Philadelphia At Home Workers Integration Consulting Partner

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a major impact on network architecture, security, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to design, configure, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can help your Philadelphia company to pick the appropriate tools and follow leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates teamwork and delivers top business value. Progent can provide support services that go from as-needed expertise for getting you over occasional IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent can help Philadelphia, Pennsylvania companies to with any facet of building a high-functioning telecommuting environment by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Help Desk augmentation, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be particularly complicated if you have to accommodate a combination of personal hardware such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from different manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online help for both outdated and modern IT products in remote office venues enables you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to create a safe connection for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources located at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can assist your remote workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN connections for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable a telecommuter to view and use a remote PC's desktop. This technology provides IT managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem 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 consulting.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert online support for setting up home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically supporting the whole family and visitors, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can cause performance as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can help you to mitigate these issues by providing services that include Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP integration help.
• Internet access methods affect the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Mission-critical processes may require backup Internet connections in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for selecting ISPs, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the corporate PBX environment to accommodate remote users is vital to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based IP voice products are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or legacy products for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to design or tune a remote IP voice environment that provides the versatility, convenience and protection required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers enterprise telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed throughout the network. CUCM manages other mixed media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can assist you to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, visit CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with users operating beyond the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN architecture to support these solutions and provide on-demand configuration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many organizations utilize a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent can assist you to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for video calls. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, 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. For details about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing products from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as voice/video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help your business to optimize your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich environment of productivity apps that create a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoints. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can help businesses to configure these critical collaboration products to maximize 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, 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 Microsoft Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web entities to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-driven delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create secure portals that allows at-home workforce to see and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, visit SharePoint configuration and development expertise.

Exchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. For information about Progent's Exchange expertise, see integration consulting services for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers can access them securely via a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive allows home workers to co-author documents. Revisions created offline are uploaded when you go back online. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable online support for helping organizations to create, manage and optimize integrated hybrid network models that include internal data centers, teleworkers, branches, and public cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all types of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that enables you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to create secure access to Azure services for teleworkers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity applications and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for users ranging from students and households to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and affordable online contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can help you to assess the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your remote workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide occasional assistance to guide you past challenging technical roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's leading provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-uptime network model to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Platform is a leading collection of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your organization to scale your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud ready so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage services, and streamline access management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP environment. For information, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Teleworkers
A fast, organization-wide changeover to a from-home workforce, which might be activated by an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery process, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses to outsource or expand their Call Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online technical support specialists along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an economical, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to track or revise the status of their active tickets, add details, and append screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's normal 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, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service enables your business to expand your existing Help Desk team by splitting delivery of Help Desk services seamlessly between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's extensive team of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk service is based on a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class technical support to your teleworkers, visit Progent's Call Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
At-home employees typically utilize their own devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical space. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to malware attacks and requires careful deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive user education, and the development of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security support consultants can assist your business to plan, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital IT resources in environments that include an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be safely utilized by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile workers, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to assign and manage different access rights to different groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your security as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older firewall appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support services, go to firewall configuration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various computers utilized by telecommuters and either block or identify and mitigate modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is put on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the impacted endpoint device from the network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoints stay protected even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are asked to verify who you are on a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used for this added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several validation devices. To learn more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of external and local security attacks for an environment that includes telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated security inventory software for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to evaluate your operations and policies and review your WAN architecture to allow you to implement top-level protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, prioritize, remediate, and confirm security weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to evaluate your current security profile. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions based on 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 critical areas to focus on for securing an IT environment that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital information in order to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage failures resulting from hardware issues, programming glitches, user error, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for an at-home workforce must address multiple kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick remote help from experts knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans commonly anticipate scenarios that require a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

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

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting mobile devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and authenticate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access information and networks, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and erase corporate data from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS devices. To find out about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use this platform to administer the endpoint computers of your teleworkers, see Intune remote device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment through a perpetual license. Key capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For information about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To contact Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Philadelphia, Pennsylvania organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.