Buffalo Remote Workforce Configuration Support

Expanding your telecommuter workforce may have a major effect on IT architecture, security, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, manage, tune, and debug IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Buffalo company to select the right tools and adhere to leading practices in building and operating a secure virtual solution for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and returns top value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed guidance for getting you past challenging technical roadblocks to full project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Buffalo, New York organizations to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, helpdesk outsourcing, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure required for an at-home workforce can be especially complex if you must manage a combination of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience providing remote help for both outdated as well as current IT products in virtual office venues allows you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for implement necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to assist you to implement a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network technology allows you to establish a safe tunnel for authorized at-home employees to access IT resources situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can assist your company to configure and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide secure VPN connections for a wide range of endpoint devices such as Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow an at-home worker to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the computing environment of at-home employees 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 expertise.
• Routers connect home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier online consulting for setting up routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting families and guests, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to resolve these issues by delivering expertise like Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point integration help.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Business-critical processes might require backup Internet access in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying ISPs, choosing sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet access integration services.

VoIP Solutions for Teleworkers
Expanding the business phone system to include teleworkers is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based VoIP platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or tune a remote IP voice environment that provides the versatility, convenience and protection needed for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants offer advanced support to help organizations tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to handle a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used across the network. CUCM manages additional mixed media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, refer to CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with users operating beyond the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN architecture to support these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed deployment and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations use multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home employees. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex and for other IP video solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging services for these conferencing platforms and assist you to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office families, offering a rich environment of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original publication and can assist businesses to configure these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity 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. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support 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 (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-based delivery of data, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to create secure web portals that allows at-home workforce to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to SharePoint configuration and application development expertise.

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

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can share them safely via a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-author documents. Edits made offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent offers fast and affordable online support for enabling businesses to create, maintain and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network models that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branches, plus cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all modes of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers fix issues with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud services that allows you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure includes more than one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish protected connections to Azure services for telecommuters by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's support services for Azure, see Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of business productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are provided in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from students and households to major corporations. Progent offers quick and easy online contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your teleworkers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate transparently with local deployments of Exchange, enabling customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to get you past challenging IT bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's top provider of cloud services. Progent offers fast and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to design, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to build a high-availability network architecture so your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular suite of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist you to expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your business to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage, and simplify access control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your organization to use GCP's management tools to administer and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For details, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Support for At-Home Workers
An emergency, company-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which could be driven by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a high-performing in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or expand their Call Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support specialists along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an economical, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests to trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to monitor or update their current tickets, enter details, and append screenshots or attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent makes available the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve complex issues. For more information, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
• Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows you to supplement your current Call Center organization by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center services transparently between your regular IT support organization and Progent's extensive team of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing service requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver world-class IT support to your from-home workers, see Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
At-home employees commonly utilize their own computers and often work in an unsecured physical environment. This increases their vulnerability to cyber threats and requires judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the creation of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security support consultants can assist you to design, implement and manage a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT assets in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable you to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile workers, vendors, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and control appropriate access rights to various groups of users and to expand your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow more complex. Progent supports both current and older security appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, see firewall integration and support services.

Online Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various devices used by at-home workers and either block or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint software agent is put on each secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the impacted device from the network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay protected even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, whenever you log into a protected online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a device that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of devices can be used for this second means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate multiple validation devices. For details about Duo identity authentication services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all types of outside and local security attacks for an environment that includes remote workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for rapidly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be provided by data security professionals with advanced certifications such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your business to evaluate your processes and policies and assess your network architecture to allow you to implement the highest level of protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing 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 to help you find, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform thorough penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your current security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional information about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and recovering vital information in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in the event of storage system failures due to equipment issues, software hiccups, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick online access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans often anticipate circumstances that call for a rapid switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity consultants can help your business to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a unified platform for protecting corporate data by managing onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

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 remote computers 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 deploy and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for permission to access information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, set up threat defense, ensure compliance, and delete sensitive data from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, see Intune mobile endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network administrators to keep offsite endpoint devices current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, application management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment through a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new laptops, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. To find out about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home solution for your Buffalo, New York company, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.