Reading Telecommuters Configuration Support and Consulting

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major effect on network architecture, security/compliance, and corporate workflows. Progent has two decades of background assisting small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Reading organization to select the right technologies and adhere to best practices in creating and operating a secure virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers services that go from as-needed guidance for helping you past occasional technical bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Reading, United Kingdom organizations to succeed with any facet of building a high-performing work-at-home environment by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Call Desk augmentation, data security, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a combination of personal equipment like PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing online support for both legacy and modern technologies in remote office venues enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to help you to implement a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity makes it possible to create a safe connection for authorized at-home workers to access IT assets located at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to configure and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can assist your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide selection of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This gives network managers more control over the computing environment of at-home employees and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local wireless networks, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online consulting for integrating routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router integration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting families and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can create throughput and cybersecurity issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by providing expertise that include Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup assistance.
• Internet access solutions impact the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Business-critical applications may demand redundant Internet connections in case the normal connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for selecting ISPs, choosing appropriate service bundles, and configuring redundant Internet access. See Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the company PBX environment to include teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice service that provides the flexibility, transparency and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media apps deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other mixed media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help you to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, visit Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with public telephony networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver online integration and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies use multiple products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent can assist your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the experience of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to set up and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. 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 computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for additional IP video products 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 such as IP voice and video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of applications that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing information across a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can help businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to create protected web portals that allows remote workers to view and update consolidated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint expertise, visit SharePoint integration and 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. To learn about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, refer to planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can share them securely through a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-author files. Revisions created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable online assistance for enabling businesses to create, manage and optimize integrated network models that combine internal data centers, remote workers, branches, plus cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve issues with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a popular family of cloud services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features over 100 cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans intended for customers ranging from students and households to large corporations. Progent offers fast and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help you to evaluate the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your remote workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other benefits inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide occasional help to guide you past tough IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's leading provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online access to cloud integration experts who can help your business to plan, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist you to create a high-uptime network model to make sure your users have a productive computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading collection 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 consulting experts can help your organization to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to deploy VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline identity control for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist you to use GCP's management tools to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To learn, go to Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as a component of a business continuity plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations to outsource or augment their Call Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk support services leverage Progent's nationwide team of online technical support experts along with world-class ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop support from service requests through ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to check or update their active trouble tickets, enter information, and upload screenshots or attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent offers optional fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex issues. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows your business to expand your existing Call Desk organization by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support transparently between your regular IT support organization and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service is based on a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling service requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and generating management reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your business to provide world-class desktop support to your telecommuters, go to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Telecommuters
At-home employees typically utilize their own devices and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to malware attacks and requires judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of security policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of cybersecurity solutions consultants can assist you to plan, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that guards critical information resources in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different access rights to different groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your security as your business evolves and as cyber threats become more complex. Progent supports both current and legacy firewall appliances from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, refer to firewall support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate computers utilized by an at-home workforce and either reject or spot and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is installed on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, whenever you log into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a unit that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized as this second form of ID validation including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register multiple verification devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all types of external and internal security attacks for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and economically detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be managed by network security professionals with advanced certifications including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your workflows and governance policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to allow you to implement the highest level of protection for your telecommuters.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous testing of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you uncover, rank, fix, and confirm security weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional information about Progent's threat assessment services powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Environment
To view or download a white paper about key areas to concentrate on for securing a network that supports telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection involves saving and restoring vital information so as to prevent data loss and reduce recovery time in the event of storage problems due to hardware breakdowns, programming glitches, user mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore strategies for teleworkers must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast remote help from experts knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features granular recovery and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically envision scenarios that call for a temporary changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity planning specialists can help your company to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized solution for safeguarding corporate information by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. Network admins managing the endpoint devices of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share information, set up threat defense, verify compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the endpoint computers of your teleworkers, visit Intune telecommuter endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management platform that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for authorization control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises product through a perpetual license. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient telecommuter solution for your Reading, United Kingdom business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.