Walnut Creek At Home Workforce Solutions Consulting Partner

Expanding your remote workforce may have a major impact on network architecture, security/compliance, and company culture. Progent has 20 years of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Walnut Creek company to pick the right tools and follow best practices in creating and maintaining a secure virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers support services ranging from on demand guidance for helping you past challenging technical bottlenecks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you carry out business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can assist Walnut Creek, California companies to succeed with any aspect of creating a high-performing remote work ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, public cloud integration, helpdesk augmentation, data security, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Network Infrastructure for an At-Home Workforce
Integrating the physical and software infrastructure required to support an at-home work environment can be especially complicated if you must accommodate a mix of personal hardware like PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from an assortment of vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online help for both outdated as well as modern IT products in remote office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with fast access to expertise for implement essential upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help your company to implement a productive work-at-home ecosystem include:

• Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity allows you to create a safe tunnel for authenticated remote employees to access IT assets situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist your company to configure and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can assist your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a broad selection of endpoint devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms enable a teleworker to view and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This gives network managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and offers remote users a familiar experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
• Routers attach at-home networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent offers expert online consulting for deploying routers from all major vendors. See router configuration services from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wireless networks, typically shared by families and visitors, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause performance as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to mitigate these issues by providing services that include Cisco Aironet integration consulting, Cisco Meraki wireless installation consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point integration help.
• Internet connectivity methods impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Mission-critical processes may demand redundant Internet connections in the event the normal connection fails. Progent can provide guidance for identifying service providers, picking appropriate service bundles, and configuring high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for an At-Home Workforce
Expanding the company PBX system to accommodate teleworkers is critical to maintaining an effective work-at-home solution. A variety of cloud-based IP voice products are used by small and mid-size businesses to support remote users. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or legacy products for IP voice solutions. Progent can help organizations of all sizes to design or maintain a telecommuter VoIP service that provides the versatility, transparency and protection needed for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help organizations tune their current Cisco IP voice environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) extends advanced IP telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia applications deployed throughout the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, visit Cisco Unified CM expertise.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by CUCM. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy VoIP platforms, visit Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients operating outside the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration expertise.
• Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN architecture to support these VoIP solutions and provide on-demand configuration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A broad selection of video conferencing products from major technology companies enable online discussions, video conferencing, chat, and content sharing for both onsite users and at-home workers. Many companies use a mix of conferencing products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing conferencing ecosystem and optimize the productivity of your at-home employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that supports real-time presence, IM, audio and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to deploy and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home employees. For details about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business consulting experts.
• FaceTime is Apple's group video calling app for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current editions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for voice/video calls. For details about Progent's support services for FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or computer screens, presentations that embed rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Webex as well as for other IP video products from Cisco, see Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
• Teams is Microsoft's follow-up for Skype for Business. Teams provides a hub for conversations, contacts, and information with features that include video calling, persistent chat, plus data sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Teams as well as 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 expertise for these conferencing platforms and help you to tune your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Platforms for Remote and Hybrid Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user interface for exchanging data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a wide range of endpoint devices. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can help businesses to tune these flagship collaboration platforms to optimize the productivity 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 with Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide 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 with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-driven access to data, business processes, and tools for looking through company-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build protected web portals that enables at-home workers to view and update consolidated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint expertise, go to SharePoint configuration 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange consulting services, refer to planning and configuration consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to the OneDrive service, and co-workers can share them safely through a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-edit documents. Edits made offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, go to Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration Services for At-Home Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable online assistance for helping businesses to build, manage and repair integrated hybrid network models that include internal data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and public cloud services. Progent offers top-tier consultant for all types of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help teleworkers resolve problems with cloud access, authentication, and security.

Microsoft Azure is a popular family of public cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure offers over 100 services services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can assist your organization to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, integrate storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create secure access to Azure services for teleworkers by setting up and debugging firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's expertise for Azure, see Microsoft Azure consulting services.

Microsoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular suite of client productivity software and cloud services offered by subscription. Office applications and cloud services are marketed in a selection of plans designed for customers ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent can provide quick and easy online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to assess the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your at-home workers to achieve top business value. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration services.

Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced costs for physical infrastructure, simplified management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and other advantages inherent with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed assistance to get you through tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide 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 consulting services for Exchange Online, refer to Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the industry's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide fast and economical online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to assist your company to build a high-availability network architecture so your employees have a consistent computing environment whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, from home, or on the road. To learn about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting expertise.

Google Cloud (GCP) is a leading suite of public 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 your organization to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your key applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help your business to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify access management for at-home workers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your organization to use GCP's unified management tools to control and monitor your Google Cloud environment. To learn, refer to Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Teleworkers
An emergency, organization-wide changeover to a telecommuter business model, which could be activated by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity process, can overwhelm even a high-performing in-house Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or supplement their Support Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

• Progent's Standard Support Desk services utilize Progent's nationwide team of online technical support experts along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 PC support from initial service requests to trouble ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows telecommuters to monitor or edit the status of their active trouble tickets, enter information, and upload screen captures and attachments. Support services are delivered at a substantial discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent offers the option of rapid hand-off to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve advanced issues. To find out more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
• Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service allows you to supplement your current Support Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center services seamlessly between your in-house support staff and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Call Center service is based on a collective support model utilizing the number one professional services automation platform for handling service requests and ticketing, assigning responsibility, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to deliver world-class technical support to your at-home workforce, see Progent's Support Desk supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Remote Workers
At-home employees typically use their own computing devices and often work in a poorly secured physical space. This situation multiplies their susceptibility to malware attacks and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, intensive user training, and the creation of policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of cybersecurity support consultants can help your business to design, implement and manage an effective security solution that protects vital information resources in networks that include remote workers.

Firewalls allow you to build a network that can be securely utilized by on-premises users and by at-home workers, mobile workers, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices allow you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and older security devices from all major vendors including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall support services, see firewall configuration and support expertise.

Online Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by telecommuters and either reject or spot and mitigate modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a small-footprint agent is installed on each secured endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint device from the corporate network to contain the threat. Since the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is self-contained, endpoints remain protected even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To learn more about ProSight ASM, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for at-home workers.

Progent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication. Duo supports single-tap identity verification on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a protected application and enter your password you are requested to verify your identity on a unit that only you possess and that uses a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad range of out-of-band devices can be used as this second means of authentication including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You may designate multiple validation devices. For details about ProSight Duo identity authentication services, see Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for telecommuters.

Security Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all types of external and local security threats for an environment that includes an at-home workforce. Progent can run remote, automated security analysis scanning for quickly and economically detecting a wide variety of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with advanced credentials including CISA, CISSP, and GIAC, can help you to evaluate your operations and policies and assess your WAN architecture to enable you to design the highest level of security for your remote workers.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero PEN Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver automated testing of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, remediate, and confirm security weaknesses before malicious hackers can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your current security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to strengthen your existing network security and can help you to plan and deploy a unified cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides maximum protection for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To learn more details about Progent's vulnerability assessment services powered by on NodeZero's penetration test products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital information so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage problems due to equipment breakdowns, software glitches, operator error, cyber attack, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid networks that incorporate in-house data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

• Backup/Restore strategies for an at-home workforce must cover multiple types of personally owned endpoints. Progent offers quick online help from experts familiar with a wide array of products for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products maintained by Progent's data protection experts include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and features fine-grained restore and centralized management capabilities.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate scenarios that call for a temporary changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness experts and business continuity specialists can assist your business to produce, document and test a DR/BC plan that includes the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

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

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing remote computers and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or company owned. Network administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of at-home workers can use Intune to provision and validate apps on devices, push updates and certificates, set up rules for accessing data and networks, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share information, set up threat protection, ensure security compliance, and wipe sensitive data from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS computers. To find out about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to administer the endpoint computers of your telecommuters, refer to Intune remote device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified MDM product that allows network managers to keep offsite endpoints up to date and protected. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for authorization control, app management, and configuration management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-site deployment through a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air deployment of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. To learn about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote device management expertise.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about building and managing a productive telecommuter environment for your Walnut Creek, California organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.