Palo Alto Offsite Workforce Configuration Advisor

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a significant effect on IT architecture, security/compliance, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of background assisting businesses of all sizes to design, configure, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Palo Alto organization to pick the appropriate technologies and adhere to best practices in building and operating a safe virtual ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum business value. Progent offers support services ranging from as-needed guidance for helping you past occasional technical bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Palo Alto, California companies to with any facet of creating a high-functioning telecommuting environment by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure needed for an at-home work environment can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a mix of personal hardware like desktop computers and laptops, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both outdated and current IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist you to implement a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity allows you to establish a secure connection for authorized at-home workers to access IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow a telecommuter to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This technology provides IT managers more control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures them a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier online consulting for configuring routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by an entire household and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause performance and security issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise that include Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup help.
• Internet access methods impact the speed and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Vital processes may require redundant Internet connections in case the primary connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking ISPs, choosing sensible bandwidth and data volume bundles, and setting up redundant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the business PBX environment to include telecommuters is vital to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are used by SMBs to server remote users. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to plan or maintain a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the versatility, transparency and security required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations tune their current Cisco VoIP environments to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers high-end IP telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media applications deployed across the network. CUCM manages additional mixed media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, see CUCM consulting services.
• Cisco 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 current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, refer to CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with clients working beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN architecture to support these VoIP solutions and deliver online integration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies support online discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite users and teleworkers. Many companies utilize a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent can help your organization to maintain your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the engagement of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that enables real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for compatible iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's support services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus editing and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Webex and for additional video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities that include voice/video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and debugging expertise for these products and assist your business to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that create a cohesive user interface for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their initial publication and can assist businesses to configure these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your remote 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 with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can enable chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-based access to content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build secure web portals that enables at-home workforce to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, go to SharePoint integration 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. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, visit integration consulting for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can retrieve them securely through a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to co-edit files. Revisions created offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable online support for helping businesses to build, manage and troubleshoot integrated network architectures that incorporate internal data centers, remote workers, branches, plus cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all types of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters fix issues with public cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a popular family of public cloud software and services that enables you to use infrastructure, servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure features over one hundred services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create secure access to Azure for telecommuters by setting up and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity applications and cloud services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans intended for customers ranging from students and small offices to large enterprises. Progent offers fast and affordable online contact with consultants knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can help your business to evaluate the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting services.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run smoothly with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for as-needed assistance to guide you past challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management services to make sure your teleworkers have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For information Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and economical online access to cloud integration consultants who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to create a high-availability network architecture so your users have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration services.

Google Cloud Platform is a popular collection of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA consultants can help you make your critical applications cloud ready so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent can help your business to deploy virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify access control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist you to use GCP's unified management tools to administer and track your GCP environment. For details, refer to Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Services for At-Home Workers
A rapid, organization-wide changeover to a telecommuter business model, which might be driven by an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Call Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or expand their Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center support services leverage Progent's nationwide team of remote IT support experts along with enterprise-class ticketing and tracking technology to provide an economical, advanced Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of remote Level 1 desktop support from help requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to monitor or update the status of their active tickets, add information, and append screen captures and relevant files. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available optional fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex issues. To learn more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service allows you to augment your current Call Desk staff by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk services seamlessly between your regular IT support staff and Progent's nationwide pool of PC support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Call Desk service uses a co-sourcing support model utilizing the leading PSA platform for managing help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide best-in-class technical support to your at-home workforce, go to Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers commonly utilize their personal devices and often work in a poorly secured physical area. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and requires careful configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive end-user training, and the development of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran group of cybersecurity solutions experts can help you to plan, deploy and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that guards vital information resources in environments that include an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable you to create a network that can be securely utilized by local users and by telecommuters, mobile employees, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to configure and manage different access rights to various classes of users and to expand your network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both current and older security devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, go to firewall integration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate devices used by telecommuters and either reject or identify and mitigate the latest threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is put on each secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and using advanced AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new attacks before they can spread. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the impacted endpoint from the corporate network to contain the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, 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 ASM, go to remote endpoint monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a device that only you possess and that uses a different network channel. A wide range of devices can be utilized for this added means of ID validation such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register multiple verification devices. To find out more about Duo identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your network to all classes of external and local security attacks for a network that includes telecommuters. Progent can run online, automated security analysis software for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be provided by security professionals with top certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your workflows and policies and review your network architecture to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal network in order to evaluate your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your existing network security and can help you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional information about Progent's threat assessment services based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

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

Data Protection for Remote Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical data so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in the event of storage failures resulting from equipment issues, programming glitches, operator error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for telecommuters must cover diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online help from consultants knowledgeable about a wide array of platforms for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans commonly envision scenarios that require a rapid changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist your business to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for protecting critical information by managing local, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing mobile devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and resources, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, set up threat defense, verify security compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Microsoft Intune runs with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the devices of your telecommuters, refer to Intune teleworker device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM product that helps network managers to keep remote endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates 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 service or as an on-site product through a perpetual license. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. For information about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient telecommuter environment for your Palo Alto, California company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.