Honolulu At Home Workers Connectivity Consulting Company

Expanding your remote workforce may have a major effect on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Honolulu company to select the right tools and adhere to leading practices in creating and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum value. Progent offers services that go from on demand guidance for getting you past challenging IT bottlenecks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Honolulu, Hawaii businesses to with any facet of building a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, Call Desk augmentation, data security, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the network infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be especially complicated if you have to accommodate a combination of personal hardware such as PCs and laptops, routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing remote help for both legacy as well as modern IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and offers ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help you to implement a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN technology allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated remote employees to use IT assets situated at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to configure and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for secure VPN connections for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers significant control over the digital environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, local wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier remote consulting for deploying routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting the whole family and visitors, are frequently used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can cause performance and security issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services that include Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP setup assistance.
• Internet access solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Line-of-business applications may require backup Internet connections in the event the primary connection fails. Progent offers guidance for selecting ISPs, selecting sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for Remote Workers
Expanding the business phone system to accommodate remote users is critical to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-based digital PBX products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or older products for IP voice management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, transparency and security needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide high-level support to help businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers advanced IP telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software deployed throughout the network. CUCM manages additional mixed media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent can assist your company to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, visit Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating outside the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver online deployment and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many organizations use multiple products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the engagement of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to configure and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex as well as for additional IP video solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities that include video calling, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, 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 debugging services for these conferencing platforms and assist your business to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a rich environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can help your company to tune these critical collaboration products to optimize the productivity 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-based access to content, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to create protected portals that allows remote workers to view and update aggregated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, visit SharePoint integration 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. For information about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see deployment expertise for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues can share them safely through a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables home employees to co-author documents. Edits made offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive network architectures that include physical data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, plus public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix issues with cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a popular family of public cloud services that allows you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers more than one hundred cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and plan backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create protected access to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity applications and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a selection of bundles designed for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy remote access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide as-needed assistance to guide you through tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to make sure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's support services for Exchange Online, go to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's biggest source of cloud services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your business to plan, implement, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other public clouds such as 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 employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. For details about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud ready so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and simplify identity management for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP environment. For information, visit Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
An emergency, enterprise-wide changeover to a telecommuter workforce, which could be the result of a pandemic or as a component of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote technical support experts combined with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an economical, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 PC technical support from initial service requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to monitor or edit the status of their active trouble tickets, add details, and append screen captures or relevant files. Support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent offers the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to deal with complex issues. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Augmentation Service enables your company to expand your current Support Desk staff by splitting responsibilities for Support Desk support transparently between your regular IT support organization and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service is based on a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling service requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can help your company to deliver world-class desktop support to your at-home workforce, refer to Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
At-home employees typically use their own devices and often work in a poorly secured physical environment. This multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough user training, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of cybersecurity solutions experts can help you to design, configure and manage a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards critical IT resources in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable you to create a network that can be safely accessed by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile users, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate permissions to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats become more complex. Progent works with both current and legacy firewall appliances from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall support expertise, visit firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate computers used by remote workers and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on each protected endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect new attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoint devices 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, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to confirm who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this added means of ID validation such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all classes of external and local security attacks for a network that includes remote workers. Progent can run online, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with top certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your operations and policies and review your WAN infrastructure to enable you to implement the highest level of protection for your telecommuters.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, fix, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your present security posture. Progent can also assist you to harden your network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional details about Progent's threat assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical information so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in case of storage system failures resulting from hardware issues, software glitches, human error, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that combine private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore strategies for at-home workers must address multiple kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick remote access to consultants familiar with a broad range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular recovery and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies commonly envision circumstances that call for a temporary changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist your company to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified environment for protecting critical data by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and validate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how home-based workers share data, set up threat protection, verify security compliance, and wipe sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your teleworkers, go to Intune mobile endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM platform that allows network managers to keep off-premises endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Honolulu, Hawaii company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.