Raleigh Work from Home Employees Solutions Support and Consulting

Expanding your telecommuter workforce may have a major effect on network infrastructure, security, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of background helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and debug IT networks that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Raleigh organization to select the right tools and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers top value. Progent can provide services that go from on demand guidance for getting you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Raleigh, North Caroline organizations to with any aspect of creating a high-performing remote work environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, cloud connectivity, Call Desk outsourcing, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be especially challenging if you must accommodate a mix of worker-owned hardware like PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from various vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering online help for both legacy as well as current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help you to implement a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology makes it possible to create a secure tunnel for authorized at-home employees to use IT resources located at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can assist your company to deploy and maintain VPN access between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN connections for a wide range of endpoint devices such as Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to see and use a remote PC's desktop. This gives network managers significant control over the digital environment of at-home employees and offers them a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online consulting for deploying home routers from all major vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting an entire household and visitors, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause performance and security issues. Progent can help businesses to resolve these problems by providing services like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless AP integration assistance.
• Internet access solutions affect the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Mission-critical processes may require backup Internet access in case the primary connection fails. Progent offers guidance for selecting ISPs, choosing appropriate bandwidth and data volume bundles, and configuring redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet access solutions.

VoIP Integration for Remote Workers
Extending the business phone environment to include telecommuters is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based digital PBX products are popular with SMBs to support remote users. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or legacy products for IP voice management. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to plan or maintain a remote VoIP environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer advanced support to help businesses optimize their current Cisco VoIP environments to handle a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers enterprise telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia software deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other mixed media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help your company to maintain your current CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with users operating outside the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to enhance your WAN infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and deliver as-needed deployment and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies use a mix of products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to manage your current conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that supports presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for compatible iOS and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting services for Webex as well as for other IP video solutions from Cisco, refer to 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 information with features that include video calling, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and help you to optimize your WAN infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that create a cohesive user interface for sharing information throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can assist businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports 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 enable chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see solution design and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-driven delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that permits at-home workforce to see and edit consolidated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, go to SharePoint configuration 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 support services, visit deployment consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can share them securely via a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home employees to jointly author documents. Edits created offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide advanced online support for helping organizations to build, maintain and repair integrated network models that include internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, plus public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters resolve issues with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than one hundred services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure access to Azure services for at-home workers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and services are provided in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent can provide fast and easy remote access to experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help you to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your remote workers in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of lower costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for as-needed assistance to guide you past challenging IT roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management services to ensure your at-home workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a trailblazer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can help your business to plan, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a productive computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, at home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting services.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a leading collection of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to expand your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your mission-critical apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with GCP Storage services, and simplify access management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent can also help your organization to use GCP's management technology to control and track your Google Cloud environment. For information, visit Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
An emergency, organization-wide transition to a from-home workforce, which might be activated by a pandemic or as part of a business continuity plan, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Call Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for businesses of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of remote technical support experts combined with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests through trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to track or revise their active trouble tickets, enter information, and upload screenshots and relevant files. Technical support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent makes available optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve advanced issues. For details, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service allows your business to expand your current Help Desk organization by splitting delivery of Call Desk services transparently between your in-house support personnel and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Center service is based on a co-sourcing support model utilizing the number one PSA tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and generating reports. To learn how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your business to provide world-class technical support to your from-home workers, go to Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home staff members typically utilize their personal devices and often work in a poorly secured physical space. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and calls for careful deployment of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive user education, and the development of security policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of data security solutions experts can assist you to plan, implement and maintain a compliant security solution that protects vital IT resources in environments that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewalls enable companies to build a network environment that can be securely utilized by local users as well as by at-home workers, mobile workers, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to assign and control different access rights to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and older firewall devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall integration services, see firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate computers used by at-home workers and either reject or spot and respond to the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on each secured endpoint, watching all activity and using advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the impacted endpoint from the network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity verification with Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and give your password you are requested to verify your identity on a unit that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this second form of authentication such as a smartphone or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. For details about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security threats for a network that incorporates remote workers. Progent can run online, automated security inventory software for quickly and economically uncovering a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with top credentials including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your company to audit your workflows and policies and review your network architecture to enable you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can expose, rank, fix, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to evaluate your current security posture. Progent can also help you to harden your network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more information about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, see Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

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

Data Protection for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection involves saving and restoring critical information so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time in case of storage system failures due to hardware issues, programming glitches, operator error, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must address diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast remote help from consultants familiar with a wide range of products for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data spread throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and includes granular restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often envision circumstances that call for a quick switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity consultants can assist your business to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified platform for safeguarding corporate data by managing local, mobile, and home-based 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 protecting off-premises devices and applications. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of at-home workers can use Intune to provision and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, establish threat protection, verify security compliance, and erase corporate information from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune works with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. To learn about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, visit Intune telecommuter device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management product that helps network managers to keep off-premises endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Google 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 product through a one-time purchase. Top features of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing a productive work-from-home solution for your Raleigh, North Caroline business, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.