Riverside Teleworkers Solutions Consultants

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a significant impact on network infrastructure, security, and company workflows. Progent has 20 years of background helping businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Riverside organization to pick the appropriate tools and follow best practices in creating and operating a safe virtual solution for telecommuters that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum value. Progent can provide services ranging from on demand expertise for getting you over occasional IT bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Riverside, California companies to succeed with any aspect of building a high-functioning work-from-home ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Help Desk services, security and compliance, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Integrating the network infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be particularly complicated if you must accommodate a mix of personal equipment such as desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and wireless appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering online help for both outdated and current technologies in remote office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your available network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity makes it possible to create a safe tunnel for authenticated remote workers to access IT resources situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can assist you to deploy and maintain VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing online VPN integration support. For businesses with Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect client software to provide safe VPN connections for a wide selection of devices such as Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable a teleworker to view and use a data center computer's desktop. This gives IT managers significant control over the computing ecosystem of telecommuters and offers them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home wireless connectivity, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online support for setting up routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by the whole family and visitors, are frequently utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause throughput and security issues. Progent can help businesses to mitigate these issues by delivering expertise like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti WiFi access point setup help.
• Internet access methods impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Mission-critical processes might demand backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for picking service providers, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the corporate phone system to include telecommuters is critical to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based VoIP platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or legacy products for IP voice management. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or tune a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, transparency and protection required for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer advanced support to assist organizations tune their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers advanced IP telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software deployed across the network. CUCM manages other mixed media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's CUCM expertise, refer to Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can help you to maintain your current CallManager deployment or upgrade smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, see CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration consulting.
• Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to support these solutions and provide as-needed integration and debugging expertise.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A broad selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support online discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local users and teleworkers. Many organizations use a mix of products to accommodate their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to maintain your existing conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your remote workforce.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, audio and video conferencing plus the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex capabilities include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Webex and for additional video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as voice/video calling, persistent chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Teams as well as for other Microsoft 365 apps, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Other Voice/Video Conferencing Platforms 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 help you to optimize your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office suites, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that create a consistent user experience for sharing information across multiple sites and on a wide range of endpoint computers. Progent has provided remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original releases and can help businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products to optimize 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 integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see solution design and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web sites to allow collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-based access to data, business processes, and utilities for searching through company-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to create secure portals that enables at-home workforce to see and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to SharePoint integration 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 information about Progent's Exchange expertise, visit deployment expertise for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues can retrieve them securely through a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables home employees to jointly author files. Revisions created offline are uploaded when you go back online. For information about Progent's expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide affordable online support for helping businesses to create, manage and troubleshoot integrated hybrid network architectures that incorporate physical data centers, teleworkers, branch offices, plus cloud services. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of public cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help telecommuters fix issues with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure is a popular family of public cloud software and services that enables you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features over one hundred services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish protected access to Azure services for at-home workers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, refer to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are provided in a variety of plans intended for users ranging from students and households to large enterprises. Progent offers quick and easy remote access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration support.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of lower costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and additional benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to run transparently with on-premises deployments of Exchange, allowing customers to create hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed assistance to get you past challenging IT roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to make sure your telecommuters have convenient and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top provider of cloud services. Progent can provide rapid and economical online access to cloud integration consultants who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-uptime network model so your users have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration support.

Google Cloud is a leading suite of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist your business to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's database experts can help you make your key apps cloud friendly so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify identity control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also help your organization to use GCP's management technology to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To learn, refer to Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Support for At-Home Workers
A fast, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow businesses of any size to outsource or augment their Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services utilize Progent's extensive network of remote IT support specialists combined with world-class trouble ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an economical, state-of-the-art Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from help requests to ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables teleworkers to check or update the status of their current trouble tickets, add information, and append screenshots or relevant files. Support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's normal Level 1 desktop service rates, and Progent makes available optional fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to resolve complex problems. For more information, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows you to augment your existing Help Desk Call Center staff by sharing responsibilities for Call Center support services transparently between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive roster of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's co-managed Call Center service is based on a collective support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) tool for handling help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can help your company to deliver best-in-class desktop support to your at-home employees, visit Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home staff members typically use their own computers and usually operate in an unsecured physical environment. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, intensive end-user education, and the development of policies built on leading practices. Progent's veteran team of IT security solutions experts can assist you to plan, deploy and manage an effective security solution that protects critical information assets in networks that incorporate telecommuters.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Next-generation firewall appliances permit you to assign and manage different permissions to different classes of users and to expand your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks become more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and legacy firewall devices from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall support services, see firewall integration and support services.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to track the disparate devices utilized by teleworkers and either block or identify and respond to the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint software agent is put on every protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to identify zero-day threats at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the impacted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM agent is autonomous, endpoints remain secure even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, when you sign into a secured application and give your password you are requested to verify your identity via a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad range of devices can be utilized for this second means of authentication such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all classes of external and local security threats for a network that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can run remote, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and economically uncovering a wide variety of security weaknesses that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit experts, which can be managed by network security experts with advanced certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to audit your operations and policies and assess your WAN architecture to enable you to implement top-level security for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can identify, prioritize, remediate, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal network so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To learn more information about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and restoring vital data in order to prevent data loss and minimize restoration time in the event of storage failures resulting from hardware issues, programming glitches, operator mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Recovery strategies for remote workers must address diverse types of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Popular backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained restore and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans commonly anticipate scenarios that require a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity consultants can help your business to produce, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the process of switching to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Telecommuters
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of mobile and remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a centralized platform for protecting critical information by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting off-premises computers and software. Remote endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. Network admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and authenticate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for permission to access data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, determine how teleworkers share data, establish threat defense, verify compliance, and erase sensitive data from lost, stolen or deactivated devices. Microsoft Intune works with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X devices. For details about Intune and to find out how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to administer the devices of your at-home workers, visit Intune mobile endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized Mobile Device Management platform that helps network administrators to keep remote endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment through a perpetual license. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. For details about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To contact Progent about building and maintaining an efficient work-from-home environment for your Riverside, California company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.