Saddle Brook At Home Workers Solutions Support Services

Expanding your remote workforce can have a major impact on network architecture, security/compliance, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of background helping small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Saddle Brook company to pick the right technologies and adhere to best practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you over challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Saddle Brook, New Jersey businesses to with any aspect of creating a high-functioning remote work environment by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk services, security monitoring, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home workforce can be especially complicated if you must manage a mix of worker-owned equipment like desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless APs from different vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both legacy and modern IT products in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to assist you to implement a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to create a safe connection for authorized at-home workers to access IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your key network resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can assist your remote workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow a teleworker to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers significant control over the computing environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote support for deploying home routers from a range of vendors. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by an entire household and guests, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can create throughput and security problems. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these problems by delivering expertise that include Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP integration assistance.
• Internet connectivity solutions affect the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Vital applications may require backup Internet access in case the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for identifying service providers, picking sensible service bundles, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Solutions for Teleworkers
Expanding the business PBX system to accommodate telecommuters is critical to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based VoIP products are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older products for IP voice management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or tune a telecommuter IP voice service that delivers the versatility, convenience and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco VoIP environments to handle an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers high-end IP telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional combined media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can help your company to support your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these solutions and deliver online deployment and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing products from major vendors enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and at-home workers. Many organizations use multiple products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist you to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the engagement of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that enables presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex as well as for additional video conferencing 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 hub for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video calling, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams and 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 deliver integration and debugging services for these products and help you to optimize your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a powerful environment of applications that create a cohesive user interface for exchanging information across multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can assist businesses to tune these flagship collaboration platforms 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 provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings with 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 Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-based access to content, workflow, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that permits at-home workers to view and update consolidated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint configuration and application development expertise.

Exchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see planning and configuration consulting services for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can retrieve them securely through a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to jointly author files. Edits created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent offers affordable remote assistance for enabling businesses to create, manage and optimize cohesive network architectures that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and cloud services. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers resolve issues with cloud access, identity, and security.

Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, scalable cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected connections to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of bundles designed for users ranging from individuals and households to large corporations. Progent offers fast and easy remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers top business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed help to get you past challenging technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management services to ensure your at-home workers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, refer to Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide fast and economical online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to build a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud is a popular set 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 experts can assist your organization to scale your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your critical apps cloud friendly so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify access management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to administer and track your GCP ecosystem. To learn, see Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
A sudden, company-wide transition to a teleworker workforce, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as an element of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses to outsource or augment their Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive network of remote IT support experts combined with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to offer an economical, advanced Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 PC support from initial help requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to monitor or update the status of their active trouble tickets, add details, and append screenshots or attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent offers optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex problems. For details, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Support Desk Supplemental Service enables you to augment your existing Help Desk Call Center team by sharing delivery of Help Desk support seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk service uses a collective support solution utilizing the leading PSA tool for managing help requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your business to provide world-class technical support to your telecommuters, go to Progent's Call Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically use their own computers and usually work in a poorly secured physical area. This situation increases their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, thorough end-user education, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran group of data security solutions experts can assist you to plan, implement and maintain a compliant security solution that guards vital IT assets in environments that include remote workers.

Firewalls allow companies to create a network that can be safely accessed by local users as well as by telecommuters, mobile users, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different permissions to different groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more complex. Progent works with both current and legacy firewall devices from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration services, visit firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various computers utilized by teleworkers and either reject or spot and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is put on each secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect new threats before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to confirm your identity on a unit that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be used for this second means of authentication such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register multiple verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security analysis software for rapidly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment experts, which can be provided by security experts with top certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your workflows and governance policies and review your WAN infrastructure to enable you to implement top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated threat assessment of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, prioritize, fix, and verify security 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 perimeter and your internal network in order to evaluate your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your network security and can help you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional details about Progent's threat assessment services based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection involves saving and restoring vital data so as to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage system problems resulting from equipment breakdowns, software glitches, human error, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly difficult to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must address diverse types of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans commonly anticipate circumstances that require a rapid switch to telecommuting. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity consultants can help you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for protecting critical information by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft 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 computers can be personally owned or company owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up policies for accessing data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, set up threat defense, ensure security compliance, and delete sensitive data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, visit Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network managers to keep remote endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates 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. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. For information about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Saddle Brook, New Jersey organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.