Brooklyn At Home Workforce Solutions Advisor

Expanding your remote workforce may have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and company processes. Progent has 20 years of background assisting SMBs to plan, configure, administer, tune, and debug IT networks that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Brooklyn organization to pick the appropriate technologies and follow leading practices in creating and operating a secure virtual office solution for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and delivers maximum business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you over occasional IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Brooklyn, New York businesses to succeed with any facet of building a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, IP voice expertise, video conferencing support, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, endpoint security, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the network infrastructure required for a remote workforce can be particularly challenging if you have to manage a combination of personal equipment such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless APs from various manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background providing remote help for both outdated as well as current IT products in remote office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for making essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to help your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network connectivity makes it possible to establish a safe connection for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources situated at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to deploy and manage VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can help your remote workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect client software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices including Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a teleworker to see and interact with a remote PC's desktop. This technology gives IT managers more control over the digital environment of telecommuters and offers them a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert online consulting for setting up routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by families and visitors, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause performance as well as security issues. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering expertise that include Aironet integration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point setup assistance.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the speed and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Business-critical processes might require redundant Internet connections in the event the primary connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for selecting Internet service providers, picking appropriate service offerings, and integrating high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for Telecommuters
Extending the company phone environment to include teleworkers is critical to supporting a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice products are used by 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 any size to plan or maintain a remote IP voice environment that provides the flexibility, convenience and security required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts offer high-level support to assist businesses tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed throughout the network. CUCM manages additional mixed media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager expertise.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy 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 current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP platforms, see CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with users operating beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to enhance your wide area network architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand deployment and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing products from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both local workers and at-home workers. Many organizations use multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing environment and enhance the productivity of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications platform that enables presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can assist you to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home workforce. For details about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 simultaneous users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex and for other IP video solutions from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include voice/video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's consulting services for Teams and for other Microsoft 365 products, see 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 configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help your business to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, offering a powerful environment of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user interface for sharing data and ideas across a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your at-home 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 on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute 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 relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of capabilities. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-driven delivery of data, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide business data. SharePoint enables you to create protected portals that permits remote workers to see and edit consolidated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, see SharePoint configuration 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. To learn about Progent's Exchange support services, see deployment consulting for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues can share them securely via a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote workers to jointly author files. Edits created offline are synced when you go back online. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, see Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced online support for helping businesses to create, maintain and optimize integrated network architectures that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branches, plus public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all types of public cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve issues with cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure is a popular family of cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over one hundred cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered VMs, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure AD, and design backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create secure access to Azure for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, go to Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans intended for users ranging from students and households to large corporations. Progent can provide quick and affordable remote access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can assist you to evaluate the numerous subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your teleworkers in a way that delivers top business value. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online is among 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, on-demand scaling, high availability, and additional benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide occasional assistance to guide you past tough technical roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. To learn Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's top provider of cloud services. Progent offers fast and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can help your business to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid IT networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, from home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a popular suite of cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your organization to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your critical apps cloud ready so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your business to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage system with GCP Storage services, and streamline access management for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also help you to utilize GCP's unified management technology to administer and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. For details, go to Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Services for Remote Workers
A fast, enterprise-wide switchover to a telecommuter workforce, which could be driven by an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations to outsource or expand their Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk support services utilize Progent's extensive network of online IT support specialists combined with world-class ticketing and follow-up software to offer an economical, modern Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all aspects of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests through ticket creation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to monitor or revise their current trouble tickets, enter information, and append screenshots or attachments. Desktop support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent offers optional rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex issues. For more information, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service enables your business to augment your current Help Desk Call Center organization by sharing delivery of Help Desk support services transparently between your regular IT support staff and Progent's extensive pool of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service is based on a collective support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling help requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. To learn how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your business to deliver best-in-class IT support to your from-home workers, visit Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home employees commonly use their personal devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to cyber attacks and calls for judicious deployment of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, extensive user education, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of data security solutions consultants can assist your business to plan, deploy and manage a compliant security solution that protects critical IT assets in environments that include remote workers.

Firewalls enable you to build a network that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to assign and control appropriate permissions to different classes of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall devices from all major manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, see firewall integration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various devices used by telecommuters and either reject or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is put on every secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks before they can spread. When an attack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately disconnects the targeted endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoints remain protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Progent's Duo authentication Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against compromised passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity verification with iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using Duo 2FA, when you sign into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to verify your identity on a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized as this added means of authentication such as an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You can register several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all types of external and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates teleworkers. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity inventory scanning for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be managed by security experts with advanced credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your procedures and governance policies and review your network infrastructure to allow you to design the highest level of security for your at-home workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated threat assessment of your work-from-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, prioritize, fix, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to strengthen your network security and can help you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional information about Progent's threat analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's PEN test products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers saving and restoring critical data so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time and effort in case of storage failures due to equipment breakdowns, programming hiccups, human mistakes, cyber attack, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for at-home workers must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick online access to experts familiar with a broad array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that uses cloud storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies commonly envision circumstances that require a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can help your business to create, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Remote Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager features a unified solution for protecting corporate information by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting off-premises computers and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of at-home workers can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, configure policies for permission to access information and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, set up threat defense, verify compliance, and delete sensitive data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. For information about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, visit Intune teleworker device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for authorization control, app management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE operates with devices based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment via a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of devices, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud products. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining a productive telecommuter environment for your Brooklyn, New York company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.