Akron Work from Home Employees Solutions Support Services

Expanding your at-home workforce can have a major impact on IT infrastructure, security, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Akron organization to select the appropriate technologies and follow best practices in creating and operating a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent offers services that go from on demand guidance for getting you over occasional IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Akron, Ohio organizations to with any aspect of building a high-functioning telecommuting environment by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the network infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be particularly complicated if you have to accommodate a mix of personal hardware such as PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online support for both outdated and current IT products in virtual office venues allows you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity allows you to establish a secure connection for authorized at-home workers to use IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide range of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable an at-home worker to see and use a remote PC's desktop. This technology gives network managers significant control over the digital environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert online support for configuring routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by families and guests, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their router for work. This can create performance as well as security issues. Progent can help you to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise that include Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP integration help.
• Internet connectivity methods affect the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Line-of-business processes might require redundant Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for identifying ISPs, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Integration for Remote Workers
Expanding the company phone environment to include remote users is critical to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based digital PBX platforms are used by SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer advanced support to assist organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice systems to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers advanced telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services such as messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with users working outside the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network infrastructure to support these solutions and provide on-demand deployment and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad selection of video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many companies use a mix of products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent can assist you to manage your existing voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's support expertise for Cisco 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 provides a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging services for these products and help your business to optimize your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a powerful environment of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing data and ideas across multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to configure these critical collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness of your remote workforce.

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 substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven access to data, workflow, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create protected portals that enables at-home workforce to see and edit consolidated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, go 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. For information about Progent's Exchange support services, see integration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can access them safely via a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive allows home workers to jointly author files. Edits created offline are synced when you go back online. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent can provide affordable online support for helping businesses to create, manage and troubleshoot integrated hybrid network architectures that combine physical data centers, at-home workers, branches, and cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers fix issues with cloud access, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of cloud services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features over one hundred cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered 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, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure access to Azure services for telecommuters by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Azure, visit Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office applications and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans designed for users ranging from individuals and households to large corporations. Progent can provide fast and affordable remote contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist your business to evaluate the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your at-home workers to achieve maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional help to get you past challenging IT roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud integration consultants who can help your organization to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-availability network model to make sure your employees have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading collection of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to scale your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your key applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity management for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to administer and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To learn, see Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A fast, organization-wide changeover to a from-home workforce, which could be activated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Support Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide team of online technical support experts along with world-class ticketing and follow-up software to provide an economical, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 PC support from initial help requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to track or update the status of their current trouble tickets, add information, and upload screen captures or attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent offers optional fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with complex problems. To learn more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
• Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service enables your business to supplement your current Call Desk staff by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk services seamlessly between your regular IT support organization and Progent's extensive roster of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation platform for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. For information about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can enable your business to provide best-in-class desktop support to your at-home workforce, go to Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
At-home staff members commonly utilize their personal computers and usually work in a poorly secured physical space. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and requires judicious deployment of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user training, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran roster of IT security support consultants can assist your business to plan, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards vital IT resources in environments that incorporate remote workers.

Firewalls allow companies to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by on-premises users as well as by at-home workers, mobile workers, vendors, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different permissions to different groups of users and to expand your network and adjust your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent supports both current and older security devices from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall configuration services, go to firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices used by at-home workers and either block or spot and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is put on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and using advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the infected endpoint from the network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to verify who you are via a device that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of devices can be used as this second form of authentication such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several validation devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by data security experts with advanced credentials such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and assess your IT infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of security for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks to help you uncover, prioritize, fix, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your network security and can assist you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper describing key things to concentrate on for protecting a network that supports telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital data so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in case of storage system problems due to hardware breakdowns, software glitches, human mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to design and manage in hybrid environments that combine local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for teleworkers must cover diverse kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online help from experts familiar with a wide range of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans commonly envision circumstances that call for a quick changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity specialists can assist your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a unified platform for protecting critical data by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can use Intune to deploy and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share information, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and wipe sensitive information from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For information about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, refer to Intune telecommuter device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product through a perpetual license. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To learn about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Akron, Ohio business, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.