Bristol Offsite Workforce Solutions Support

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a significant impact on network architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Bristol company to select the appropriate tools and adhere to leading practices in creating and operating a secure virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns top value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you over occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Bristol, United Kingdom businesses to with any facet of creating a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, helpdesk augmentation, data security, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be especially challenging if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from various manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering online help for both legacy as well as current technologies in virtual office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary updates. Services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• VPN technology allows you to create a secure connection for authorized at-home employees to access IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software for secure VPN connections for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a telecommuter to see and use a remote computer's desktop. This gives network managers more control over the computing environment of telecommuters and offers them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI 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 top-tier online consulting for deploying home routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting the whole family and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance and security problems. Progent can help you to resolve these issues by delivering services like Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup help.
• Internet connectivity methods affect the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Mission-critical processes may require backup Internet access in case the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for picking Internet service providers, choosing sensible bandwidth and data volume packages, and configuring redundant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the corporate PBX system to include telecommuters is vital to supporting a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-based VoIP platforms are popular with SMBs to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help businesses of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the flexibility, convenience and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide high-level support to help businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to support a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced IP telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media apps deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can help your company to support your current CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, visit CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users working beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and provide as-needed deployment and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A wide range of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many organizations use a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to manage your current conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to set up and manage Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex as well as for additional video conferencing products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these products and help you to optimize your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas across multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can assist your company to tune these flagship collaboration products to maximize the productivity of your at-home 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 with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to build secure portals that enables remote workforce to see and update aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint expertise, refer to SharePoint configuration and 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. For information about Progent's Exchange consulting services, see integration consulting for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can retrieve them safely through a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows at-home workers to jointly author files. Revisions made offline are uploaded when you go back online. For details about Progent's expertise for OneDrive, visit Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent offers advanced online assistance for enabling businesses to create, manage and troubleshoot integrated hybrid network architectures that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, plus public cloud services. Progent offers 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 at-home workers resolve problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than one hundred services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create secure access to Azure services for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's support services for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are provided in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and households to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and easy remote access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist you to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed 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 as-needed assistance to get you through challenging IT bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your remote workers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to plan, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-availability network model so your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular set of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your organization to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist your business to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity control for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your business to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your GCP environment. For details, go to Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A sudden, company-wide switchover to a from-home business model, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as an element of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or supplement their Call Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk support services leverage Progent's nationwide network of online IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an affordable, modern Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from initial service requests through trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to monitor or edit their current tickets, add details, and upload screenshots or attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent offers the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex issues. To find out more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows you to augment your current Help Desk staff by splitting delivery of Help Desk Call Center support transparently between your regular support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support solution based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and producing reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class IT support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Telecommuters
At-home staff members typically utilize their own computing devices and often work in a poorly secured physical space. This increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and requires judicious deployment of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user training, and the development of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of cybersecurity solutions experts can help you to design, deploy and maintain a compliant security solution that protects vital IT resources in environments that include remote workers.

Firewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage different access rights to various groups of users and to expand your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks become more sophisticated. Progent works with both current and legacy firewall devices from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support expertise, visit firewall support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices utilized by telecommuters and either block or spot and respond to modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on each secured endpoint, watching all activity and using advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the impacted endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the threat. 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, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured application and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used as this second means of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all types of outside and local security threats for a network that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with advanced credentials such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your procedures and policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of security for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous testing of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, remediate, and confirm security weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your present security profile. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more details about Progent's vulnerability analysis services powered by on NodeZero's PEN test platform, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Network
To view or download a white paper about critical things to concentrate on for protecting an IT environment that incorporates telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
Data Protection involves backing up and recovering critical information so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time in case of storage system problems resulting from hardware issues, software glitches, user error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for teleworkers must cover multiple types of personally owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote help from experts familiar with a wide range of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data spread throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often anticipate scenarios that require a quick switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity specialists can assist you to create, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager offers a unified platform for safeguarding corporate data by managing local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting off-premises computers and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can use Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and wipe corporate data from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For information about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, go to Intune mobile endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management product that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment through a one-time purchase. Key features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. For information about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining a productive work-from-home environment for your Bristol, United Kingdom business, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.