Nashville Telecommuters Integration Consulting

Expanding your at-home workforce may have a major effect on network infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting small and mid-size businesses to design, configure, administer, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Nashville organization to pick the appropriate technologies and follow leading practices in building and operating a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum business value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand expertise for helping you past challenging technical bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Nashville, Tennessee organizations to with any facet of creating a high-performing work-at-home environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud integration, helpdesk augmentation, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the network infrastructure required for a remote workforce can be particularly complicated if you must accommodate a mix of worker-owned equipment like desktop computers and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing remote support for both outdated as well as modern technologies in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and offers fast access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to create a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated remote workers to use IT assets situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration 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 secure VPN connections for a broad selection of devices such as Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a teleworker to see and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, local wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert remote support for deploying routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by the whole family and guests, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist you to resolve these issues by providing expertise like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point integration assistance.
• Internet access solutions affect the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Mission-critical applications might demand backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for picking service providers, selecting sensible bandwidth and data volume packages, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. See Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the company phone environment to include remote users is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to support telecommuters. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to plan or maintain a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the flexibility, transparency and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to assist businesses optimize their existing Cisco VoIP systems to support a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends high-end IP telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. CUCM manages additional combined media services like messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's CUCM expertise, visit Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, visit CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to support these solutions and deliver as-needed integration and troubleshooting services.

Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad range of video conferencing products from leading technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many organizations utilize multiple products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the experience of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for compatible iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's support services for Webex and for additional IP video solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities that include voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, offering a rich environment of applications that create a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas across multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms 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 integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web sites to promote collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-based access to content, business processes, and utilities for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create secure portals that allows at-home workers to view and edit consolidated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint configuration and application development expertise.

Exchange and Exchange Online offer secure collaboration features including public folders, shared mailboxes, and shared calendars and contacts. Progent's Microsoft certified Exchange experts can show you how to activate and utilize these features for your at-home workers. To learn about Progent's Exchange support services, see integration consulting for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them securely through a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-edit documents. Revisions made offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent offers affordable remote support for helping organizations to build, manage and repair integrated network models that incorporate physical data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, plus public cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers resolve problems with public cloud access, identity, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and key apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure AD, and design backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create protected connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's expertise for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and services are provided in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy online access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers in a way that delivers maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other advantages associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run transparently with local Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for occasional assistance to guide you past tough IT bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your teleworkers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's leading provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a productive computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a leading collection of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to scale your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your key apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with GCP Storage, and streamline access management for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help your organization to use GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For details, visit Google Cloud Platform integration expertise.

Help Desk Services for At-Home Workers
A rapid, enterprise-wide transition to a teleworker business model, which might be driven by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Support Desk with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk services leverage Progent's extensive network of remote technical support specialists combined with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to offer an affordable, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 PC support from initial help requests through trouble ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to check or revise the status of their active trouble tickets, enter information, and append screen captures or attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent makes available optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support specialists to deal with complex problems. To learn more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small businesses.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to supplement your current Call Desk organization by sharing delivery of Help Desk support services transparently between your in-house support organization and Progent's nationwide roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support solution based on the leading professional services automation tool for managing help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. To find out how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide world-class technical support to your at-home workforce, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home workers commonly use their own devices and often work in an unsecured physical area. This situation increases their vulnerability to malware attacks and calls for careful deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user training, and the creation of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran group of cybersecurity support consultants can help you to design, configure and manage an effective security solution that protects vital information assets in networks that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by at-home workers, mobile employees, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances allow you to assign and control different access rights to various classes of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your security profile as your company evolves and as network attacks become more complex. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, see firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by at-home workers and either reject or identify and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on each protected endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the infected device from the corporate network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoints remain protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you sign into a secured online account and give your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide range of devices can be used for this second means of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several validation devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all types of external and local security threats for an environment that incorporates at-home workers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity analysis software for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be managed by data security professionals with advanced certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your procedures and governance policies and review your WAN infrastructure to enable you to design top-level security for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can expose, rank, remediate, and confirm security vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your current security profile. Progent can also assist you to harden your network security and can help you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To learn more information about Progent's vulnerability analysis services based on on NodeZero's PEN test products, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home Network
To view or download a white paper about key things to focus on for protecting an IT environment that incorporates telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection involves saving and recovering critical data in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage system problems due to hardware issues, software hiccups, human mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must address diverse types of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a backup/recovery service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate circumstances that call for a rapid switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning specialists can assist your business to develop, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a unified platform for protecting critical information by managing local, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for permission to access information and networks, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how home-based workers share information, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and delete sensitive data from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS devices. For information about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the devices of your at-home workers, go to Intune mobile endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM product that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises product through a perpetual license. Key capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, refer to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing an efficient telecommuter solution for your Nashville, Tennessee company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.