot and respond to the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on each protected endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis to identify zero-day attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the impacted device from the network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain protected even when they are disconnected from the Internet. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.
• Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all types of external and local security attacks for an environment that includes telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated security analysis software for rapidly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment experts, which can be provided by data security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help you to evaluate your processes and policies and assess your IT infrastructure to enable you to implement top-level security for your teleworkers.

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital information so as to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage system problems resulting from equipment issues, software hiccups, user mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for teleworkers must address diverse types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online access to experts knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud storage and features granular recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans often envision scenarios that call for a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help your business to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Endpoint Manager features a unified solution for safeguarding corporate information by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting mobile devices and software. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and networks, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share data, establish threat protection, verify compliance, and wipe sensitive information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, refer to Intune teleworker endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment through a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Portland, Oregon business, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.