Pleasanton Remote Workforce Integration Support and Consulting

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a significant impact on IT architecture, security, and company culture. Progent has two decades of background helping businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT networks that support a remote workforce. Progent can help your Pleasanton company to pick the appropriate technologies and adhere to best practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual ecosystem for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers services ranging from on demand expertise for helping you over occasional IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can assist Pleasanton, California businesses to with any facet of building a high-performing telecommuting ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, helpdesk outsourcing, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required to support an at-home work environment can be particularly complicated if you have to accommodate a combination of worker-owned equipment such as desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from different vendors and with a variety of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online support for both legacy and modern IT products in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist you to create a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• Virtual Private Network technology allows you to create a safe tunnel for authorized at-home employees to use IT resources situated at your corporate datacenter or in the cloud. Progent can assist your company to configure and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can help your telecommuters to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices such as Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow an at-home worker to see and use a data center computer's desktop. This provides network managers significant control over the digital environment of telecommuters and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide top-tier remote support for integrating routers from a range of manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, typically supporting the whole family and visitors, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause performance as well as security problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by providing expertise like Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi AP setup help.
• Internet connectivity methods affect the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Vital processes might demand backup Internet access in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for identifying Internet service providers, selecting sensible service packages, and configuring redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity solutions.

IP Voice Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the corporate phone system to include telecommuters is vital to maintaining a productive work-at-home solution. A broad range of cloud-centric IP voice platforms are used by SMBs to server teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's current or older platforms for IP voice solutions. Progent can assist businesses of all sizes to plan or maintain a remote IP voice service that provides the versatility, transparency and protection required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice experts can provide high-level support to assist businesses optimize their current Cisco IP voice environments to support a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) delivers high-end telephony features to devices like IP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and mixed media apps used throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional combined media services such as unified messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, refer to CUCM expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help you to support your current 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 early IP voice platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting services.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with PSTN networks and with users working beyond the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 product lines and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway integration consulting.
• Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN architecture to work with these solutions and provide online configuration and debugging expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many organizations utilize multiple conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent can assist you to manage your current voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the experience of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video conferencing plus the seamless 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 your company to configure and manage Skype for Business client software to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone app for iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later versions of FaceTime allow up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. For details about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center supports remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's consulting services for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing products from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and information with capabilities that include IP voice and video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus data sharing. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see 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 help your business to tune your WAN infrastructure to host them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a rich ecosystem of applications that deliver a cohesive user interface for exchanging information throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoints. Progent has delivered remote consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their original publication and can help businesses to tune these critical collaboration products to optimize the productivity of your remote workforce.

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

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint utilizes web entities to allow collaboration and knowledge delivery by providing policy-driven delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for looking through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that enables remote workers to see and update aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts. For details about Progent's SharePoint consulting 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 information about Progent's Exchange support services, go to deployment consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud file hosting and synchronization service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can store files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can retrieve them safely via a browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to jointly author documents. Revisions made offline are synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent offers affordable remote support for enabling organizations to create, maintain and repair integrated network models that include physical data centers, at-home workers, branch offices, plus cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all types of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help remote workers resolve issues with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure is a leading family of cloud software and services that enables you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and key applications hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure AD, and plan backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you establish protected connections to Azure services for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud-based services available on a subscription basis. Microsoft applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to major enterprises. Progent can provide fast and affordable online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android technology. Progent can help your business to assess the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters to achieve top business value. For details about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, see Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other advantages associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate seamlessly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange consultants can provide as-needed assistance to get you past tough IT roadblocks and can also provide comprehensive project management services to ensure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's support services for Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the world's top provider of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity consultants who can assist your organization to design, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also can provide the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to help your company to build a high-availability network architecture so your users have a productive computing experience whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, visit Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud is a popular collection of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can assist you to expand your existing IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical apps cloud ready so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your business to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage solution with GCP Storage, and streamline identity management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also help your organization to use GCP's unified management technology to control and track your Google Cloud environment. For information, visit Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Services for Telecommuters
A fast, enterprise-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which could be the result of an epidemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overwhelm even a well-staffed internal Support Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for businesses to outsource or supplement their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's online Technical Response Center (TRC) team.

• Progent's Standard Call Desk services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote technical support experts along with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, advanced Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop technical support from help requests through trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to check or edit the status of their current trouble tickets, add information, and append screenshots and relevant files. Technical support services are provided at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 desktop support rates, and Progent offers the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with complex issues. For more information, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small and mid-size businesses.
• Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Service allows you to supplement your existing Help Desk staff by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk support transparently between your regular support organization and Progent's extensive team of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Desk service is based on a collaborative support solution utilizing the leading professional services automation (PSA) platform for managing help requests and trouble tickets, assigning responsibility, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To find out how Progent's Help Desk Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to provide best-in-class IT support to your from-home workers, refer to Progent's Call Center augmentation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
At-home employees typically use their own computing devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical space. This multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and calls for careful configuration of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive user education, and the development of security policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security solutions consultants can assist your business to design, implement and manage a compliant security solution that protects critical information resources in environments that include at-home workers.

Firewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by an at-home workforce, mobile workers, vendors, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to different classes of users and to expand your IT network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks become more complex. Progent works with both current and older security appliances from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support expertise, go to firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate devices used by teleworkers and either block or identify and respond to modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint software agent is installed on each protected endpoint device, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect new threats at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately disconnects the targeted device from the network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Services incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity verification with iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and enter your password you are requested to confirm who you are via a unit that only you have and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A wide selection of devices can be used as this added means of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate multiple verification devices. To learn more about Duo identity validation services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your network to all classes of outside and local security threats for a network that includes telecommuters. Progent can run online, automated security inventory scanning for rapidly and economically uncovering a broad range of security weaknesses that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by network security experts with advanced certifications such as CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and assess your WAN infrastructure to allow you to design top-level protection for your teleworkers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks to help you find, rank, remediate, and verify cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your current security profile. Progent can also help you to harden your network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers maximum protection for on-premises, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more details about Progent's threat assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's PEN test platform, see Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

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

Data Protection for At-Home Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and restoring vital data so as to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time in case of storage system problems resulting from hardware issues, programming hiccups, operator error, malware, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to design and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must cover diverse types of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers quick online access to experts knowledgeable about a wide range of platforms for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktops as well as laptops, tablets and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread across a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity plans typically anticipate scenarios that require a quick switch to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can help your business to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for an At-Home Workforce
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager provides a unified solution for safeguarding corporate information by managing on-premises, mobile, and at-home endpoints.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing remote devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of at-home workers can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate apps on devices, push patches and certificates, set up policies for permission to access information and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, determine how teleworkers share information, establish threat protection, ensure compliance, and delete sensitive information from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. For information about Microsoft Intune and how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your at-home workers, visit Intune mobile device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM product that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on 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 one-time purchase. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all categories of devices, aggregated reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and managing a productive telecommuter environment for your Pleasanton, California organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.