Lakeland Work at Home Employees Configuration Support

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a major effect on network infrastructure, security, and company processes. Progent has two decades of background helping SMBs to plan, configure, manage, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Lakeland company to select the right tools and follow best practices in creating and operating a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and returns top value. Progent offers support services that go from on demand expertise for helping you past challenging IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent can help Lakeland, Florida businesses to with any aspect of creating a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud integration, Call Desk services, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the network infrastructure required for a remote work environment can be especially complex if you must accommodate a mix of personal equipment such as desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing remote help for both outdated and modern technologies in virtual office venues allows you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help your company to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of endpoint devices including Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This technology provides IT managers substantial control over the computing environment of at-home employees and ensures them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert online support for setting up home routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by families and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can create throughput and security problems. Progent can help you to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise that include Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration help.
• Internet connectivity methods impact the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the corporate data center. Mission-critical processes might demand redundant Internet connections in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for selecting ISPs, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and setting up high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the corporate phone system to include teleworkers is vital to supporting an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice platforms are popular with SMBs to server remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to design or tune a remote IP voice environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide high-level support to help businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia apps used across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM support, refer to Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, visit CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with clients operating outside the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and provide online deployment and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from major technology companies support online meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both local users and teleworkers. Many companies utilize multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent can help your organization to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video calling and conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for video calls. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing products from Cisco, visit 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 capabilities that include voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging services for these products and help you to optimize your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a powerful environment of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing information across a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness 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 integrates with third-party cloud services to provide 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, 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 called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web entities to promote collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based access to content, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that permits at-home workers to view and edit consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint support services, go to 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. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting services, refer to planning and configuration consulting for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can share them safely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-edit documents. Revisions created offline are synced when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent offers advanced online support for enabling organizations to build, manage and optimize cohesive hybrid network models that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, and public cloud services. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers resolve issues with public cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud services that allows you to use IT infrastructure, servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers more than one hundred cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish protected access to Azure for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Office applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles designed for users ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable online contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. To learn about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the advantages of reduced spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed assistance to get you through tough IT roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's leading source of cloud services. Progent offers rapid and affordable online access to cloud integration experts who can assist your organization to plan, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-availability network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For details about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular collection of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's database consultants can help you make your key apps cloud ready so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline access control for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help your business to use GCP's management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To learn, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
A rapid, company-wide changeover to a teleworker business model, which might be activated by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed internal Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk services allow businesses to outsource or supplement their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center support services leverage Progent's nationwide network of online IT support experts along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests to ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables telecommuters to check or update the status of their current trouble tickets, enter details, and upload screen captures or attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with advanced problems. To learn more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service enables you to supplement your existing Call Desk staff by splitting responsibilities for Support Desk support seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive team of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the leading PSA platform for managing service requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and producing reports. To learn how Progent's Call Desk Supplementation Services can enable your business to provide best-in-class IT support to your from-home workers, go to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home workers commonly utilize their personal devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical environment. This multiplies their vulnerability to cyber attacks and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security solutions consultants can help your business to design, configure and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that protects vital information resources in environments that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by teleworkers, mobile users, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow more complex. Progent works with both new and older firewall devices from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, visit firewall configuration and support services.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the disparate computers used by teleworkers and either block or spot and mitigate modern threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new threats before they can spread. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the infected device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are asked to verify your identity on a device that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized as this added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all types of external and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can run online, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be managed by network security professionals with top certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your operations and policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to implement top-level security for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you identify, prioritize, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your network security and can help you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and provides optimum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional details about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To view or download a white paper about critical areas to concentrate on for securing a network that includes work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital data so as to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time in the event of storage failures due to hardware breakdowns, software hiccups, human mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for teleworkers must address multiple types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote access to experts familiar with a wide array of products for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore products supported by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies typically envision scenarios that call for a temporary switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity specialists can help your business to create, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified solution for safeguarding critical information by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and applications. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. Network admins managing the endpoint computers of at-home workers can use Intune to deploy and validate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how telecommuters share data, set up threat defense, ensure security compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For details about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, go to Intune telecommuter endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM platform that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Key capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your Lakeland, Florida business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.