Expanding your telecommuter workforce can have a major impact on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and company culture. Progent has 20 years of background helping SMBs to plan, configure, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Belo Horizonte company to select the appropriate technologies and follow best practices in building and operating a secure virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you past challenging IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.
Progent's consultants can help Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais companies to with any aspect of building a high-functioning telecommuting environment by delivering infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Call Desk services, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.
Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the network infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be particularly complicated if you must manage a combination of worker-owned equipment such as desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering online help for both legacy as well as current IT products in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for implement necessary updates. Services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:
IP Voice Solutions for Remote Workers
Expanding the company PBX environment to include telecommuters is vital to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX products are used by small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older products for VoIP solutions. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to design or maintain a remote VoIP service that provides the versatility, transparency and protection required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to help businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing remote workforce.
Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and telecommuters. Many organizations utilize a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent can assist you to manage your current conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.
Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that create a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas across a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can assist businesses to configure these flagship collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness of your at-home workers.
SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-based access to content, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create protected web portals that enables remote workers to view and update consolidated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange expertise, refer to planning and configuration expertise for Exchange.
OneDrive is Microsoft's collaborative cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues can retrieve them securely via a browser. Included with Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to co-edit files. Edits made offline are automatically synced when you go back online. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.
Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent offers advanced remote support for enabling organizations to build, maintain and troubleshoot integrated network models that incorporate physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.
Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected connections to Azure services for teleworkers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, see Azure consulting services.
Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity software and cloud services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are provided in a variety of plans intended for customers ranging from individuals and households to large enterprises. Progent can provide quick and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist your business to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration services.
Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with local deployments of Exchange, allowing you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional assistance to guide you past tough technical bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's leading provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and economical online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to design, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist you to create a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting expertise.
Google Cloud Platform is a popular set of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical apps cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to deploy VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify access control for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help you to utilize GCP's management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To find out, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.
Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A rapid, enterprise-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which might be the result of a pandemic or as an element of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations to outsource or supplement their Call Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.
Security and Compliance for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home workers commonly use their own computing devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical area. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and requires careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive end-user training, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned team of cybersecurity support experts can help you to plan, configure and maintain an effective security solution that protects critical IT resources in networks that incorporate at-home workers.
Firewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be safely utilized by local users as well as by telecommuters, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and the public. Modern firewall devices allow you to assign and control different permissions to different groups of users and to expand your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow more complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security appliances from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support expertise, refer to firewall configuration and support services.
Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices used by remote workers and either reject or identify and mitigate modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every protected endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the targeted device from the network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are offline. To find out more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.
Progent's Duo MFA service plans utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to verify who you are via a unit that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized as this added form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.
Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of outside and local security attacks for a network that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be provided by security experts with advanced credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your processes and governance policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of security for your teleworkers.
Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper about key things to focus on for protecting a network that supports telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)
Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection involves saving and restoring critical information so as to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in the event of storage system problems due to hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, human error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.
Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized solution for safeguarding corporate data by managing onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.
Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and validate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how teleworkers share information, set up threat defense, verify compliance, and erase corporate data from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune runs with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For details about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your teleworkers, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management expertise.
VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network managers to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product via a perpetual license. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.
Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais business, call