Rochester Remote Workforce Configuration Support Services

Expanding your at-home workforce can have a significant effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate processes. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, manage, tune, and debug IT environments that support at-home workers. Progent can help your Rochester company to select the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed guidance for getting you past challenging technical roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Rochester, New York organizations to succeed with any facet of creating a high-performing remote work environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be particularly complicated if you have to manage a combination of worker-owned hardware like desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote help for both legacy as well as current technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and offers fast access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to establish a safe tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to access IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing remote VPN configuration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall experts can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN connections for a broad selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a telecommuter to view and use a remote PC's desktop. This provides network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote support for setting up home routers from a variety of vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting families and visitors, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can help businesses to resolve these problems by providing services that include Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point integration assistance.
• Internet access solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Business-critical processes may require backup Internet access in the event the primary connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for selecting Internet service providers, picking appropriate bandwidth and data volume offerings, and configuring redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for Telecommuters
Extending the corporate phone system to accommodate remote users is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based IP voice platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of any size to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that delivers the flexibility, transparency and security required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer advanced support to assist businesses optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends advanced telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, visit CUCM expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand integration and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad range of video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both local workers and at-home workers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist you to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and optimize the experience of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for iOS and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support expertise for Apple 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 services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise 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 acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with features that include video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and troubleshooting expertise for these products and assist you to tune your network infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that create a cohesive user interface for exchanging information throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can assist businesses to tune these flagship collaboration products to optimize the productivity of your at-home 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus 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 branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-based access to data, business processes, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create secure web portals that allows remote workforce to see and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to 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 details about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, go to planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can access them safely via a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows at-home workers to co-edit files. Edits created offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent offers advanced remote assistance for helping businesses to create, manage and optimize integrated network models that include physical data centers, at-home workers, branches, and public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all types of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers resolve issues with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a leading family of cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers more than 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and plan backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish secure access to Azure for teleworkers by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, refer to Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable online contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to guide you through challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your remote workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's support services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's leading source of cloud services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with cloud integration consultants who can help your organization to design, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-availability network model to make sure your employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular set of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline access control for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. To learn, go to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
A sudden, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Call Center. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or supplement their Help Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center support services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote IT support specialists along with world-class ticketing and tracking software to offer an economical, advanced Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of online Level 1 PC support from service requests to trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to monitor or revise the status of their current tickets, enter details, and append screenshots or relevant files. Support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent makes available optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve advanced issues. To learn more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service enables your company to augment your existing Support Desk team by sharing delivery of Help Desk Call Center services seamlessly between your in-house support organization and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk service uses a collaborative support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating management reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver best-in-class desktop support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Support Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home employees commonly utilize their personal devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical environment. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and calls for judicious deployment of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned team of IT security support experts can assist your business to plan, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards critical information assets in environments that incorporate remote workers.

Firewalls allow you to build a network that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by teleworkers, mobile workers, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to assign and control different access rights to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks become more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and legacy firewall appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall configuration services, see firewall support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various computers used by an at-home workforce and either reject or identify and mitigate the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is installed on every secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect new attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected application and give 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 broad selection of out-of-band devices can be used as this added form of authentication including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple validation devices. To learn more about Duo identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all classes of outside and local security attacks for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated security analysis software for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by network security professionals with top certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to evaluate your operations and governance policies and review your WAN architecture to enable you to design the highest level of security for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your work-from-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks to help you identify, rank, fix, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more information about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's PEN test products, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To read or download a white paper about critical areas to concentrate on for protecting a network that includes work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
The field of Data Protection involves saving and restoring critical information so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time in the event of storage problems resulting from equipment issues, software glitches, user mistakes, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore strategies for remote workers must address diverse types of personally owned endpoints. Progent offers fast remote access to consultants familiar with a wide range of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features fine-grained restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies often envision scenarios that call for a temporary switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity consultants can help your company to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

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

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or business owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to deploy and validate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing data and networks, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how telecommuters share data, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and erase corporate information from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the devices of your telecommuters, visit Intune teleworker endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management platform that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing a productive telecommuter solution for your Rochester, New York business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.