Fort Myers At Home Workforce Configuration Consulting Company

Enlarging your telecommuter workforce may have a significant impact on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT networks that support work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Fort Myers organization to select the appropriate technologies and follow leading practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and returns maximum value. Progent offers support services that go from as-needed expertise for helping you over occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Fort Myers, Florida businesses to with any aspect of building a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem by providing infrastructure configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Help Desk services, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Configuring the network infrastructure needed for an at-home work environment can be especially complicated if you must accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware such as PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing remote help for both outdated as well as modern technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to help your company to create a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to create a secure connection for authorized remote workers to access IT resources situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to configure and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for secure VPN connections for a broad range of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable an at-home worker to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers attach at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote support for integrating home routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by an entire household and guests, are frequently used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to mitigate these problems by providing expertise like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup help.
• Internet connectivity methods affect the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Vital processes might demand backup Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for picking service providers, choosing sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the business PBX environment to include telecommuters is critical to supporting a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can help organizations of any size to plan or tune a remote VoIP environment that provides the versatility, convenience and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer high-level support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to handle a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers advanced telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. CUCM supports other mixed media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see CUCM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice products, see CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with users working outside the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed deployment and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A wide range of voice/video conferencing products from leading vendors enable online meetings, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many companies use multiple products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help you to manage your existing conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for compatible iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for additional IP video 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 capabilities such as voice/video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these products and help your business to optimize your network infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office families, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a cohesive user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help businesses to tune these critical collaboration platforms to optimize the effectiveness of your at-home workers.

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

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed 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 closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven delivery of data, workflow, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to build protected web portals that enables remote workers to see and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange consulting services, go to deployment consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can retrieve them safely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to jointly author files. Revisions created offline are synced when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent can provide affordable online support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and repair integrated network models that incorporate physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, and public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve issues with cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of cloud services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than 100 cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and plan backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish secure access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, see Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity applications and cloud services available by subscription. Office apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of plans designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to major corporations. Progent can provide fast and easy online contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to assess the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers top business value. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to get you past tough IT bottlenecks and also offer end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your at-home workers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's biggest source of cloud services. Progent can provide fast and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your business to design, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to create a high-availability network model to make sure your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Platform is a leading suite 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 organization to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your mission-critical apps cloud ready so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity control for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's consultants can also help you to use GCP's management tools to control and track your GCP environment. For details, refer to Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Support for At-Home Workers
A fast, enterprise-wide changeover to a telecommuter workforce, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Call Center. Progent's Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Call Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide network of remote technical support experts combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, advanced Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial service requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to track or edit the status of their active trouble tickets, enter details, and append screen captures or relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent makes available the option of rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve advanced problems. To learn more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service enables your business to expand your existing Support Desk team by splitting delivery of Call Desk services seamlessly between your regular IT support staff and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support model utilizing the number one PSA tool for managing help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating management reports. For information about how Progent's Support Desk Supplementation Services can help your business to provide world-class technical support to your at-home employees, refer to Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members typically utilize their personal computing devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and requires judicious configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of IT security solutions experts can assist your business to design, deploy and manage an effective security solution that protects vital information assets in environments that include remote workers.

Firewalls allow companies to create a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, suppliers, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to expand your network and adjust your security profile as your company evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and older firewall devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, refer to firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate computers used by teleworkers and either block or identify and respond to the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on each secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and give your password you are asked to verify your identity via a device that only you possess and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added means of authentication such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all classes of external and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can run online, automated security analysis scanning for rapidly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment experts, which can be provided by network security experts with advanced certifications such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your company to audit your operations and governance policies and assess your IT infrastructure to allow you to design 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 can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, prioritize, fix, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to evaluate your current security posture. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides maximum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional details about Progent's threat analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's PEN test products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Environment
To read or download a white paper about critical things to concentrate 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 Remote Workers
Data Protection involves saving and restoring vital information in order to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in the event of storage system failures due to equipment breakdowns, programming hiccups, user mistakes, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine in-house data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must cover multiple types of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast remote help from experts knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/recovery solutions maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features fine-grained restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies commonly envision circumstances that require a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity consultants can assist you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

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

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and applications. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and validate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing information and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat defense, verify compliance, and delete sensitive information from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, refer to Intune telecommuter device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network managers to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment through a one-time purchase. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. To learn about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about building and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Fort Myers, Florida business, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.