Augusta-Richmond County Teleworkers Connectivity Consulting Experts

Enlarging your at-home workforce can have a significant effect on IT architecture, security, and corporate processes. Progent has 20 years of background assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Augusta-Richmond County company to pick the appropriate technologies and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum value. Progent offers services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you past challenging technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia businesses to succeed with any facet of building a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Help Desk augmentation, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be particularly complicated if you have to manage a mix of personal equipment like desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both outdated and current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for making essential upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to create a safe connection for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software for secure VPN connections for a wide selection of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable an at-home worker to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology gives IT managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and ensures them a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert remote support for setting up home routers from a variety of vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by families and guests, are frequently used by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to resolve these issues by providing expertise like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup assistance.
• Internet access methods affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Business-critical applications may demand backup Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for identifying Internet service providers, choosing appropriate service offerings, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Remote Workers
Extending the business PBX system to include telecommuters is critical to supporting a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based VoIP products are popular with SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or tune a telecommuter IP voice service that delivers the versatility, transparency and security needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco VoIP systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers high-end telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to support your current CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with users working beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your wide area network architecture to work with these solutions and provide as-needed configuration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A broad selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies enable online discussions, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite workers and telecommuters. Many companies utilize a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that enables presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for other IP video solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities that include video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and help your business to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, providing a powerful environment of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial releases and can help your company to configure these flagship collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness 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. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven access to data, business processes, and tools for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build protected portals that enables remote workers to view and update aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to SharePoint configuration and application development expertise.

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 learn about Progent's Exchange consulting services, visit deployment consulting for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them safely via a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home employees to jointly author documents. Edits made offline are synced when you go back online. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced online support for helping businesses to build, manage and optimize integrated hybrid network architectures that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus public cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers resolve issues with cloud access, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers more than 100 cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create secure connections to Azure for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are marketed in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent offers fast and easy remote contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist you to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your teleworkers to achieve top business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for as-needed help to get you through tough IT roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your teleworkers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's support services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud integration experts who can assist your business to design, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-availability network model to make sure your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a popular set of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your organization to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your key applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage, and simplify identity management for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To learn, see Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
A fast, company-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which could be the result of an epidemic or as a component of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or expand their Support Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services leverage Progent's extensive team of remote IT support specialists along with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an affordable, modern Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from help requests to ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to check or revise the status of their active trouble tickets, enter information, and upload screenshots and relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve advanced issues. To find out more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
• Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service enables you to augment your existing Call Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support services transparently between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's nationwide roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service uses a collaborative support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For information about how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can help your company to provide best-in-class IT support to your at-home workforce, refer to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home employees typically use their own computing devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical space. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to malware threats and requires judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive user training, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned team of data security support consultants can assist you to plan, deploy and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards critical IT assets in environments that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable you to create a network that can be securely accessed by on-premises users as well as by at-home workers, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to configure and manage different access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow more complex. Progent works with both current and older firewall devices from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall configuration services, refer to firewall support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by teleworkers and either block or spot and mitigate modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is put on every protected endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to identify new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity verification on iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized for this added form of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register multiple validation devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and local security threats for a network that includes telecommuters. Progent can run online, automated security analysis scanning for rapidly and economically detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be managed by security professionals with advanced certifications such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and assess your WAN architecture to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, remediate, and verify security weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your present security profile. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers maximum cyber defense for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional details about Progent's threat assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's PEN test products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

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

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring critical data in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage problems due to equipment breakdowns, software glitches, operator error, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for remote workers must address multiple types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast online access to experts knowledgeable about a broad array of products for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Popular backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that uses cloud storage and features fine-grained restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically anticipate scenarios that call for a rapid changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can help your business to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for protecting critical data by managing local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

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 mobile devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to deploy and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how teleworkers share data, establish threat defense, ensure compliance, and delete corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To find out about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, refer to Intune telecommuter device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management platform that allows network managers to keep remote endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. 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 contact Progent about building and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.