Leeds Telecommuters Connectivity Consulting and Support

Expanding your telecommuter workforce may have a significant impact on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, manage, optimize, and debug IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Leeds company to select the appropriate technologies and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns top business value. Progent offers services that go from on demand guidance for helping you over challenging IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent can help Leeds, United Kingdom companies to with any aspect of building a high-functioning remote work environment by providing infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed for an at-home work environment can be particularly complex if you must manage a combination of worker-owned hardware like PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background providing online help for both legacy as well as current IT products in remote office venues allows you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help your company to create a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to create a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to deploy and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide range of endpoint devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable an at-home worker to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the computing environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote consulting for configuring routers from all major vendors. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting the whole family and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to resolve these issues by delivering expertise that include Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP integration help.
• Internet access methods affect the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Business-critical processes might demand backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide expertise for identifying service providers, selecting sensible service offerings, and integrating high-availability Internet connections. See Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Integration for Telecommuters
Expanding the corporate phone environment to accommodate remote users is critical to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to design or maintain a telecommuter VoIP service that provides the versatility, transparency and security needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to assist organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to handle a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media apps used across the network. CUCM supports additional combined media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to maintain your current CallManager environment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP platforms, visit Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed configuration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad range of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and telecommuters. Many companies utilize multiple products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent can help you to manage your current conferencing ecosystem and enhance the engagement of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Webex and for other IP video solutions from Cisco, visit 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 content with capabilities such as voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich environment of productivity apps that create a cohesive user experience for exchanging 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 first releases and can assist your company to configure these critical collaboration platforms to optimize 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 provide real-time collaboration. Designed as a replacement 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 app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-based delivery of data, workflow, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to create protected web portals that enables at-home workers to view and update consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, refer to SharePoint configuration and application development consulting.

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

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can access them safely through a browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to jointly author documents. Revisions made offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent can provide fast and affordable online assistance for enabling organizations to build, manage and troubleshoot integrated network architectures that include physical data centers, teleworkers, branches, plus cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix issues with public cloud access, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers more than one hundred services services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure AD, and design data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish protected access to Azure services for at-home workers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's expertise for Azure, visit Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft apps and cloud services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for users ranging from students and households to large enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your remote workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide occasional assistance to guide you past tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online contact with cloud integration experts who can help your organization to plan, implement, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to create a high-availability network architecture so your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular set of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist your business to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline access management for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent can also help your organization to utilize GCP's unified management technology to control and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. To find out, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Services for At-Home Workers
A rapid, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be driven by an epidemic or as part of a business continuity plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or supplement their Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services utilize Progent's extensive network of online technical support specialists along with world-class ticketing and tracking technology to provide an economical, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 PC technical support from initial help requests to trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to track or revise the status of their current tickets, enter information, and append screen captures and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent makes available the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex issues. To find out more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to augment your current Call Desk team by splitting responsibilities for Call Desk services transparently between your in-house IT support personnel and Progent's extensive roster of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service is based on a collaborative support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation tool for managing help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and generating management reports. For information about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class desktop support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically utilize their personal computing devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical environment. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user education, and the creation of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of cybersecurity support consultants can help your business to design, deploy and manage a compliant security solution that protects critical IT resources in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable companies to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by on-premises users and by teleworkers, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and the public. Modern firewall devices permit you to configure and manage appropriate permissions to various classes of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow more sophisticated. Progent works with both new and older firewall devices from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, see firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various devices utilized by remote workers and either block or identify and respond to modern threats like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is installed on each secured endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect new attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the infected device from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication Managed Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a protected application and give your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a unit that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized for this second form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of external and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates remote workers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity analysis software for quickly and economically detecting a broad range of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be managed by security professionals with top credentials including CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your operations and policies and review your WAN infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can expose, prioritize, fix, and verify security vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform thorough penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your current security posture. Progent can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional details about Progent's threat assessment services powered by on NodeZero's penetration test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and restoring critical data in order to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in case of storage system failures resulting from equipment breakdowns, software hiccups, human error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must address diverse kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers fast online access to consultants knowledgeable about a wide range of products for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and smartphones. Leading backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies often envision circumstances that call for a quick changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity consultants can assist your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for protecting critical data by controlling local, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile devices and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can use Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing information and networks, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, control how telecommuters share data, establish threat defense, ensure security compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For information about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, refer to Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM platform that allows network managers to keep remote endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. For details about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Leeds, United Kingdom organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.