Louisville Offsite Workforce Configuration Advisor

Expanding your telecommuter workforce can have a major impact on IT infrastructure, security, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background helping SMBs to plan, deploy, manage, tune, and debug IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Louisville organization to select the appropriate technologies and follow best practices in building and operating a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that facilitates teamwork and delivers maximum business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you over occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Louisville, Kentucky companies to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning work-at-home environment by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud integration, helpdesk services, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Integrating the network infrastructure required to support a remote workforce can be especially challenging if you have to accommodate a mix of personal hardware like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background providing remote help for both outdated and current IT products in remote office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to create a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to create a secure tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources situated at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA experts can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a telecommuter to view and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the computing environment of telecommuters and ensures them a familiar experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers connect at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier online support for deploying home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by families and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can create performance and cybersecurity issues. Progent can help businesses to resolve these problems by delivering services like Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP integration help.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Vital applications may demand redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for identifying ISPs, picking sensible service bundles, and integrating redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Expanding the corporate phone environment to accommodate remote users is vital to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or older platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to plan or tune a remote VoIP service that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to assist businesses tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) extends advanced IP telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional mixed media services like unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, refer to CUCM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can help you to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP products, refer to CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide range of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support online meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many companies utilize multiple conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing 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 conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities that include IP voice and video calling, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting expertise for these products and assist your business to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a powerful environment of applications that deliver a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can assist businesses to tune these flagship collaboration products to maximize 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 supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed 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 app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven access to content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create secure web portals that allows remote workforce to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint expertise, see SharePoint integration 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 details about Progent's Exchange consulting services, go to integration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues can retrieve them safely via a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote employees to jointly author files. Revisions created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's support services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable online support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and repair integrated hybrid network models that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, and cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters fix issues with public cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular platform for public cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers more than one hundred cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and plan data backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure connections to Azure services for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, see Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans designed for users ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable online contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to guide you through challenging IT roadblocks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your remote workers have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to create a high-availability network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your business to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage services, and streamline access control for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist you to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For information, visit Google Cloud Platform integration support.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
A sudden, enterprise-wide changeover to a teleworker workforce, which might be driven by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online IT support experts along with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up software to offer an economical, advanced Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC technical support from service requests through ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to check or edit the status of their current tickets, enter information, and upload screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent offers optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex problems. To find out more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service allows your business to augment your existing Help Desk Call Center team by sharing delivery of Call Desk support seamlessly between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's nationwide roster of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Call Desk service uses a co-sourcing support model utilizing the leading PSA platform for managing service requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. To learn how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver world-class technical support to your at-home workforce, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers commonly use their personal devices and often work in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to malware attacks and requires judicious deployment of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive user education, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran roster of IT security solutions consultants can assist you to design, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital IT assets in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewalls allow you to create a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by at-home workers, mobile employees, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices allow you to configure and control appropriate permissions to various groups of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks grow more sophisticated. Progent supports both current and older firewall devices from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration expertise, refer to firewall support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the disparate devices used by an at-home workforce and either block or spot and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is installed on each protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks on arrival. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the infected endpoint from the corporate network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay protected even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are asked to verify who you are on a device that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be used as this second means of authentication including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register multiple validation devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all types of external and local security threats for an environment that includes at-home workers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis software for rapidly and affordably detecting a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be provided by security professionals with top credentials such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your company to audit your procedures and policies and review your IT infrastructure to enable you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you identify, prioritize, remediate, and confirm security weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your present security profile. Progent can also help you to harden your network security and can help you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers maximum cyber defense for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional details about Progent's threat assessment services powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers backing up and restoring vital information in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time in the event of storage system failures due to hardware breakdowns, programming hiccups, human mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that combine private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for at-home workers must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online access to consultants familiar with a wide array of products for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly anticipate scenarios that call for a quick changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning consultants can assist your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a unified platform for safeguarding corporate information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing off-premises devices and applications. Remote endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and networks, manage passwords, create VPN connections, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and wipe corporate information from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, see Intune telecommuter device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network managers to keep remote endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises product via a perpetual license. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud services. To learn about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient work-from-home solution for your Louisville, Kentucky business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.