Southlake Remote Workers Integration Support

Expanding your remote workforce can have a significant effect on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and corporate processes. Progent has 20 years of background helping SMBs to plan, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Southlake organization to select the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that facilitates collaboration and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from as-needed guidance for helping you over challenging IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Southlake, Texas businesses to succeed with any aspect of building a high-functioning remote work ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk augmentation, data security, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure needed to support an at-home workforce can be especially complex if you have to accommodate a combination of personal equipment such as PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering online support for both outdated and current IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for making necessary updates. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to create a productive telecommuting ecosystem include:

• VPN technology makes it possible to establish a secure tunnel for authorized at-home workers to access IT assets situated at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist you to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing remote VPN configuration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall experts can help your remote workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide range of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow an at-home worker to view and use a remote PC's desktop. This technology provides network managers more control over the digital ecosystem of at-home employees and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert online consulting for setting up routers from all major vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting the whole family and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by delivering services that include Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless access point setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity methods affect the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Business-critical applications may demand redundant Internet access in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for picking Internet service providers, choosing sensible service bundles, and integrating high-availability Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Integration for Teleworkers
Extending the business phone system to include remote users is vital to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric digital PBX products are used by SMBs to support teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to design or maintain a remote VoIP environment that delivers the versatility, convenience and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide high-level support to help organizations optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to support a growing remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers high-end telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media apps used across the network. CUCM manages other combined media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent's consultants can assist you to maintain your current CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP products, see CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide online integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies enable online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and telecommuters. Many organizations use a mix of products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can help you to maintain your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and enhance the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications product that supports presence, instant messaging, voice and video calling and conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home employees. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's support services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's support services for Webex and for additional video conferencing products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 apps, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting expertise for these conferencing platforms and help your business to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, offering a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has provided online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship 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 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, video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, plus 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 capabilities. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge sharing by providing policy-based access to data, workflow, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to build secure portals that allows remote workforce to view and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts. To learn about Progent's SharePoint support services, go to SharePoint configuration and 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. For details about Progent's Exchange expertise, see planning and configuration consulting for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can access them safely through a web browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows at-home workers to co-edit files. Edits made offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced online assistance for enabling businesses to build, manage and troubleshoot cohesive network models that incorporate physical data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters resolve issues with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers more than one hundred services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to establish protected connections to Azure for teleworkers by setting up and troubleshooting firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity software and cloud services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for users ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent offers quick and easy online contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications 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 integration support.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate smoothly with local Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide occasional help to guide you past tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your teleworkers have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's support services for Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the world's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can assist your business to design, implement, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other public clouds like Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist your company to create a high-uptime network model to make sure your employees have a productive computing experience whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud is a popular set of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help you to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your key apps cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your business to set up virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with GCP Storage services, and simplify identity management for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your business to utilize GCP's management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud environment. To find out, visit Google Cloud Platform integration expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
A sudden, organization-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which might be the result of a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote technical support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from initial service requests to ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to monitor or edit their active trouble tickets, add information, and append screen captures or attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to deal with advanced problems. For details, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small businesses.
• Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to augment your current Help Desk Call Center team by sharing delivery of Support Desk services transparently between your regular IT support staff and Progent's extensive pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Support Desk service is based on a collective support model utilizing the leading professional services automation platform for managing service requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can help your company to provide best-in-class technical support to your from-home workers, visit Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees commonly utilize their personal computers and usually work in a poorly secured physical environment. This increases their susceptibility to malware threats and requires careful configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user education, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of cybersecurity support consultants can assist your business to design, implement and maintain an effective cybersecurity solution that protects critical IT resources in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewalls allow you to create a network that can be securely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to assign and control different access rights to different groups of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and older firewall appliances from all leading vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support services, refer to firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various computers used by remote workers and either block or spot and mitigate the latest cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is installed on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly disconnects the infected device from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoints stay secure even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, visit remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Progent's Duo authentication Services utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a secured application and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are on a unit that only you have and that uses a separate network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized for this second means of authentication including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register multiple verification devices. For more information about ProSight Duo identity validation services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for remote workers.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all classes of outside and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can deploy online, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and economically detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security audit experts, which can be managed by data security experts with advanced credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to evaluate your operations and policies and assess your network infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of security for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you expose, rank, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out comprehensive pentests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your current security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to plan and deploy a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and delivers maximum protection for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more information about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions powered by on NodeZero's PEN test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital information so as to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time in the event of storage system failures due to hardware issues, programming hiccups, human mistakes, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to design and manage in hybrid networks that combine in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore strategies for telecommuters must address diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast remote access to consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate scenarios that call for a rapid changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist your company to develop, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of switching to an at-home workforce.

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

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing off-premises devices and software. Remote endpoint devices can be user owned or business owned. Network admins managing the endpoint devices of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and validate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up policies for accessing information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share data, establish threat defense, verify security compliance, and wipe sensitive data from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune runs with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To learn about Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to administer the endpoint devices of your telecommuters, visit Intune remote endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management platform that allows network administrators to keep remote endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top features of 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 endpoints, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home solution for your Southlake, Texas company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.