Oakland At Home Workforce Connectivity Consultants

Expanding your telecommuter workforce may have a significant impact on IT infrastructure, security/compliance, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of background assisting businesses of all sizes to plan, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that incorporate work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Oakland organization to select the right technologies and follow best practices in creating and operating a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that facilitates collaboration and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide services that go from as-needed guidance for getting you past occasional technical roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Oakland, California organizations to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning telecommuting environment by providing network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud connectivity, helpdesk outsourcing, cybersecurity, data protection solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the network infrastructure required for an at-home workforce can be particularly complex if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned equipment like desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from various vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both outdated and current technologies in remote office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with fast access to top-tire consultants for implement necessary updates. Services available from Progent to help you to create a productive telecommuting infrastructure include:

• VPN connectivity makes it possible to establish a safe connection for authenticated at-home employees to use IT assets situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent can help you to configure and maintain VPN connections between your at-home workforce and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA consultants can help your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN connections for a wide range of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products enable a teleworker to see and interact with a remote computer's desktop. This gives IT managers significant control over the digital environment of telecommuters and offers them a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
• Routers attach home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, local wireless connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert online support for integrating home routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by families and guests, are frequently utilized by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can cause performance as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist you to resolve these problems by providing expertise like Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless AP setup help.
• Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Line-of-business applications might require redundant Internet access in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for picking service providers, choosing appropriate service bundles, and setting up fault-tolerant Internet connections. Refer to Internet access solutions.

IP Voice Integration for At-Home Workers
Expanding the business PBX environment to accommodate telecommuters is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-centric digital PBX products are popular with SMBs to support telecommuters. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can assist organizations of all sizes to design or tune a remote IP voice service that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help organizations optimize their existing Cisco VoIP systems to support an expanding at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers advanced telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports other combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to Cisco Unified CM consulting services.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice products, refer to Cisco CallManager expertise.
• Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with users operating beyond the corporate perimeter like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your wide area network architecture to support these solutions and deliver on-demand configuration and debugging services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for Remote Workers
A wide selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies enable virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations use a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to manage your current conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that supports real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help you to configure and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote employees. For details about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS and Mac computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime allow as many as 32 concurrent users for video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, network-based recording, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's support services for Webex and for other IP video 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 portal for conversations, contacts, and content with capabilities such as voice/video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. To learn more 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 deliver configuration and debugging expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to tune your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a cohesive user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided remote consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their first releases and can help your company to deploy these critical collaboration products to maximize the effectiveness of your remote workforce.

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

Microsoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support 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 supporting its complete range of features. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint uses web sites to promote collaboration and information sharing by providing policy-based delivery of content, business processes, and tools for looking through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create protected portals that enables at-home workforce to see and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint support services, visit 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 find out about Progent's Exchange expertise, refer to integration consulting services for Exchange.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues anywhere can share them securely through a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to jointly author files. Edits created offline are automatically synced when you go back online. For details about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for Telecommuters
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote assistance for helping organizations to create, manage and optimize integrated network architectures that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branch offices, and public cloud resources. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a leading family of public cloud software and services that enables you to use IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help your organization to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and design data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you establish secure access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of business productivity applications and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to large enterprises. Progent offers quick and affordable remote contact with experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can help you to assess the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters to achieve maximum business value. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 integration support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular cloud-based applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed help to guide you through challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online deployment. To find out Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, go to Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a trailblazer in the public cloud market and is the world's biggest source of cloud services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to design, implement, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises resources and with other public clouds such as Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing environment regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a leading set of cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist you to scale your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your critical applications cloud ready so your remote workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can help your organization to set up VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, plan a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage services, and streamline identity control for teleworkers with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist your business to utilize GCP's management technology to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. For details, see Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
An emergency, organization-wide changeover to a teleworker workforce, which might be driven by an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or augment their Support Desk by using Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services leverage Progent's nationwide network of online technical support experts combined with enterprise-class ticketing and follow-up technology to provide an affordable, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that addresses all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from help requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows teleworkers to check or update the status of their active trouble tickets, add information, and upload screen captures and relevant files. Technical support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent makes available the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex problems. To find out more, refer to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service allows you to supplement your current Help Desk Call Center team by sharing delivery of Call Desk support services seamlessly between your regular IT support staff and Progent's extensive pool of PC support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Support Desk service uses a collective support solution based on the number one professional services automation platform for handling help requests and ticketing, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Services can enable your company to provide world-class IT support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security and Compliance for Teleworkers
At-home staff members typically utilize their own devices and often work in a poorly secured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to cyber threats and requires careful deployment of firewalls, AV tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough user training, and the creation of security policies based on best practices. Progent's veteran team of cybersecurity support experts can assist you to design, implement and manage a compliant security solution that guards vital IT resources in environments that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewalls enable you to build a network environment that can be securely accessed by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile employees, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices permit you to assign and manage appropriate permissions to different classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your company evolves and as network attacks grow increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both current and legacy firewall appliances from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To learn more about Progent's firewall configuration services, go to firewall support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the disparate computers used by remote workers and either block or identify and mitigate the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is installed on every secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to identify new attacks at inception. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the infected endpoint from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are not connected to the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans utilize Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, when you log into a protected online account and enter your password you are asked to verify who you are via a device that only you possess and that uses a separate network channel. A wide selection of out-of-band devices can be utilized as this added form of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for an at-home workforce.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all classes of external and local security attacks for a network that includes telecommuters. Progent can deploy online, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be provided by data security experts with top credentials such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist your company to audit your operations and policies and review your IT architecture to enable you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Pentest Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, fix, and verify security weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your present security posture. Progent can also help you to harden your existing network security and can help you to design and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional details about Progent's threat analysis services powered by on NodeZero's pentest platform, see Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

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

Data Protection for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical information so as to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage problems resulting from equipment issues, software glitches, operator error, malware, or other causes. Dependable data protection strategies can be particularly difficult to design and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore solutions for telecommuters must cover multiple types of user-owned endpoints. Progent offers quick remote help from consultants familiar with a broad array of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery subscription service that utilizes cloud storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly anticipate circumstances that call for a quick changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can help you to create, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the title Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager features a centralized environment for safeguarding corporate information by controlling local, mobile, and home-based endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting remote devices and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and validate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, set passwords, create VPN connections, control how home-based workers share information, set up threat protection, verify security compliance, and wipe corporate data from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Intune works with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS devices. To learn about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can assist your company to use this platform to manage the devices of your telecommuters, go to Intune mobile endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that helps network managers to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for identity control, application management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE operates 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 service or as an on-premises product via a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For information about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing a productive work-from-home solution for your Oakland, California business, call 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.