El Paso Offsite Workforce Configuration Support Services

Expanding your telecommuter workforce may have a major effect on IT infrastructure, security, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of experience helping businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your El Paso company to pick the right tools and follow best practices in building and maintaining a secure virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers maximum value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand expertise for helping you over occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help El Paso, Texas companies to with any facet of building a high-performing work-from-home ecosystem by providing network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud integration, Help Desk services, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the network infrastructure required for an at-home work environment can be particularly complex if you must accommodate a mix of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and laptops, routers, and wireless APs from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both legacy as well as current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to create a secure connection for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to deploy and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN connections for a wide selection of devices including Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable an at-home worker to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This gives network 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 integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote consulting for configuring home routers from all major manufacturers. See router integration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by families and visitors, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause performance as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can help you to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point integration help.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Business-critical applications may demand backup Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for selecting service providers, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Teleworkers
Extending the company PBX environment to include remote users is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice products are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help businesses of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter VoIP service that delivers the versatility, transparency and security needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to assist businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers high-end telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media apps used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional mixed media services such as messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with users operating outside the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and deliver on-demand configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus editing and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex as well as for additional 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 provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features such as video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and assist your business to optimize your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, offering a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products to optimize 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven delivery of data, workflow, and tools for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to create protected portals that permits remote workforce to view and update aggregated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, see SharePoint configuration 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 expertise, refer to integration consulting for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can share them securely through a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive allows home employees to co-author documents. Revisions made offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. To find out about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent offers advanced online assistance for enabling businesses to build, manage and optimize integrated network models that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, plus public cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all types of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers resolve issues with public cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes more than one hundred services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure for teleworkers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's support services for Azure, see Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a variety of plans intended for users ranging from individuals and households to major enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable online contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can help your business to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run transparently with local Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to guide you through tough IT bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management services to make sure your teleworkers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to plan, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture so your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud is a popular collection of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage services, and simplify access control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist you to utilize GCP's management tools to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. For details, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Remote Workers
A sudden, organization-wide switchover to a teleworker business model, which could be activated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop technical support from service requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to track or revise the status of their active tickets, enter details, and append screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent offers optional fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve advanced problems. For more information, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service enables you to expand your existing Call Center staff by splitting responsibilities for Call Desk support services transparently between your in-house support staff and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service is based on a collective support solution based on the leading professional services automation tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your business to deliver world-class technical support to your telecommuters, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
At-home workers commonly utilize their personal computers and usually operate in an unsecured physical space. This increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and calls for careful deployment of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user training, and the development of policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security solutions consultants can assist your business to plan, implement and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT assets in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewalls allow companies to create a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile users, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage different access rights to various groups of users and to expand your network and modify your security profile as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall devices from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, see firewall integration and support services.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices utilized by telecommuters and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on each secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect new attacks on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity verification with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you log into a protected application and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are on a unit that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this second form of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all types of external and local security threats for a network that incorporates at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and economically detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment experts, which can be provided by data security professionals with top certifications such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your business to evaluate your workflows and policies and assess your network architecture to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, prioritize, fix, and verify security vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security profile. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper about key things to focus on for securing an IT environment that includes work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring critical data so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time in case of storage failures resulting from equipment breakdowns, software hiccups, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must address diverse types of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online help from experts 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 smartphones. Popular backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features fine-grained restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically anticipate circumstances that call for a quick switch to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help you to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized solution for safeguarding corporate data by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and applications. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up policies for permission to access information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, set up threat defense, verify security compliance, and erase sensitive data from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune can be used with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, refer to Intune mobile device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management product that helps network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing an efficient work-from-home solution for your El Paso, Texas business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.