Brooklyn Work at Home Employees Configuration Consulting and Support

Expanding your at-home workforce may have a major effect on IT architecture, cybersecurity, and company processes. Progent has two decades of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Brooklyn company to pick the appropriate technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide support services that go from on demand guidance for getting you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Brooklyn, New York businesses to with any aspect of building a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, Call Desk augmentation, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the network infrastructure needed for an at-home work environment can be especially challenging if you have to manage a combination of personal hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless APs from an assortment of vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's background providing remote help for both legacy as well as modern technologies in remote office venues allows you to make efficient use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for implement necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology allows you to establish a secure connection for authenticated remote workers to use IT assets located at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your at-home workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad selection of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow a teleworker to view and use a remote PC's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier online consulting for setting up routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by an entire household and guests, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services that include Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Line-of-business applications may demand backup Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking ISPs, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access integration services.

VoIP Integration for Remote Workers
Extending the corporate phone environment to include telecommuters is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric IP voice products are used by small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or maintain a remote VoIP service that provides the versatility, transparency and protection required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers advanced IP telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications used throughout the network. CUCM manages other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver on-demand configuration and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing products from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies use multiple conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent can help you to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing products 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 that include video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and debugging services for these products and assist you to tune your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office families, offering a rich environment of applications that create a consistent user interface for exchanging data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original releases and can assist your company to deploy these critical collaboration products to maximize 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, 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 Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to allow collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based access to data, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to create secure portals that permits at-home workforce to see and update aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, visit SharePoint integration and development consulting.

Exchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. For information about Progent's Exchange expertise, visit integration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can access them securely via a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows at-home employees to co-edit files. Revisions made offline are uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers advanced online assistance for helping businesses to create, manage and repair integrated network architectures that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and public cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all types of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure is a leading platform for public cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to create protected access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Azure, see Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of business productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major corporations. Progent can provide fast and easy online access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your teleworkers in a way that delivers top business value. To find out about Progent's consulting services 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 advantages of lower costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange experts can provide occasional assistance to guide you through challenging technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's support services for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest source of cloud services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to build a high-uptime network architecture so your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular suite of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to extend your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your key applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your business to deploy virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your business to utilize GCP's management tools to control and track your GCP ecosystem. To learn, go to Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as a component of a business continuity process, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services allow organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk support services utilize Progent's nationwide network of online IT support experts combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to track or update their active tickets, enter information, and upload screen captures or attachments. Technical support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent offers the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with advanced problems. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to expand your existing Help Desk Call Center organization by sharing responsibilities for Call Center services seamlessly between your regular IT support organization and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Desk service uses a co-sourcing support solution based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing help requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For information about how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class desktop support to your telecommuters, go to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home workers typically use their personal computing devices and often work in a poorly secured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive end-user education, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran roster of cybersecurity solutions experts can help your business to design, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital information resources in environments that include at-home workers.

Firewalls enable you to create a network that can be securely accessed by local users as well as by telecommuters, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances permit you to configure and manage different permissions to various groups of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and older security devices from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support services, visit firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate devices utilized by at-home workers and either block or spot and respond to the latest threats like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is installed on every secured endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to detect new threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to verify who you are on a unit that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be used as this second form of authentication such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for a network that includes remote workers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced credentials including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your processes and governance policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to enable you to design top-level security for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, fix, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your current security profile. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can help you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides optimum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional information about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper about critical areas to focus on for securing a network that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical data in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in case of storage failures resulting from equipment issues, programming glitches, user mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that combine private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for telecommuters must address diverse types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery products supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies typically anticipate scenarios that call for a quick switch to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist you to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms 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 centralized environment for safeguarding corporate data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing remote computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for permission to access information and networks, manage passwords, create VPN connections, control how telecommuters share information, establish threat defense, ensure security compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To learn about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, visit Intune telecommuter device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management platform that helps network managers to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment through a one-time purchase. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Brooklyn, New York business, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.