Network Outsourcing for Small Companies

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a major effect on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can assist you to pick the appropriate technologies and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and returns top value. Progent can provide support services that go from on demand expertise for helping you over occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help you to with any aspect of building a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud integration, Call Desk outsourcing, data security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the network infrastructure required for an at-home workforce can be especially complex if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware such as PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from various vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing online help for both outdated and modern IT products in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers ready access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary updates. Support services offered by Progent to help you to create a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network technology allows you to create a safe tunnel for authenticated remote workers to use IT assets situated at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to deploy and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a broad range of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow an at-home worker to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of telecommuters and offers them a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert remote support for setting up home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, often supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can create throughput as well as security problems. Progent can assist you to resolve these issues by delivering services that include Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP integration help.
• Internet access methods impact the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Business-critical processes may require redundant Internet connections in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for identifying ISPs, choosing sensible service offerings, and configuring redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Solutions for Telecommuters
Expanding the business phone system to accommodate remote users is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are popular with SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to design or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and security needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia software deployed across the network. CUCM supports additional mixed media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to CUCM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, see CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with users working beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed deployment and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies support virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both onsite users and telecommuters. Many organizations use a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that supports real-time presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to set up and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support expertise for Cisco Webex and for additional video conferencing products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities that include video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, providing a rich environment of productivity apps that create a consistent user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to configure these flagship collaboration products to optimize the productivity of your remote workers.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven access to content, business processes, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create secure portals that permits remote workers to view and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint expertise, refer to SharePoint integration and application 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 consulting services, refer to planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can retrieve them safely via a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables home employees to co-author documents. Revisions created offline are automatically synced when you go back online. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent can provide affordable remote support for enabling organizations to build, manage and repair integrated network models that include internal data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and public cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help at-home workers fix issues with public cloud access, authentication, and security.

Azure is a leading family of cloud services that allows you to use infrastructure, servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers more than 100 cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and plan data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected access to Azure services for telecommuters by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's support services for Azure, refer to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft applications and services are provided in a selection of bundles designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to large enterprises. Progent can provide fast and easy remote contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional help to get you past tough technical bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, refer to Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your organization to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular collection of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your business to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline identity management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help you to use GCP's unified management tools to control and track your Google Cloud environment. To find out, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Telecommuters
A fast, company-wide switchover to a telecommuter workforce, which could be the result of an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for businesses to outsource or augment their Support Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk support services leverage Progent's extensive network of online technical support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests through ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to check or edit the status of their current tickets, add details, and append screenshots and relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent offers the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to deal with advanced problems. To learn more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service allows your business to expand your current Call Center organization by sharing responsibilities for Call Desk services seamlessly between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service is based on a co-sourcing support model based on the number one PSA tool for managing service requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To learn how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class technical support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically utilize their own computing devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber attacks and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user training, and the creation of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security support consultants can help your business to plan, configure and manage a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects critical IT resources in environments that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users as well as by at-home workers, mobile users, vendors, clients, and the public. Modern firewall devices allow you to configure and manage different permissions to different groups of users and to scale your network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and older security appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, go to firewall integration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by an at-home workforce and either reject or spot and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint software agent is installed on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify zero-day threats at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the infected endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity verification on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you log into a protected online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this second means of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register multiple validation devices. To find out more about Duo identity validation services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with advanced credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your processes and governance policies and review your WAN architecture to allow you to design top-level protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you identify, rank, fix, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your present security posture. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn more details about Progent's vulnerability analysis services based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment
To view or download a white paper about critical things to concentrate on for securing an IT environment that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital data in order to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in case of storage problems resulting from hardware issues, programming hiccups, operator mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that combine in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for at-home workers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote help from consultants familiar with a broad range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/recovery products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly envision scenarios that require a quick switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can help your company to create, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of switching 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 endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a unified solution for safeguarding corporate information by managing local, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can use Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up policies for permission to access information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN connections, control how teleworkers share data, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS devices. For information about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, see Intune teleworker endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment through a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.