New Orleans Work from Home Employees Integration Consultants

Expanding your at-home workforce can have a significant impact on network architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate workflows. Progent has two decades of background helping businesses of all sizes to design, configure, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your New Orleans organization to pick the right tools and follow best practices in building and operating a safe virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand guidance for helping you past occasional technical roadblocks to full project management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help New Orleans, Louisiana businesses to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-functioning remote work ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required to support a remote work environment can be especially complex if you have to accommodate a mix of personal equipment such as desktop computers and laptops, routers, and wireless APs from different manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing remote help for both outdated as well as modern IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for implement essential updates. Support services available from Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to establish a secure connection for authenticated remote workers to use IT assets located at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For organizations with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a broad range of devices such as Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a telecommuter to see and use a data center computer's desktop. This provides network managers substantial control over the computing environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent offers expert online support for configuring home routers from a range of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, often shared by the whole family and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services that include Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP integration assistance.
• Internet connectivity methods impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Line-of-business processes may demand backup Internet connections in the event the primary connection fails. Progent offers guidance for picking Internet service providers, picking appropriate service packages, and setting up redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the corporate phone environment to accommodate remote users is vital to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP products are used by small and mid-size businesses to server remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to plan or tune a telecommuter IP voice environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide high-level support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to support a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) extends advanced telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional combined media services such as messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, visit Cisco Unified CM expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier 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 smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice platforms, refer to CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading vendors enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many organizations use a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist you to manage your current conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group 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 allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for most computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for training. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex as well as for other video conferencing solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conferencing, contacts, and content with features that include voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging services for these conferencing platforms and assist your business to tune your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful environment of applications that create a cohesive user experience for sharing information throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial releases and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration products to optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based delivery of content, business processes, and utilities for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build secure portals that enables at-home workers to view and edit aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange consulting services, refer to deployment consulting for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can share them securely via a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to jointly author files. Edits made offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Teleworkers
Progent offers affordable online assistance for enabling organizations to create, manage and troubleshoot cohesive network architectures that incorporate internal data centers, at-home workers, branches, and cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters fix problems with public cloud connectivity, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes more than one hundred services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and plan data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure services for telecommuters by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity software and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Office applications and services are provided in a selection of bundles designed for users ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent can provide fast and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoints based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional help to get you past challenging technical roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management services to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and safe access to your Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the industry's leading source of cloud services. Progent offers fast and economical online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can help your business to plan, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud is a leading set of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your business to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your key apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your organization to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify access management for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also assist you to utilize GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your GCP environment. For details, see Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
A fast, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services allow businesses to outsource or supplement their Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services leverage Progent's extensive team of online IT support experts along with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up software to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests through ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to monitor or revise the status of their active tickets, add information, and upload screenshots and attachments. Technical support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with advanced problems. For details, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service allows you to augment your current Support Desk organization by splitting delivery of Call Desk services seamlessly between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's nationwide roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service uses a co-sourcing support solution based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. To learn how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver best-in-class technical support to your at-home workforce, see Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
At-home employees typically utilize their personal computing devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough user training, and the development of policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of data security support experts can help you to plan, deploy and maintain a compliant security solution that guards vital IT assets in networks that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile users, vendors, customers, and the public. Modern firewall devices permit you to configure and manage different access rights to various groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your security as your business evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent works with both current and older security appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, see firewall configuration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices used by telecommuters and either reject or spot and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is put on each secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and using advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoints remain secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Progent's Duo MFA Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity verification on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are requested to verify who you are on a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this second means of authentication including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all types of external and local security threats for an environment that includes teleworkers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and economically uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with top credentials such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist your company to audit your procedures and policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of security for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your at-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, fix, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your present security profile. Progent can also assist you to harden your network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and delivers maximum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's threat analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home Network
To read or download a white paper about key areas to focus on for securing a network that includes telecommuters, click:
Protecting a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
Data Protection involves saving and restoring vital information in order to prevent data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in the event of storage system problems due to equipment issues, software glitches, operator error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for an at-home workforce must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent offers fast online access to consultants knowledgeable about a wide array of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically envision circumstances that require a rapid switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning specialists can help you to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized environment for safeguarding corporate information by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing remote devices and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how home-based workers share data, establish threat protection, ensure compliance, and erase corporate information from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To find out about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the devices of your teleworkers, go to Intune remote endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network managers to keep remote endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air deployment of new laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your New Orleans, Louisiana organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.