Dallas Teleworkers Configuration Consultants

Enlarging your at-home workforce can have a major effect on IT infrastructure, security, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of background assisting small and mid-size businesses to plan, configure, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Dallas organization to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum business value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand guidance for helping you past occasional technical bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Dallas, Texas businesses to with any facet of building a high-performing work-from-home environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, helpdesk outsourcing, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required for an at-home workforce can be especially complicated if you must accommodate a mix of personal equipment such as desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering online help for both legacy and modern technologies in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary updates. Services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

• VPN connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authorized remote employees to access IT assets located at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a wide selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow a telecommuter to view and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier online consulting for integrating home routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by the whole family and visitors, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can help businesses to resolve these issues by providing services like Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration assistance.
• Internet access methods affect the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Mission-critical applications may demand redundant Internet connections in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for identifying ISPs, picking appropriate service packages, and setting up redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Extending the company PBX environment to accommodate telecommuters is critical to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based IP voice products are used by SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to plan or tune a remote VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and security needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to assist businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to support a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional mixed media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, refer to Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, refer to CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with users working beyond the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN infrastructure to support these solutions and provide as-needed configuration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing products from major vendors enable online discussions, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that supports presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for 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, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conversations, contacts, and content with features that include video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing information across multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness of your at-home workforce.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-driven delivery of content, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to create protected portals that enables remote workforce to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit 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. For details about Progent's Exchange support services, see integration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can access them safely via a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to jointly author documents. Edits made offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers fast and affordable online support for enabling businesses to build, maintain and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that include internal data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, plus public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all types of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix issues with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of public cloud services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers over one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure connections to Azure for teleworkers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, visit Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity software and cloud-based services available by subscription. Office apps and services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for users ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent can provide quick and affordable remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help you to assess the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide as-needed assistance to get you past tough IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top provider of cloud services. Progent can provide rapid and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can help your business to plan, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to build a high-availability network architecture to make sure your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to extend your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database experts can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity control for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist you to use GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your GCP ecosystem. For information, refer to Google Cloud Platform integration expertise.

Help Desk Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which might be driven by a pandemic or as a component of a business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of remote technical support experts along with world-class ticketing and follow-up software to provide an economical, state-of-the-art Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests through ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to check or update their current trouble tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures or relevant files. Support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent makes available the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex problems. For details, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service allows you to supplement your existing Call Desk staff by splitting delivery of Call Center support transparently between your regular IT support organization and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service uses a co-sourcing support model based on the number one PSA tool for handling help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To learn how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can help your company to deliver world-class IT support to your telecommuters, see Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers commonly utilize their own computing devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for judicious configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran roster of data security support consultants can help you to design, configure and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that protects critical information resources in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewalls allow you to create a network that can be securely accessed by local users and by telecommuters, mobile employees, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices allow you to assign and control appropriate permissions to various classes of users and to scale your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, visit firewall integration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate devices used by at-home workers and either reject or spot and respond to modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is put on every secured endpoint, watching all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the targeted device from the network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoints stay secure even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo MFA Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of devices can be used as this added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate multiple validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all types of external and internal security threats for a network that includes remote workers. Progent can run online, automated security inventory software for quickly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and assess your IT architecture to allow you to design the highest level of security for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, prioritize, fix, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can help you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your current security profile. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional details about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's PEN test products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection for Telecommuters
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital information in order to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in case of storage system failures resulting from hardware issues, software hiccups, user mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for remote workers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick remote help from experts knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often anticipate circumstances that call for a quick switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning consultants can assist you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized solution for safeguarding critical data by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

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 remote computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can use Intune to deploy and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN connections, control how home-based workers share data, set up threat defense, ensure security compliance, and erase corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To learn about Intune and how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, see Intune teleworker device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that helps network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and managing a productive telecommuter solution for your Dallas, Texas business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.