Stockton Remote Workers Integration Consulting Experts

Expanding your telecommuter workforce can have a significant impact on IT architecture, security, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to plan, deploy, administer, optimize, and debug IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Stockton organization to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to leading practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent offers services ranging from as-needed guidance for helping you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can assist Stockton, California companies to with any aspect of creating a high-functioning remote work environment by providing network infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud integration, Call Desk services, data security, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure needed for a remote work environment can be especially challenging if you must accommodate a combination of worker-owned hardware such as PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from different manufacturers and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background providing remote help for both legacy and current IT products in virtual office venues enables you to make efficient use of your available infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for making necessary updates. Services offered by Progent to assist your company to create a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem include:

• VPN technology allows you to create a safe tunnel for authenticated remote employees to access IT resources situated at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to configure and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your various network resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a broad range of devices including Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow a telecommuter to view and use a data center PC's desktop. This technology gives network managers significant control over the digital environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a familiar experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home wireless networks, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier online consulting for configuring routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, typically supporting an entire household and visitors, are frequently used by telecommuters to access their Internet router for work. This can cause performance and cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by delivering services that include Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless installation expertise, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup assistance.
• Internet access methods affect the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Mission-critical applications may require backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent can provide guidance for selecting service providers, choosing appropriate service offerings, and setting up high-availability Internet access. See Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Integration for At-Home Workers
Extending the business PBX environment to include teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's modern or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to plan or tune a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the versatility, transparency and security needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer advanced support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco IP voice systems to handle an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers high-end telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing platforms, VoIP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed across the network. CUCM manages other mixed media services like unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, visit Cisco Unified CM consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can assist your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, refer to CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working beyond the corporate firewall such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN infrastructure to support these solutions and provide online integration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide range of voice/video conferencing products from major vendors enable virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and teleworkers. Many companies utilize multiple products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent can assist your organization to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and optimize the engagement of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that supports presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to set up and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your remote workforce. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer versions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference. For details about Progent's support services for 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 provides a portal for conversations, contacts, and content with features such as IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these products and assist your business to optimize your WAN infrastructure to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that create a cohesive user interface for exchanging information throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness of your remote workers.

Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suite, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide variety of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can help at-home workers set up and use these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize productivity.

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (previously branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web sites to enable collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-based access to data, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that allows remote workforce to view and update consolidated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to 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. For details about Progent's Exchange support services, go to deployment consulting services for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can share them safely via a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home employees to jointly author files. Edits made offline are synced when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Onedrive integration experts.

Public Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote support for helping businesses to create, maintain and repair integrated hybrid network models that incorporate internal data centers, teleworkers, branches, and public cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes 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 fix issues with cloud connectivity, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a leading platform for cloud services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, servers, and key applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure features more than one hundred cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and backup/restore. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate 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 show you how to create protected access to Azure for telecommuters by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, go to Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of business productivity software and cloud services available by subscription. Microsoft apps and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans intended for users ranging from students and small offices to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and easy remote contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online is one of the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower costs for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's certified Exchange consultants are available for occasional assistance to guide you past tough technical bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management services to make sure your telecommuters have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online access to cloud connectivity consultants who can help your organization to plan, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local data centers and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-uptime network model to make sure your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud is a leading collection of cloud computing services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help your business to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your mission-critical applications cloud ready so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist your business to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify access control for at-home workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist you to utilize GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. For information, go to Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Telecommuters
A sudden, company-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which could be the result of a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery process, can overstretch even the most efficient internal Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations of any size to outsource or expand their Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk services leverage Progent's extensive network of online technical support specialists along with world-class ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, advanced Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop support from service requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to check or update the status of their active trouble tickets, enter details, and append screen captures or relevant files. Desktop support services are delivered at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support charges, and Progent offers optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve complex issues. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Service enables your business to expand your current Call Center team by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk services seamlessly between your regular support organization and Progent's nationwide roster of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service uses a collective support solution based on the number one professional services automation tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To learn how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can enable your company to deliver world-class desktop support to your at-home employees, go to Progent's Support Desk augmentation Services.

Security for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members commonly use their personal devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical space. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to cyber threats and calls for judicious deployment of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive end-user training, and the development of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security solutions experts can help you to design, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that protects critical information resources in environments that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewalls allow you to build a network that can be safely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile users, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall appliances allow you to assign and control different permissions to various groups of users and to scale your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent works with both new and older security appliances from all leading manufacturers including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall integration expertise, refer to firewall integration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various computers utilized by an at-home workforce and either reject or spot 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 secured endpoint device, monitoring all activity and using advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect zero-day attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even when they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to defend against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables single-tap identity verification on iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, when you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a device that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized for this added means of ID validation including a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may register several verification devices. For details about ProSight Duo identity validation services, visit Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of external and local security attacks for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can deploy remote, automated cybersecurity analysis software for rapidly and affordably detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by security professionals with advanced credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to audit your procedures and governance policies and review your WAN infrastructure to enable you to implement the highest level of protection for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, fix, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to perform thorough pentests of your network perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your present security profile. Progent can also help you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that simplifies management and delivers optimum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To learn additional information about Progent's threat analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, refer to Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection involves saving and recovering vital information so as to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage system problems due to equipment issues, software hiccups, operator mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be particularly challenging to architect and maintain in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore strategies for telecommuters must cover multiple types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad range of products for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and handhelds. Popular backup/recovery solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and includes granular recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans typically envision circumstances that require a quick changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity planning consultants can assist you to produce, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that includes the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a unified platform for safeguarding corporate data by controlling on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be personally owned or business owned. IT admins managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and validate applications on managed devices, push patches and certificates, configure rules for accessing information and resources, set passwords, create VPN tunnels, determine how home-based workers share data, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and delete corporate information from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To find out about Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workforce, visit Intune mobile endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management (MDM) product that allows network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for authorization control, application management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with devices powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site product through a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. For information about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Stockton, California business, call 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.