Boston Remote Workforce Configuration Consultants

Expanding your at-home workforce may have a significant effect on network architecture, security, and company workflows. Progent has two decades of experience assisting SMBs to design, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Boston company to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and returns top value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed expertise for helping you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can assist Boston, Massachusetts businesses to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by delivering infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, helpdesk outsourcing, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be particularly complex if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from various manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering remote help for both outdated as well as current technologies in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist you to create a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authenticated remote workers to access IT assets situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist you to deploy and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing online VPN integration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA experts can help your at-home workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to see and use a data center PC's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of at-home employees and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online support for deploying home routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting an entire household and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as security issues. Progent can help you to resolve these problems by delivering services like Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP integration help.
• Internet access methods affect the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Vital processes might require backup Internet connections in the event the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for selecting Internet service providers, choosing sensible bandwidth and data volume bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Remote Workers
Expanding the business phone environment to accommodate teleworkers is vital to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older products for IP voice solutions. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to plan or tune a telecommuter IP voice service that delivers the versatility, transparency and security needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers high-end IP telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM support, see CUCM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can help you to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, refer to CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with users operating outside the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your wide area network architecture to work with these solutions and provide online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide range of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many organizations use a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can assist you to manage your existing conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing plus 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 skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your at-home employees. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex as well as for additional IP video products from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities that include voice/video calling, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, offering a rich environment of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing information throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can help your company to configure these flagship collaboration products to optimize the productivity of your at-home 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 provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-driven access to content, workflow, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that enables remote workers to view and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint configuration 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 details about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, visit deployment expertise for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can retrieve them safely via a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-edit documents. Revisions created offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent offers advanced online support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and repair integrated network models that incorporate internal data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and cloud services. 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 telecommuters fix issues with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for public cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create protected access to Azure for teleworkers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, refer to Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of business productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Office applications and cloud services are provided in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy online contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration services.

Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing you to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to get you past tough technical bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's biggest source of cloud services. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to plan, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other public clouds such as Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a productive computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading collection of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your key apps cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your business to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your GCP environment. To learn, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration support.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
A fast, enterprise-wide changeover to a from-home business model, which could be driven by an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses to outsource or augment their Support Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide network of online technical support specialists along with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an economical, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to track or revise the status of their active trouble tickets, add details, and upload screenshots and relevant files. Desktop support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve complex issues. To learn more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service allows you to augment your existing Call Center organization by sharing delivery of Call Desk support services seamlessly between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's nationwide roster of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Support Desk service uses a collective support model utilizing the leading PSA tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. To learn how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your company to provide best-in-class IT support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home workers commonly use their own computers and usually work in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their vulnerability to malware threats and requires judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive user education, and the development of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security support experts can help you to plan, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects critical information resources in environments that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network that can be securely utilized by on-premises users as well as by teleworkers, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to assign and control different access rights to various classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your security as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and legacy security devices from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, refer to firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various computers utilized by remote workers and either reject or identify and mitigate modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every protected endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to detect new attacks at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a protected application and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are via a device that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized for this second form of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of external and local security threats for a network that incorporates at-home workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security analysis scanning for quickly and affordably detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by data security experts with advanced certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to evaluate your operations and governance policies and assess your IT architecture to enable you to design top-level protection for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, rank, fix, and confirm security weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more information about Progent's threat analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and recovering critical data in order to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage problems due to hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, operator error, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features fine-grained recovery and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies often envision scenarios that call for a quick switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning specialists can assist your business to create, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized environment for protecting critical data by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote devices and applications. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for accessing information and networks, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share data, establish threat protection, ensure compliance, and wipe sensitive data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune runs with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the devices of your telecommuters, refer to Intune mobile device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management product that allows network managers to keep remote endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a one-time purchase. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. For details about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining a productive work-from-home environment for your Boston, Massachusetts business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.