Oxford Work from Home Employees Connectivity Support

Expanding your at-home workforce may have a significant impact on network architecture, cybersecurity, and company processes. Progent has two decades of background helping SMBs to design, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Oxford organization to pick the right technologies and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers maximum value. Progent can provide support services that go from on demand guidance for getting you over challenging IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent can assist Oxford, United Kingdom organizations to succeed with any facet of building a high-performing telecommuting environment by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Integrating the network infrastructure required to support a remote work environment can be especially complex if you must manage a mix of personal hardware like desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from various vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering remote support for both outdated and modern technologies in remote office venues allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for implement essential updates. Services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to create a secure connection for authorized at-home employees to access IT assets located at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a broad selection of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable a telecommuter to see and use a remote PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of at-home employees and offers them a familiar work experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert online support for integrating routers from all major vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often supporting the whole family and visitors, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput as well as security problems. Progent can help you to resolve these problems by providing services like Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP integration help.
• Internet access methods affect the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Business-critical applications might require backup Internet access in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers expertise for selecting service providers, choosing sensible bandwidth and data volume bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for Remote Workers
Expanding the company phone environment to accommodate telecommuters is critical to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older products for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to design or maintain a remote IP voice environment that provides the versatility, transparency and security needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist organizations optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers high-end IP telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent can help you to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, refer to CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to support these solutions and provide as-needed integration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies support online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can help you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. For details about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex and 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 acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and assist you to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that create a consistent user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial releases and can assist businesses to deploy 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 and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, 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 Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven delivery of data, workflow, and tools for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build protected web portals that allows remote workers to view and update consolidated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to SharePoint integration and 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 expertise, go to deployment consulting for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can access them safely through a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-author files. Revisions created offline are synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, go to Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote assistance for enabling organizations to create, manage and troubleshoot cohesive network models that combine physical data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, plus public cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Azure is a leading family of cloud services that allows you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable 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 design backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create protected connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services available by subscription. Office applications and cloud services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and small offices to large enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to assess the various subscription bundles available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate smoothly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for occasional help to guide you past tough IT roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management services to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your business to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to create a high-uptime network model so your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular suite of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your key applications cloud ready so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help your business to use GCP's unified management tools to administer and monitor your GCP ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Services for Teleworkers
A fast, enterprise-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which might be the result of an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overstretch even a high-performing in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services allow organizations to outsource or augment their Call Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk support services utilize Progent's extensive team of online technical support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an affordable, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 PC technical support from service requests through ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to monitor or update the status of their current tickets, add information, and append screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex issues. For details, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your current Help Desk team by sharing delivery of Call Desk support services transparently between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service is based on a collective support model utilizing the number one professional services automation platform for managing service requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class technical support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
At-home staff members commonly utilize their personal computing devices and often operate in an unsecured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and requires judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the development of policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran team of data security support experts can help you to design, deploy and manage a compliant security solution that protects critical IT assets in environments that include at-home workers.

Firewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users and by an at-home workforce, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control different permissions to different groups of users and to expand your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow more sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support expertise, go to firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the various computers used by at-home workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is put on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against compromised passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a protected 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 wide range of devices can be utilized for this added means of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. For more information about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security threats for an environment that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can run remote, automated security inventory software for rapidly and affordably detecting a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security experts with top certifications such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your workflows and policies and assess your network architecture to allow you to design the highest level of protection for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, prioritize, fix, and verify security weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your current security posture. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional information about Progent's threat analysis services based on on NodeZero's PEN test platform, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Network
To read or download a white paper about critical areas to concentrate on for securing an IT environment that includes telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital data so as to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in case of storage system problems due to equipment issues, software glitches, human error, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore solutions for remote workers must address multiple kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick online access to experts familiar with a wide array of products for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features granular restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans commonly anticipate circumstances that require a rapid changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can assist you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Endpoint Manager offers a centralized solution for protecting critical data by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing off-premises computers and software. Remote endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for permission to access data and resources, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share data, establish threat protection, verify security compliance, and erase corporate data from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For details about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, go to Intune mobile endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that helps network administrators to keep offsite endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of out-of-the-box laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about building and managing an efficient work-from-home environment for your Oxford, United Kingdom company, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.