Appleton At Home Workforce Configuration Consulting Partner

Expanding your at-home workforce may have a major effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate workflows. Progent has two decades of background helping SMBs to plan, deploy, administer, tune, and debug IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Appleton organization to select the right technologies and follow leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and delivers maximum business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand expertise for getting you past occasional IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Appleton, Wisconsin companies to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-performing work-from-home environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, Help Desk services, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed for an at-home work environment can be particularly complex if you have to accommodate a mix of worker-owned equipment such as desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless APs from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both outdated as well as modern technologies in virtual office venues enables you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary updates. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to create a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authenticated at-home workers to access IT resources located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist your company to configure and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable a teleworker to see and use a data center PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers substantial control over the computing environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier online consulting for setting up home routers from a range of vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically supporting families and visitors, are commonly used by telecommuters to connect to their router for work. This can cause performance as well as security problems. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by providing expertise that include Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point integration assistance.
• Internet access solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Line-of-business applications may demand backup Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for picking Internet service providers, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume bundles, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. See Internet access solutions.

VoIP Solutions for Teleworkers
Extending the business phone environment to include teleworkers is vital to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with SMBs to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or legacy products for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations tune their current Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) extends high-end telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, visit CUCM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, see Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with users working outside the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN architecture to support these solutions and deliver online integration and debugging expertise.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing products from major technology companies support virtual meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both local workers and telecommuters. Many organizations use a mix of products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent can help you to manage your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to set up and manage Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or computer 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 consulting services for Cisco Webex as well as for additional IP video products from Cisco, visit 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 that include voice/video conferencing, threaded 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.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and assist your business to tune your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint computers. Progent has provided online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their first publication and can assist businesses to configure these critical collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed 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 app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-driven access to data, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create secure web portals that permits remote workforce to view and edit aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, see 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. To learn about Progent's Exchange support services, visit deployment consulting for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can retrieve them securely via a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive allows home employees to jointly author documents. Revisions made offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, visit Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide advanced remote support for enabling businesses to create, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network architectures that incorporate internal data centers, at-home workers, branches, and public cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud access, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes over one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist 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 plan backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to create protected access to Azure services for at-home workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to large enterprises. Progent can provide quick and easy remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help you to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional advantages associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for occasional assistance to guide you past challenging technical roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your remote workers have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's leading provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to plan, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your employees have a consistent computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud Platform is a leading suite of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can help your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline identity management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to administer and track your Google Cloud environment. For details, go to Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Services for Telecommuters
A fast, company-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as a component of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even the most efficient in-house Call Center. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive network of online IT support specialists along with world-class ticketing and follow-up software to provide an affordable, modern Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 PC technical support from initial service requests to ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to monitor or edit their active tickets, add information, and upload screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent makes available the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve complex problems. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Augmentation Service allows you to supplement your existing Help Desk team by splitting delivery of Call Desk support services seamlessly between your regular support personnel and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support solution based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for managing help requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and producing reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to deliver best-in-class technical support to your at-home workforce, go to Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Security for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically utilize their own computers and often work in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation increases their susceptibility to malware attacks and requires careful deployment of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user training, and the development of security policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned team of IT security solutions experts can help you to plan, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital information resources in environments that include at-home workers.

Firewalls allow you to create a network that can be safely accessed by local users and by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and control appropriate permissions to various classes of users and to scale your network and modify your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly complex. Progent works with both current and older security appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, refer to firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices utilized by remote workers and either block or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on each protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the targeted device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, when you log into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to confirm who you are via a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different network channel. A wide range of out-of-band devices can be used as this added form of authentication such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. To learn more about Duo identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of external and internal security threats for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced credentials including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your procedures and governance policies and assess your WAN architecture to enable you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous testing of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, fix, and verify security weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper describing critical things to concentrate on for protecting an IT environment that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring vital data in order to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in case of storage system failures due to hardware issues, software hiccups, human error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore solutions for remote workers must address multiple types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast online access to consultants knowledgeable about a wide range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data spread throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features granular restore and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often anticipate scenarios that require a quick changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help your business to develop, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified environment for safeguarding corporate data by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting off-premises computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and networks, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how home-based workers share data, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and wipe sensitive data from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For details about Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, refer to Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management platform that helps network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site product through a perpetual license. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Appleton, Wisconsin business, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.