Santos Work at Home Employees Connectivity Support Partner

Expanding your telecommuter workforce may have a significant impact on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of background assisting businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Santos company to pick the right tools and follow leading practices in creating and operating a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and delivers top business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you past occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Santos, São Paulo businesses to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning telecommuting environment by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, Help Desk augmentation, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Setting up the network infrastructure required to support a remote workforce can be especially challenging if you must manage a combination of personal equipment like desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering remote support for both outdated and current technologies in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to assist your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to create a secure connection for authorized remote workers to use IT assets situated at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to deploy and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software for secure VPN tunneling for a wide range of devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the digital environment of at-home employees and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote support for integrating home routers from a range of manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by the whole family and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these problems by providing services that include Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup help.
• Internet connectivity methods affect the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Vital processes may require backup Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for selecting service providers, picking sensible service bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the corporate PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based VoIP platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, convenience and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to help businesses tune their existing Cisco VoIP systems to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications used throughout the network. CUCM manages other combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM expertise, visit Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, see Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with clients operating outside the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and debugging expertise.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent can assist your organization to manage your existing conferencing environment and enhance the engagement of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. 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 workforce. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Webex as well as for other IP video 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 capabilities such as IP voice and video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and debugging services for these products and help you to tune your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, providing a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user experience for exchanging information throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity 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 provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-driven access to content, business processes, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create secure portals that permits at-home workers to see and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. For information about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, see SharePoint integration and application development consulting.

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

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues can access them securely through a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables home workers to co-author documents. Edits made offline are synced when you go back online. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent offers advanced remote support for helping organizations to create, manage and troubleshoot integrated network models that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus public cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers fix problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud services that allows you to use infrastructure, servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than 100 services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create secure connections to Azure for at-home workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, see Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity applications and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a variety of plans intended for customers ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent can provide fast and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to assess the numerous subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing you to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide occasional assistance to get you through tough IT bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management services to ensure your teleworkers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, refer to Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide rapid and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to build a high-availability network model so your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular suite of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to scale your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can assist your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and track your GCP ecosystem. For details, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be the result of an epidemic or as an element of a business continuity process, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations to outsource or expand their Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online IT support specialists along with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, modern Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests through ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to track or revise the status of their current tickets, add information, and upload screenshots and attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent offers the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with advanced problems. To learn more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service allows your company to expand your existing Help Desk Call Center organization by splitting responsibilities for Call Desk services transparently between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's extensive pool of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Support Desk service is based on a collective support solution based on the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and generating management reports. To learn how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can enable your company to provide world-class IT support to your at-home employees, see Progent's Help Desk supplementation Services.

Security for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members typically use their personal devices and often work in a poorly secured physical environment. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware threats and requires careful configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned team of data security solutions experts can help you to plan, implement and maintain a compliant security solution that protects critical IT resources in environments that include an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by teleworkers, mobile workers, suppliers, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to assign and control different permissions to different groups of users and to scale your network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy security devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support expertise, go to firewall support expertise.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the various computers utilized by at-home workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning from SentinelOne to identify new attacks before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the infected endpoint from the network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoints remain secure even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint security monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm your identity via a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used as this added form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate several validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all classes of external and local security threats for an environment that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by data security professionals with top certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to audit your operations and governance policies and assess your IT architecture to allow you to design top-level security for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, fix, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent can also help you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's PEN test products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Network
To read or download a white paper about key things to focus on for securing a network that incorporates telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection involves backing up and recovering critical data so as to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage failures due to equipment breakdowns, programming hiccups, operator error, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore solutions for at-home workers must address diverse types of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online access to consultants familiar with a broad array of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies typically anticipate circumstances that require a temporary switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can help your company 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 renamed and reshuffled 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 on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager offers a centralized solution for protecting corporate information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and software. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for permission to access information and resources, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share data, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and wipe sensitive data from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS devices. For details about Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product through a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Santos, São Paulo organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.