Lynnwood Work from Home Employees Integration Support Partner

Expanding your remote workforce may have a major impact on IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and company culture. Progent has two decades of experience helping businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Lynnwood company to pick the right technologies and follow leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed expertise for getting you past challenging technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Lynnwood, Washington businesses to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning telecommuting environment by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, helpdesk augmentation, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Integrating the network infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be especially complex if you must manage a combination of personal hardware such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi APs from various vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both outdated and modern technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary updates. Services available from Progent to assist your company to create a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated remote workers to use IT assets situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to configure and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow a teleworker to view and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This gives IT managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures remote users a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, local wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote consulting for setting up home routers from all major manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by an entire household and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these issues by providing services like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point setup help.
• Internet access methods affect the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Line-of-business processes might demand backup Internet access in case the primary connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for selecting Internet service providers, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Integration for Remote Workers
Extending the company phone system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP products are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy products for VoIP solutions. Progent can help businesses of any size to design or tune a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the versatility, convenience and protection required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer high-level support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco VoIP environments to handle a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers advanced telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software used throughout the network. CUCM supports other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist you to maintain your current CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, see CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate firewall like at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed deployment and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad selection of video conferencing products from leading technology companies support online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to maintain your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that supports presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to support your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all 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 and Flash videos, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for additional IP video solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with features such as voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for exchanging information across multiple sites and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help your company to configure these critical collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness of your remote workers.

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 and Teams Premium can enable chat, audio/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 depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web sites to promote collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build protected portals that allows at-home workforce to view and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange support services, go to integration consulting services for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can retrieve them securely through a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive allows home employees to jointly author documents. Edits made offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To find out about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent can provide affordable remote assistance for helping businesses to build, manage and repair integrated hybrid network models that include physical data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, and cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help at-home workers fix issues with public cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a leading family of cloud software and services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than one hundred cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management 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 teleworkers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's support services for Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are provided in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to large corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist you to evaluate the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate transparently with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide occasional help to guide you past tough IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's support services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can help your organization to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds such as Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-availability network model to make sure your users have a productive computing experience whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the road. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your business to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your critical apps cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your business to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline access control for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent can also help your organization to use GCP's management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud environment. To learn, refer to Google Cloud Platform consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
A sudden, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be the result of a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Support Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk support services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support experts along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests to ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to check or update the status of their current trouble tickets, enter information, and append screenshots or attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with complex problems. To learn more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
• Progent's Support Desk Supplemental Service enables your company to augment your current Help Desk organization by sharing delivery of Call Desk support services transparently between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's nationwide roster of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service uses a collaborative support model utilizing the number one PSA platform for handling service requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your business to provide best-in-class desktop support to your from-home workers, see Progent's Help Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members commonly use their personal computing devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical environment. This situation increases their susceptibility to malware threats and requires judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran group of cybersecurity solutions consultants can help your business to plan, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that guards critical IT resources in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable you to create a network that can be securely accessed by local users and by teleworkers, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to configure and control different permissions to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and adjust your security profile as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and legacy security devices from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall support services, refer to firewall integration and support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by remote workers and either block or spot and mitigate the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is installed on every protected endpoint device, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the targeted endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are asked to verify your identity via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this second form of authentication including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register multiple validation devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of external and internal security threats for a network that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for rapidly and affordably detecting a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment experts, which can be managed by security experts with top certifications including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to audit your processes and policies and assess your IT infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of security for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to strengthen your network security and can help you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers maximum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment services based on on NodeZero's pentest products, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical information in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in case of storage failures resulting from equipment issues, programming glitches, human mistakes, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for teleworkers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features granular restore and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically anticipate circumstances that require a temporary changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can help your company to create, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified environment for protecting critical data by managing local, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for permission to access data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, control how home-based workers share data, set up threat defense, ensure security compliance, and delete corporate data from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune works with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To learn about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, see Intune remote endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM product that allows network managers to keep remote endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google 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 one-time purchase. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining a productive telecommuter solution for your Lynnwood, Washington organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.