Spartanburg Work from Home Employees Connectivity Consultants

Enlarging your remote workforce may have a major impact on IT infrastructure, security, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of experience helping SMBs to design, configure, manage, tune, and debug IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Spartanburg organization to select the right tools and adhere to best practices in building and operating a secure virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and returns top business value. Progent can provide support services that go from as-needed expertise for getting you past challenging technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Spartanburg, South Carolina businesses to with any aspect of building a high-performing telecommuting environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk outsourcing, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the network infrastructure needed for an at-home work environment can be particularly complicated if you must manage a mix of personal equipment like PCs and laptops, routers, and wireless APs from an assortment of manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's background providing online help for both outdated as well as modern IT products in remote office solutions allows you to make efficient use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making essential updates. Support services offered by Progent to assist your company to create a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to create a secure tunnel for authorized at-home workers to use IT resources situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist you to configure and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing online VPN integration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide range of devices such as Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and offers remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote consulting for configuring home routers from all major vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting the whole family and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause throughput as well as security issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by delivering services like Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Business-critical applications may require backup Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for picking service providers, selecting appropriate service bundles, and integrating high-availability Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the company PBX environment to accommodate teleworkers is vital to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based digital PBX platforms are popular with SMBs to server teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or older products for VoIP solutions. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to plan or maintain a remote VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer high-level support to help businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice environments to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers high-end telephony features to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and mixed media software used across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your current CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, visit Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with clients working outside the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and deliver online configuration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A broad range of video conferencing platforms from leading vendors enable online discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent can assist your organization to maintain your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to configure and manage Skype for Business client software to support your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling platform for iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous 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 provides remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's support services for Webex and for other IP video solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with features such as IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that create a cohesive user interface for sharing data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad selection of endpoints. Progent has delivered online consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original releases and can assist businesses to tune these critical collaboration products to optimize the effectiveness of your remote workforce.

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

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable 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 (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to promote collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for looking through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to build protected web portals that allows remote workforce to view and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint expertise, see SharePoint configuration and 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. For information about Progent's Exchange consulting services, go to integration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers can share them securely through a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-author documents. Revisions made offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, see Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced remote assistance for enabling organizations to build, maintain and optimize integrated network models that combine physical data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, and public cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help at-home workers fix problems with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading platform for public cloud services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure includes more than one hundred services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and design backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create secure access to Azure for telecommuters by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity applications and cloud services offered by subscription. Microsoft applications and cloud services are provided in a selection of bundles intended for customers ranging from individuals and small offices to major enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy online access to consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can help you to evaluate the numerous subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run transparently with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide occasional assistance to get you past challenging IT roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting services for Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's top source of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your business to plan, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to create a high-uptime network model to make sure your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. For information about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a leading suite of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your business to extend your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database consultants can show you how to make your key applications cloud ready so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can help you to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage services, and simplify access control for remote workers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent can also assist your business to use GCP's management technology to administer and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To learn, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting services.

Help Desk Support for Telecommuters
A rapid, organization-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which might be the result of a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote technical support experts combined with world-class ticketing and tracking software to provide an economical, modern Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to monitor or update the status of their active tickets, enter information, and append screenshots and attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent offers optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with advanced problems. To find out more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service enables you to expand your existing Help Desk staff by sharing delivery of Call Desk support transparently between your in-house support personnel and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Center service uses a collaborative support solution based on the number one PSA platform for handling help requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class technical support to your teleworkers, see Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home workers commonly utilize their own devices and usually work in an unsecured physical space. This situation increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and requires careful deployment of firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of policies built on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of data security solutions consultants can help you to plan, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT assets in environments that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network that can be safely utilized by on-premises users and by at-home workers, mobile workers, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate permissions to various groups of users and to expand your network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both new and legacy firewall devices from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall integration services, refer to firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate computers utilized by teleworkers and either block or spot and respond to the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring 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 new attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the targeted device from the network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoints remain protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo authentication Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and enter your password you are requested to verify who you are via a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized for this second means of ID validation such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can register several verification devices. For more information about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all types of external and local security attacks for a network that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can run remote, automated security inventory scanning for quickly and economically detecting 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 security professionals with top credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your business to evaluate your procedures and policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of protection for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your work-from-home environment and your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, prioritize, remediate, and verify security weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can help you to use NodeZero to carry out thorough penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent can also assist you to harden your network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a unified cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more information about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions powered by on NodeZero's penetration test platform, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

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

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical information so as to avoid data loss and minimize restoration time in case of storage system failures due to equipment breakdowns, programming glitches, user mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate private data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must address diverse types of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast remote help from experts knowledgeable about a wide range of products for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans often envision scenarios that call for a rapid changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can assist you to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for safeguarding critical data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote computers and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share information, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and erase sensitive data from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, visit Intune remote endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints 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-based service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. For information about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and managing a productive telecommuter environment for your Spartanburg, South Carolina company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.