Newark Telecommuters Integration Support

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce can have a significant effect on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting SMBs to plan, deploy, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Newark company to pick the appropriate tools and follow leading practices in creating and operating a secure virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and returns top business value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed expertise for helping you past challenging technical bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Newark, New Jersey companies to succeed with any facet of building a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required for a remote workforce can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned equipment like desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background providing online support for both legacy as well as modern technologies in virtual office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist you to implement a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem include:

• VPN technology makes it possible to create a safe tunnel for authenticated remote workers to access IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can assist your company to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing online VPN integration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your remote workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a wide range of devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products allow a teleworker to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology gives network managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers them a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert remote consulting for configuring home routers from all major vendors. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, often supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can cause performance as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to resolve these issues by providing services like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP integration assistance.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Vital processes may require redundant Internet access in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying service providers, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume bundles, and configuring redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Telecommuters
Expanding the corporate PBX system to include teleworkers is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice products are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can help businesses of any size to plan or maintain a remote VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, convenience and security needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to help organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced IP telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional combined media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified CM expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, visit CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and deliver as-needed deployment and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors enable virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many organizations use multiple products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and optimize the experience of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that supports real-time presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to support your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing products from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and debugging expertise for these products and assist your business to optimize your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a rich environment of productivity apps that create a cohesive user experience for exchanging information throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their original publication and can assist businesses to configure these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the effectiveness of your remote 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 supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to allow collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based access to content, business processes, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create secure web portals that permits remote workforce to view and edit aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, see 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange support services, go to integration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them securely via a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to jointly author files. Edits made offline are synced when you go back online. To learn about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent offers affordable online support for enabling organizations to build, maintain and repair cohesive network architectures that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all types of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading platform for public cloud software and services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create protected access to Azure for teleworkers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting services for Azure, see Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity software and cloud services available by subscription. Office apps and services are marketed in a selection of bundles designed for users ranging from students and households to large enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional help to guide you through challenging IT bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your teleworkers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to design, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For details about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading suite of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your business to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity management for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your business to use GCP's unified management technology to administer and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For details, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting expertise.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
A sudden, enterprise-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services leverage Progent's nationwide team of online IT support experts along with world-class ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, modern Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to track or edit their current tickets, enter information, and append screen captures or relevant files. Technical support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent makes available optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve complex problems. To find out more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Supplemental Service enables your business to augment your existing Help Desk Call Center staff by sharing responsibilities for Support Desk support seamlessly between your regular support organization and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service is based on a collective support solution based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing reports. To learn how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class IT support to your teleworkers, visit Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home staff members typically utilize their personal computing devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical space. This increases their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user education, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran group of cybersecurity support experts can assist your business to plan, implement and manage an effective security solution that protects critical information resources in environments that include telecommuters.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by at-home workers, mobile workers, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to configure and control different permissions to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older firewall appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support services, see firewall integration and support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the disparate devices used by remote workers and either block or identify and respond to the latest threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is put on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to identify zero-day threats before they can spread. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the impacted device from the network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoints remain protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a device that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this second form of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and internal security threats for a network that includes teleworkers. Progent can deploy online, automated security analysis software for rapidly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with top credentials including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your operations and governance policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to implement the highest level of protection for your telecommuters.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, rank, fix, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your network security and can help you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers maximum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more information about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's PEN test products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection involves backing up and restoring critical information in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time in the event of storage problems resulting from hardware issues, programming hiccups, human error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must cover diverse kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a wide range of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features granular recovery and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically anticipate scenarios that require a rapid switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning consultants can help your business to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized environment for safeguarding critical data by managing onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

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 remote computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, control how telecommuters share data, set up threat defense, verify compliance, and erase sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For details about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, see Intune teleworker device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network managers to keep offsite endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment via a one-time purchase. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Newark, New Jersey business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.