Waltham At Home Workers Configuration Consulting

Expanding your at-home workforce may have a significant effect on network infrastructure, security, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background assisting SMBs to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that support at-home workers. Progent can assist your Waltham organization to select the appropriate tools and adhere to leading practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for teleworkers that facilitates teamwork and delivers top value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed guidance for getting you over challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Waltham, Massachusetts companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-performing remote work ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, Help Desk services, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required to support a remote work environment can be especially complicated if you must manage a combination of worker-owned equipment such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering online help for both legacy as well as current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity allows you to create a safe connection for authenticated at-home employees to use IT assets situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to configure and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices such as Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to see and use a remote computer's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the digital environment of telecommuters and ensures them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert remote support for integrating home routers from all major manufacturers. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by an entire household and guests, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause throughput as well as security problems. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise like Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup help.
• Internet access methods impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Vital processes may demand backup Internet access in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for selecting ISPs, picking sensible service packages, and configuring redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the corporate phone environment to include remote users is critical to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based VoIP platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy products for IP voice solutions. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to plan or tune a remote VoIP environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and security required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice systems to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends high-end telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia apps used across the network. CUCM manages additional combined media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see CUCM expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can help you to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP platforms, see CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with users operating beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your wide area network architecture to work with these solutions and provide as-needed configuration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide range of video conferencing products from leading technology companies support online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies utilize multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent 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 consultants who can help your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based recording, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex as well as 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 provides a hub for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities such as voice/video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, providing a rich environment of applications that deliver a cohesive user interface for exchanging information across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can assist your company to configure these critical collaboration products to maximize 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. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web entities to promote collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-driven delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that permits at-home workers to see and update aggregated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint support services, see 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 support services, visit planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers anywhere can access them safely through a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to co-author files. Revisions made offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, visit Onedrive configuration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent can provide advanced remote support for enabling organizations to build, maintain and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features over 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure access to Azure for telecommuters by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are provided in a selection of bundles designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to large corporations. Progent offers fast and easy remote contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your teleworkers to achieve top business value. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate transparently with local Exchange environments, allowing customers to create hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for as-needed help to get you past tough technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have easy and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, refer to Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the world's biggest source of cloud services. Progent offers rapid and affordable online contact with cloud integration experts who can help your organization to plan, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-availability network model so your employees 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 find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular collection of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your business to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and simplify access control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help your business to utilize GCP's management technology to control and monitor your GCP ecosystem. For details, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration expertise.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
An emergency, enterprise-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which might be the result of a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk support services leverage Progent's extensive team of online IT support specialists combined with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop technical support from service requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to monitor or edit the status of their active trouble tickets, add information, and upload screen captures or relevant files. Support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to resolve complex issues. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service allows your business to expand your existing Help Desk team by splitting delivery of Help Desk services seamlessly between your regular IT support personnel and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Help Desk service uses a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing reports. To learn how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide world-class desktop support to your from-home workers, visit Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home workers typically use their own devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to malware threats and requires judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user training, and the development of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of IT security support consultants can assist you to design, deploy and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT resources in networks that include at-home workers.

Firewalls allow companies to create a network that can be safely utilized by local users as well as by teleworkers, mobile users, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to scale your network and modify your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats grow more sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration services, visit firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various computers used by at-home workers and either reject or spot and mitigate the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is put on every secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new attacks before they can spread. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected device from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight ASM agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a device that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be used for this added means of authentication including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. For more information about Duo identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of outside and internal security threats for a network that incorporates telecommuters. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity analysis software for rapidly and economically uncovering a broad range of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by data security experts with top credentials including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your business to audit your operations and governance policies and assess your network infrastructure to enable you to implement top-level protection for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can expose, rank, fix, and confirm security weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to perform thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's threat assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Network
To read or download a white paper about key areas to focus on for protecting an IT environment that incorporates work-from-home staff, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and recovering vital data so as to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in the event of storage system failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, operator error, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that combine local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must address diverse types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide fast online access to consultants familiar with a wide range of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Leading backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained restore and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often envision scenarios that call for a rapid switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help you to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a centralized environment for safeguarding corporate data by managing on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the endpoint devices of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for permission to access information and resources, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share data, establish threat protection, verify compliance, and wipe corporate data from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the devices of your teleworkers, refer to Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management platform that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates 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-premises product through a one-time purchase. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive telecommuter solution for your Waltham, Massachusetts business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.