Detroit Offsite Workforce Connectivity Support Services

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a major effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate workflows. Progent has two decades of experience helping businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Detroit company to select the right technologies and follow leading practices in building and maintaining a secure virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed expertise for helping you over occasional IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Detroit, Michigan companies to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning remote work environment by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, data security, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed for an at-home workforce can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a combination of worker-owned hardware like PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing online help for both outdated as well as modern technologies in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making essential updates. Support services available from Progent to help your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology allows you to create a secure connection for authorized at-home employees to use IT assets located at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software for safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of endpoint devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to see and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This technology provides IT managers significant control over the computing environment of at-home employees and offers remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online consulting for setting up routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by an entire household and visitors, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their router for work. This can create performance as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help you to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point integration help.
• Internet access methods affect the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Vital processes might demand redundant Internet connections in case the normal connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for identifying service providers, selecting sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet connections. See Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for Telecommuters
Expanding the business phone environment to accommodate teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based VoIP products are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to design or maintain a remote IP voice environment that delivers the flexibility, transparency and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer high-level support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends high-end telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media apps used across the network. CUCM supports other mixed media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, see CUCM consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your wide area network architecture to support these solutions and deliver on-demand integration and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad selection of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors enable virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local users and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to configure and manage Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus editing and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex and for additional video conferencing solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these products and assist your business to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for exchanging information across multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original releases and can help businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to optimize the effectiveness of your at-home workforce.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams works 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 can support chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, 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 Azure Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web sites to allow collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to create secure portals that permits at-home workers to view and update aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint configuration and application 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. To learn about Progent's Exchange support services, see integration expertise for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can access them safely via a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-author documents. Edits created offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent offers advanced online assistance for helping organizations to create, manage and optimize cohesive network architectures that combine internal data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, and cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant 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 remote workers resolve problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of cloud software and services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected access to Azure services for telecommuters by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud services available by subscription. Office apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to large corporations. Progent offers quick and easy remote access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints 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 deploy 365 applications for your teleworkers to achieve maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing you to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to get you through tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's top source of cloud services. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to cloud integration consultants who can help your organization to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to build a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. For details about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading suite 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 help your business to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity management for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform integration expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
An emergency, company-wide switchover to a from-home business model, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide network of online technical support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an affordable, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 PC support from service requests to ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to track or edit their current tickets, add details, and upload screenshots or relevant files. Support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with advanced problems. For more information, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service enables your business to supplement your current Help Desk Call Center organization by sharing delivery of Call Center services transparently between your regular support staff and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Support Desk service uses a collective support model based on the leading PSA platform for handling help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can enable your company to provide best-in-class desktop support to your at-home workforce, see Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home staff members commonly use their own devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This situation increases their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive user training, and the development of policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of IT security solutions experts can help your business to design, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards vital information assets in networks that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewalls allow you to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control different access rights to various groups of users and to expand your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks grow more complex. Progent works with both new and older firewall appliances from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration services, go to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate devices used by remote workers and either reject or identify and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is put on every secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats before they can spread. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoints remain protected even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be used for this second form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register several verification devices. For details about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all types of outside and internal security attacks for a network that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can deploy online, automated security inventory software for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security experts with top certifications such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your operations and policies and review your network architecture to allow you to implement the highest level of security for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, prioritize, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and delivers optimum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional details about Progent's threat analysis solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper describing key things to focus on for securing a network that includes telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical information so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in the event of storage system failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, human mistakes, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must address multiple kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically anticipate scenarios that require a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can help you to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for safeguarding critical data by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting remote devices and software. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. Network admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, establish threat protection, ensure security compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune runs with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified MDM product that allows network managers to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints 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-site deployment via a perpetual license. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient telecommuter solution for your Detroit, Michigan business, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.