Porto Alegre Remote Workforce Connectivity Consulting and Support

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a significant impact on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and company culture. Progent has two decades of experience assisting SMBs to design, deploy, manage, tune, and debug IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Porto Alegre company to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in building and operating a secure virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum business value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand guidance for helping you over occasional IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent can help Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul companies to with any aspect of creating a high-functioning remote work ecosystem by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, helpdesk augmentation, data security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be especially complicated if you must manage a mix of worker-owned equipment like desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering remote help for both outdated as well as modern technologies in remote office venues enables you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to create a secure connection for authorized remote employees to use IT assets located at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a wide selection of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a telecommuter to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online consulting for configuring routers from all major vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by the whole family and visitors, are frequently used by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can create throughput as well as security problems. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup help.
• Internet access solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Business-critical processes might require backup Internet connections in case the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for selecting service providers, choosing appropriate service offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Integration for Teleworkers
Extending the corporate PBX environment to include telecommuters is vital to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with SMBs to server teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or legacy products for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or tune a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help businesses optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) extends high-end telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media software deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, refer to CUCM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can help you to support your existing CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, visit CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with users operating outside the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver online deployment and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing products from major technology companies enable online meetings, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local workers and at-home workers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent can help you to maintain your current conferencing environment and enhance the experience of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more 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 hub for conferencing, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other 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 help your business to tune your WAN infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office families, providing a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing information throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can assist your company to tune these flagship collaboration products to maximize 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web sites to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven access to data, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build secure web portals that enables at-home workers to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, see SharePoint integration 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. For information about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, refer to deployment consulting for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers can retrieve them securely through a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables home workers to co-author documents. Revisions made offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's expertise for OneDrive, go to Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent offers affordable online assistance for enabling organizations to create, manage and troubleshoot integrated network architectures that incorporate physical data centers, teleworkers, branches, plus public cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes 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 fix problems with public cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over 100 cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Office apps and cloud services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for customers ranging from individuals and households to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy online contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your teleworkers to achieve top business value. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate smoothly with local deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to guide you through tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your teleworkers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's top provider of cloud services. Progent can provide rapid and economical online access to cloud integration consultants who can help your business to design, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-availability network model to make sure your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the road. For details about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular collection of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist you to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help you to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline access control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help your organization to use GCP's management tools to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. For information, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A fast, enterprise-wide changeover to a from-home business model, which might be the result of an epidemic or as a component of a business continuity process, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or expand their Call Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support experts combined with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests through trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to check or edit their active trouble tickets, enter information, and append screen captures and relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve advanced problems. For details, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your current Call Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Call Center support services seamlessly between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support solution based on the leading professional services automation platform for handling help requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your business to deliver world-class technical support to your telecommuters, see Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Teleworkers
At-home employees typically utilize their own computers and usually work in an unsecured physical area. This increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of IT security solutions experts can assist you to design, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that protects critical information assets in environments that include at-home workers.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by teleworkers, mobile users, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices allow you to assign and control appropriate access rights to various classes of users and to expand your network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks become increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older firewall devices from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, see firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices used by telecommuters and either reject or identify and respond to the latest threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is put on each protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity verification on Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected application and give your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a device that only you have and that uses a separate network channel. A broad range of 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 telephone, etc. You can register several verification devices. To find out more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and local security attacks for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and economically detecting a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with top certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to evaluate your processes and governance policies and review your IT architecture to allow you to implement top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, prioritize, fix, and verify security 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 can also assist you to harden your existing network security and can help you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and provides maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more details about Progent's threat analysis services powered by on NodeZero's penetration test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To view or download a white paper describing critical things to concentrate on for securing an IT environment that includes telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
Data Protection involves backing up and recovering vital information so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in the event of storage failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, software hiccups, operator error, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for teleworkers must cover diverse types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast remote access to consultants familiar with a broad array of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans commonly anticipate circumstances that call for a rapid changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning consultants can help you to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a unified platform for safeguarding corporate data by controlling local, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of at-home workers can use Intune to provision and authenticate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and networks, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and delete corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To learn about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the devices of your at-home workers, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, application management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment through a perpetual license. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing an efficient work-from-home environment for your Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.