Fort Lauderdale At Home Workforce Connectivity Consulting Company

Expanding your at-home workforce may have a major effect on IT architecture, security, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of background helping SMBs to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Fort Lauderdale company to select the appropriate tools and adhere to leading practices in creating and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and delivers top business value. Progent can provide services ranging from on demand guidance for helping you past occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Fort Lauderdale, Florida businesses to with any aspect of creating a high-performing remote work ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, helpdesk outsourcing, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed to support an at-home work environment can be particularly complex if you must accommodate a mix of personal equipment such as PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless APs from different vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering online help for both outdated and modern IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for implement necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to create a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

• VPN technology makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authenticated at-home workers to access IT resources situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent can help your company to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall experts can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a teleworker to view and use a remote computer's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of at-home employees and offers them a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier online consulting for configuring routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as security problems. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by providing expertise like Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration help.
• Internet access methods impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate network. Vital processes may demand backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking service providers, choosing appropriate service offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the corporate phone system to include remote users is critical to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are popular with SMBs to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, convenience and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to assist organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers advanced IP telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, see Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist you to support your current CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP products, see CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable 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 legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand configuration and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad range of video conferencing products from major vendors enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite users and telecommuters. Many companies use multiple products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent can help your organization to maintain your existing conferencing environment and enhance the experience of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications product that enables presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home employees. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for compatible iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video calling, threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help your business to tune your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich ecosystem of productivity apps that create a cohesive user experience for sharing information across a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can assist your company to configure these flagship collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness of your remote workforce.

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

Microsoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, 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 (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web sites to enable collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build secure portals that permits at-home workforce to see and update consolidated business intelligence via Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go 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 information about Progent's Exchange consulting services, refer to integration consulting services for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can store files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can access them safely via a browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home employees to jointly author files. Revisions created offline are synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's support services for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent offers advanced online assistance for enabling businesses to build, manage and optimize integrated hybrid network models that incorporate internal data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, plus public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers more than one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application 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 management with Azure AD, and design backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure access to Azure for telecommuters by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and services are provided in a selection of bundles designed for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to large enterprises. Progent can provide quick and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help your business to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 integration expertise.

Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for as-needed assistance to get you through tough IT roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other public clouds such as Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-uptime network model so your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading suite of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to scale your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical apps cloud friendly so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your business to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with GCP Storage, and simplify identity control for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist you to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP ecosystem. For details, visit Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Remote Workers
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which could be motivated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery process, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk support services leverage Progent's nationwide team of remote technical support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to provide an affordable, advanced Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 PC support from service requests through ticket creation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to check or edit the status of their current trouble tickets, add details, and upload screenshots and relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to deal with advanced problems. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service enables your business to expand your current Call Center team by sharing responsibilities for Call Desk support services seamlessly between your regular IT support staff and Progent's nationwide team of PC support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service uses a co-sourcing support solution based on the number one professional services automation platform for handling help requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Support Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to deliver best-in-class technical support to your telecommuters, see Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
At-home staff members commonly utilize their own computers and often work in a poorly secured physical area. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, extensive end-user training, and the development of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran team of cybersecurity solutions consultants can help you to plan, deploy and maintain an effective security solution that guards vital IT resources in networks that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile users, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to configure and control different access rights to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your company evolves and as network attacks grow more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older firewall devices from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration services, refer to firewall integration and support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate devices used by at-home workers and either block or spot and respond to modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is installed on each protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks at inception. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the infected endpoint from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoints stay protected even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo MFA Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity verification on Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized as this second means of authentication including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register multiple verification devices. To learn more about Duo two-factor identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of outside and local security threats for an environment that includes teleworkers. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment experts, which can be provided by network security professionals with advanced certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your procedures and policies and review your IT architecture to enable you to implement top-level protection for your telecommuters.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, rank, remediate, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your existing network security and can help you to design and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers maximum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

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

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and restoring vital information so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in case of storage problems resulting from equipment issues, programming hiccups, user error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must address multiple types of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers fast remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a wide array of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Leading backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and includes granular recovery and unified management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically anticipate circumstances that call for a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity consultants can help your company to create, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized platform for safeguarding critical information by controlling local, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting mobile devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share information, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and delete sensitive information from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, see Intune remote endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM product that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoints. 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 offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment through a perpetual license. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient telecommuter environment for your Fort Lauderdale, Florida organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.