Mesa At Home Workforce Configuration Advisor

Enlarging your remote workforce can have a major effect on IT architecture, security/compliance, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of experience helping SMBs to plan, configure, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Mesa company to select the appropriate technologies and follow leading practices in building and operating a secure virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand expertise for getting you over challenging technical roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Mesa, Arizona businesses to with any aspect of building a high-performing remote work environment by delivering infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk augmentation, security monitoring, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required to support a remote work environment can be particularly complex if you must accommodate a combination of personal hardware like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing remote help for both outdated and current IT products in virtual office venues enables you to make efficient use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist your company to create a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• VPN connectivity allows you to establish a safe tunnel for authorized remote workers to use IT assets located at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect client software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to view and use a remote PC's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote support for deploying routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by families and visitors, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause throughput and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to resolve these issues by delivering expertise that include Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration help.
• Internet connectivity solutions affect the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Vital processes might demand redundant Internet connections in the event the primary connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for picking ISPs, choosing appropriate service packages, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the corporate phone environment to accommodate teleworkers is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice products are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or legacy products for IP voice solutions. Progent can help businesses of any size to plan or maintain a remote IP voice environment that delivers the versatility, convenience and protection needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to support a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers high-end telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia software used across the network. CUCM supports other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's CUCM expertise, visit CUCM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help you to maintain your current CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, refer to CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users operating outside the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver online integration and debugging expertise.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local users and telecommuters. Many companies use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can help you to manage your current conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business clients 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 platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for other IP video products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities that include video calling, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these products and assist your business to optimize your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for exchanging information across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial releases and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize 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 integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-driven access to content, business processes, and utilities for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to create protected portals that allows at-home workers to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, see SharePoint integration 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 expertise, refer to deployment expertise for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can access them safely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to jointly author files. Edits created offline are automatically synced when you go back online. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration consulting.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent offers affordable online support for helping organizations to build, manage and optimize integrated network models that incorporate physical data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, plus cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers fix issues with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers over 100 cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create secure access to Azure services for telecommuters by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's support services for Azure, visit Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office applications and services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for users ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate transparently with local deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to guide you through challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management services to ensure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's support services for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network model to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular set of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your critical apps cloud friendly so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your organization to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help your business to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your GCP ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration support.

Help Desk Services for Teleworkers
A rapid, organization-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which might be the result of a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive team of online technical support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an affordable, modern Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from help requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to monitor or edit the status of their current trouble tickets, add details, and upload screenshots or relevant files. Support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve advanced problems. To learn more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Supplemental Service allows you to supplement your current Call Desk team by sharing delivery of Help Desk services seamlessly between your in-house support personnel and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Support Desk service is based on a collective support solution utilizing the number one PSA platform for handling help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing reports. To learn how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can help your company to deliver world-class technical support to your teleworkers, go to Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home employees typically use their personal computers and usually operate in a poorly secured physical area. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of cybersecurity support experts can assist your business to design, implement and maintain an effective security solution that guards critical information resources in environments that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewalls enable you to create a network that can be safely utilized by local users and by teleworkers, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and the public. Modern firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage appropriate permissions to different classes of users and to scale your network and modify your security as your company evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support services, go to firewall integration and support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various computers utilized by at-home workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every secured endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and enter your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this second means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several validation devices. For details about Duo identity validation services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all classes of external and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be provided by network security experts with advanced credentials including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your procedures and governance policies and assess your IT architecture to enable you to implement top-level security for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you uncover, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to perform thorough 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 help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and provides optimum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper about key things to concentrate on for securing an IT environment that supports telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection involves backing up and recovering vital data in order to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage problems due to equipment issues, software hiccups, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must address diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online help from experts knowledgeable about a broad array of products for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans commonly envision circumstances that call for a temporary switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist you to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for safeguarding corporate information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile devices and software. Remote endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, set up threat protection, verify compliance, and wipe sensitive information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS devices. For details about Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the devices of your at-home workforce, visit Intune teleworker device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management product that allows network managers to keep off-premises endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment through a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Mesa, Arizona company, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.