Toledo At Home Workers Connectivity Support Services

Expanding your remote workforce can have a major effect on IT architecture, security, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of experience helping businesses of all sizes to design, deploy, manage, tune, and debug IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Toledo company to pick the appropriate technologies and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes teamwork and delivers maximum value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you over challenging technical bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Toledo, Ohio organizations to with any facet of building a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Help Desk augmentation, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required to support an at-home workforce can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online support for both outdated and modern technologies in virtual office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for implement necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN technology makes it possible to establish a safe tunnel for authenticated at-home workers to use IT resources situated at your corporate datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can assist your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various network resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For businesses with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software for safe VPN connections for a wide selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow an at-home worker to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology gives IT managers substantial control over the digital environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops expertise.
• Routers connect home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent offers top-tier remote support for integrating home routers from all major manufacturers. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often supporting the whole family and guests, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and cybersecurity issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point integration help.
• Internet access solutions impact the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Business-critical processes might require backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for identifying ISPs, selecting appropriate service bundles, and configuring redundant Internet access. See Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Solutions for Teleworkers
Extending the business phone environment to include teleworkers is critical to supporting a productive work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP products are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's current or older platforms for VoIP solutions. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to design or maintain a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, transparency and security needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide advanced support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages other combined media services like messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM expertise, see Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist you to support your current CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP products, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers consulting expertise for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to update your wide area network architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed configuration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies enable online discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many organizations utilize multiple products to meet the needs of their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and enhance the engagement of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications product that enables real-time presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist you to deploy and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing discrete content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus editing and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex as well as for additional 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 hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video conferencing, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting services for these products and assist your business to tune your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas across a corporate network and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting support for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first releases and can assist businesses to tune 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings with 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 Azure Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web sites to facilitate collaboration and information delivery by offering policy-based delivery of data, workflow, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that allows at-home workers to view and update consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, see 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. For details about Progent's Exchange consulting services, go to planning and configuration consulting for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can access them securely via a browser. Included with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows home workers to co-edit documents. Revisions created offline are automatically uploaded when you go back online. To learn about Progent's support services for OneDrive, go to Onedrive integration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable remote support for enabling businesses to build, manage and troubleshoot integrated hybrid network models that include internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and cloud resources. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers fix problems with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that enables you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure offers over one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can assist your organization to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish secure access to Azure for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's expertise for Azure, go to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of business productivity applications and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for customers ranging from students and households to large corporations. Progent can provide quick and affordable remote access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the various subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your teleworkers in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts can provide as-needed assistance to get you past challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management services to ensure your at-home workers have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting expertise.

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

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular collection of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can help your organization to extend your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your key apps cloud ready so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to deploy virtual machines on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline access management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist your business to use GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your GCP environment. For details, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Telecommuters
A sudden, company-wide transition to a telecommuter workforce, which might be activated by a pandemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overstretch even a well-staffed internal Support Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Help Desk Call Center support services utilize Progent's nationwide network of remote IT support specialists along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all aspects of remote Level 1 PC support from initial service requests through trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to track or revise their current tickets, enter information, and append screenshots and attachments. Technical support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop service charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve advanced problems. To learn more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Supplemental Service enables your company to augment your existing Call Center staff by splitting responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support seamlessly between your in-house support personnel and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service uses a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling help requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. For information about how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your business to provide best-in-class technical support to your from-home workers, see Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
Work-from-Home (WFH) employees typically utilize their own devices and often work in an unsecured physical space. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user education, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned group of cybersecurity support consultants can assist your business to plan, configure and maintain a compliant cybersecurity solution that protects critical information resources in networks that include telecommuters.

Firewalls enable companies to create a network environment that can be safely utilized by local users as well as by telecommuters, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and control different access rights to different groups of users and to expand your network and adjust your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly complex. Progent supports both current and legacy firewall devices from all major vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, see firewall integration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the various computers used by teleworkers and either reject or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is put on every protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new threats on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately disconnects the targeted endpoint from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for telecommuters.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected online account and give 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 broad selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added form of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may register multiple verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, visit Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for at-home workers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates remote workers. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for rapidly and economically uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by data security professionals with advanced certifications such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to evaluate your operations and policies and review your network architecture to allow you to design the highest level of security for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, fix, and confirm cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your network security and can assist you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-premises, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more details about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Platform.

Download White Paper: Protecting a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To view or download a white paper about key things to concentrate on for protecting a network that supports work-from-home staff, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home Network White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection Solutions for Telecommuters
The field of Data Protection covers saving and recovering vital information in order to avoid data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in the event of storage system failures resulting from equipment issues, programming glitches, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore solutions for an at-home workforce must address multiple types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast online access to consultants familiar with a wide range of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/restore products supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and features fine-grained recovery and unified management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans commonly anticipate scenarios that call for a quick switch to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity specialists can assist you to create, document and test a DR/BC strategy that includes the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager offers a unified environment for protecting critical data by managing local, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint devices can be personally owned or company owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of teleworkers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up rules for accessing information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat defense, ensure security compliance, and delete sensitive information from lost, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. To find out about Intune and how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint devices of your teleworkers, refer to Intune remote device management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that helps network managers to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for authorization control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises product through a one-time purchase. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing a productive telecommuter solution for your Toledo, Ohio company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.