Stamford Teleworkers Connectivity Consulting Company

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major impact on IT architecture, cybersecurity, and company culture. Progent has two decades of background helping businesses of all sizes to design, configure, administer, tune, and debug IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Stamford company to select the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in building and operating a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you past occasional IT roadblocks to full project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent can help Stamford, Connecticut companies to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-performing remote work environment by delivering infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be especially challenging if you have to manage a combination of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering online help for both legacy as well as current IT products in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for making essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology makes it possible to establish a safe tunnel for authorized at-home workers to use IT assets located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist you to deploy and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad range of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a telecommuter to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This technology provides IT managers significant control over the computing environment of at-home employees and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier remote consulting for configuring routers from all major vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by families and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can create throughput as well as security issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by providing expertise like Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration help.
• Internet access solutions affect the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Business-critical processes may require redundant Internet access in case the primary connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying Internet service providers, selecting appropriate bandwidth and data volume bundles, and setting up redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for At-Home Workers
Expanding the business PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is vital to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or maintain a remote VoIP service that provides the flexibility, transparency and security needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist organizations tune their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers enterprise IP telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM expertise, refer to CUCM expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help you to support your current CallManager environment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP platforms, refer to CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver on-demand deployment and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from major vendors support online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize multiple products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to maintain your current conferencing environment and optimize the engagement of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications product that enables presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for compatible iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for video calls. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities that include video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these products and help you to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that create a consistent user experience for sharing information throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoints. Progent has provided online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity 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 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, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of features. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to create secure web portals that permits at-home workforce to view and edit aggregated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint support services, 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. To learn about Progent's Exchange support services, refer to deployment consulting for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can access them securely via a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to jointly author files. Edits created offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To find out about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent offers fast and affordable online assistance for enabling businesses to build, manage and optimize cohesive hybrid network models that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, plus cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all modes of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers resolve problems with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers more than one hundred services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure services for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are provided in a selection of plans intended for customers ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and easy remote contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running 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 to achieve maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate smoothly with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed help to guide you through tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's support services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's leading provider of cloud services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to plan, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your employees have a productive computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular set of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your business to extend your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist you to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline access control for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management technology to administer and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For information, go to Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Support for Teleworkers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which could be driven by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services allow organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Support Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of remote IT support experts combined with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, advanced Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to track or edit their active tickets, add information, and upload screenshots and attachments. Support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent offers the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex problems. To find out more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Support Desk Supplemental Service enables you to expand your current Call Center organization by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support transparently between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive pool of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service uses a collective support model based on the number one professional services automation tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. For details about how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class IT support to your telecommuters, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically utilize their own computers and often operate in an unsecured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and requires judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user education, and the creation of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of cybersecurity solutions experts can assist you to plan, implement and manage a compliant security solution that guards critical information resources in networks that include at-home workers.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be safely accessed by on-premises users as well as by telecommuters, mobile employees, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances permit you to assign and control different permissions to different classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent works with both current and older security appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, see firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the disparate devices utilized by at-home workers and either block or spot and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new attacks before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the impacted endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoints remain secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are via a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added form of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several verification devices. To find out more about Duo identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all classes of external and local security attacks for an environment that includes telecommuters. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by network security experts with top certifications including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your procedures and governance policies and assess your IT infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of security for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your current security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional details about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To view or download a white paper about key things to focus on for protecting a network that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Environment 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 recovery time in the event of storage failures resulting from equipment issues, programming glitches, human error, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick online access to consultants familiar with a wide range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained recovery and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans often envision circumstances that call for a temporary changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning specialists can assist you to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

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

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and validate applications on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up policies for accessing information and resources, set passwords, create VPN connections, control how telecommuters share information, set up threat protection, ensure security compliance, and delete sensitive data from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For information about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, see Intune mobile device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless 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 mobile device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Stamford, Connecticut company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.