Seattle Remote Workers Connectivity Support and Consulting

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major impact on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and company processes. Progent has two decades of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, administer, tune, and debug IT environments that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Seattle company to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers maximum value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed guidance for getting you past occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Seattle, Washington organizations to with any facet of building a high-functioning work-at-home environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Help Desk augmentation, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the network infrastructure required for an at-home workforce can be particularly complicated if you have to accommodate a mix of personal equipment like PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi APs from various manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote help for both outdated and current IT products in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and offers ready access to top-tire consultants for making essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist you to implement a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to create a secure connection for authorized remote employees to use IT resources located at your company datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to configure and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing remote VPN configuration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for secure VPN connections for a broad selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a teleworker to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This provides network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, local wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote consulting for deploying routers from a range of manufacturers. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by the whole family and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput as well as security problems. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by delivering services like Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration assistance.
• Internet access solutions affect the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Mission-critical processes might require redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for identifying ISPs, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. Refer to Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the business phone system to include teleworkers is critical to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or older products for IP voice management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and security required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers enterprise telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed throughout the network. CUCM supports other mixed media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, visit Cisco Unified CM expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can assist your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, refer to CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with users operating outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to support these solutions and provide on-demand integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies enable virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that supports presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as 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 specialists who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex as well as for other IP video products from Cisco, visit 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 features such as video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting expertise for these products and help your business to tune your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, offering a powerful ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoints. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original publication and can help your company to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity 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 supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web sites to promote collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-based access to data, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build secure portals that enables at-home workers to view and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, go to 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. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting services, see deployment consulting services for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can retrieve them securely via a browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home workers to jointly author files. Edits made offline are synced when you go back online. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent can provide fast and affordable online assistance for enabling organizations to build, maintain and troubleshoot integrated network models that include physical data centers, at-home workers, branches, and public cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a popular family of cloud services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity applications and cloud services available by subscription. Office applications and services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable remote contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your at-home workers to achieve top business value. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange experts can provide occasional help to guide you past challenging IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your remote workers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-uptime network model so your employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. For details about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a popular suite of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your business to scale your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your key apps cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline access control for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist your business to utilize GCP's management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To learn, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
A sudden, enterprise-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which could be activated by a pandemic or as an element of a business continuity process, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services allow organizations to outsource or supplement their Help Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk support services utilize Progent's extensive network of remote technical support specialists combined with world-class ticketing and tracking software to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop technical support from service requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to check or revise their active trouble tickets, enter information, and append screenshots or relevant files. Support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent offers optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve advanced problems. To find out more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small businesses.
• Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows you to expand your existing Call Desk staff by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk support services transparently between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's nationwide roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service is based on a collective support model utilizing the leading professional services automation platform for handling help requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing reports. To learn how Progent's Help Desk Supplementation Services can help your company to provide world-class IT support to your telecommuters, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically use their personal computers and often work in an unsecured physical area. This increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and calls for careful deployment of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough user training, and the development of security policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned team of IT security solutions consultants can assist your business to plan, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that protects critical information resources in networks that include at-home workers.

Firewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by teleworkers, mobile users, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to assign and control appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both current and older firewall appliances from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, visit firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by teleworkers and either block or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is put on every protected endpoint, watching all activity and using advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks at inception. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoints remain protected even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo authentication Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are asked to verify who you are via a device that only you possess and that uses a different network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized as this added form of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple validation devices. To learn more about Duo identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all types of outside and local security attacks for a network that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security gaps that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with top certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to audit your workflows and policies and review your IT infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, fix, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network 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 deploy a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional information about Progent's threat assessment services based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital information in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time in case of storage system failures resulting from hardware issues, software hiccups, user mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to design and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore solutions for at-home workers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers fast online access to experts knowledgeable about a wide range of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data spread across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features granular restore and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often anticipate circumstances that call for a quick changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help you to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a unified platform for protecting critical data by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to deploy and validate applications on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up policies for accessing information and resources, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, set up threat protection, ensure security compliance, and erase sensitive data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For information about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the devices of your teleworkers, refer to Intune remote device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM product that helps network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for authorization control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Key capabilities of Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For details about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Seattle, Washington business, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.