Centennial At Home Workforce Configuration Support

Expanding your remote workforce may have a major effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and company culture. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Centennial company to pick the right technologies and adhere to best practices in building and operating a safe virtual office solution for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you over occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Centennial, Colorado organizations to succeed with any aspect of building a high-functioning work-from-home environment by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home workforce can be especially challenging if you must manage a mix of worker-owned equipment like desktop computers and laptops, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online support for both outdated as well as modern technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for implement necessary updates. Services available from Progent to help you to implement a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN technology makes it possible to create a safe tunnel for authenticated at-home employees to use IT resources located at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a telecommuter to see and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert remote support for setting up home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting an entire household and visitors, are frequently used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and security problems. Progent can help you to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise like Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless access point setup help.
• Internet access methods impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Business-critical processes might require backup Internet connections in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying ISPs, picking sensible service bundles, and configuring redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Extending the corporate PBX environment to include remote users is critical to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of any size to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that delivers the versatility, convenience and protection needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide high-level support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers advanced telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software deployed across the network. CUCM manages other mixed media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist you to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your wide area network architecture to work with these solutions and deliver as-needed configuration and debugging expertise.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to maintain your existing conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to set up and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your remote employees. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. For details about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex as well as for other IP video solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities such as video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other 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 your business to tune your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, providing a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for exchanging data and ideas across multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can assist businesses to tune these flagship collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable 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 depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to promote collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to create protected portals that allows remote workforce to view and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint expertise, visit 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. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see deployment expertise for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers anywhere can access them securely via a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to jointly author documents. Revisions created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote assistance for enabling businesses to create, maintain and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that include internal data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of public cloud services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes more than 100 cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish protected access to Azure services for teleworkers by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, go to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for customers ranging from students and households to large corporations. Progent can provide fast and affordable remote contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist your business to assess the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your teleworkers in a way that delivers top business value. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based 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 reliability, and additional advantages associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling you to build hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed help to get you through tough IT bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's support services for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to plan, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading collection of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to scale 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 at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity management for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist you to utilize GCP's management tools to control and track your GCP ecosystem. For information, see Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Telecommuters
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be the result of an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overwhelm even a high-performing internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Support Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services utilize Progent's extensive team of online IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up software to offer an economical, modern Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC support from help requests through trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to check or revise their active tickets, add details, and append screenshots or relevant files. Support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent offers optional fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex problems. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service enables your company to supplement your existing Help Desk organization by splitting delivery of Call Center support seamlessly between your in-house support organization and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Support Desk service is based on a collective support solution based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. To find out how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to deliver world-class desktop support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Support Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home workers commonly utilize their own computers and often work in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, extensive end-user education, and the creation of security policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran group of IT security solutions consultants can assist your business to design, deploy and maintain a compliant security solution that protects vital information resources in environments that include telecommuters.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, customers, and the public. Modern firewall devices allow you to configure and control appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to scale your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and older security appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, see firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the various computers utilized by at-home workers and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect new attacks on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the impacted device from the network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoints stay protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and give your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. To find out more about Duo identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to evaluate your processes and governance policies and assess your IT infrastructure to enable you to design top-level protection for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your work-from-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, rank, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more information about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Network
To view or download a white paper describing critical areas to focus on for securing an IT environment that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital data so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time in case of storage failures due to hardware issues, software hiccups, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for teleworkers must address multiple types of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a wide range of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and includes granular recovery and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often envision scenarios that call for a temporary switch to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help your business to create, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for safeguarding critical data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and authenticate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for permission to access data and resources, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how teleworkers share data, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, see Intune teleworker endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management product that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises product via a perpetual license. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Centennial, Colorado company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.