Vacaville At Home Workforce Solutions Support and Consulting

Enlarging your at-home workforce may have a significant effect on network architecture, security, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of background assisting SMBs to plan, configure, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support work-from-home employees. Progent can help your Vacaville organization to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in creating and operating a safe virtual office ecosystem for teleworkers that promotes teamwork and returns maximum value. Progent offers services that go from on demand guidance for getting you past challenging IT bottlenecks to full project management or co-management to help you carry out mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Vacaville, California businesses to with any facet of creating a high-performing telecommuting environment by delivering network infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, helpdesk services, security monitoring, backup/restore solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Setting up the physical and software infrastructure required to support an at-home workforce can be especially complex if you must manage a combination of worker-owned hardware like PCs and notebooks, routers, and wireless APs from various manufacturers and with a mix of operating systems and firmware releases. Progent's experience delivering remote support for both legacy and current technologies in remote office venues allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and offers ready access to expertise for implement essential updates. Support services available from Progent to help you to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

• VPN technology allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authenticated remote employees to use IT resources located at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your teleworkers and your key IT resources by providing remote VPN integration support. For organizations with Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA Firewall consultants can assist your telecommuters to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure products allow an at-home worker to see and use a remote computer's desktop. This technology provides IT managers more control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and ensures 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 computer networks to the Internet and support VPN tunnels, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewall services. Progent can provide expert online support for configuring home routers from all major manufacturers. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
• Home Wi-Fi networks, often shared by an entire household and visitors, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can cause throughput and security problems. Progent can help you to resolve these issues by providing expertise that include Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti WiFi AP setup help.
• Internet access solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the company network. Line-of-business processes might demand backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for picking Internet service providers, selecting sensible service bundles, and integrating redundant Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Integration for Teleworkers
Extending the company phone system to accommodate remote users is critical to supporting an effective at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are popular with small and mid-size businesses to support teleworkers. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to plan or maintain a telecommuter VoIP environment that provides the versatility, convenience and protection required for at-home workers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice consultants can provide advanced support to help businesses optimize their existing Cisco VoIP systems to support a growing at-home workforce.

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends high-end telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing platforms, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media applications used across the network. Unified Communications Manager supports additional combined media services like messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Unified Communications Manager expertise, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
• Cisco CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent can assist your company to support your current CallManager environment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's modern IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other early IP voice platforms, visit Cisco CallManager consulting.
• Cisco IP Gateways provide connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients operating beyond the corporate firewall such as at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for modern Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
• Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to support these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for Telecommuters
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both local users and teleworkers. Many companies utilize a mix of products to accommodate their different partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to maintain your current conferencing ecosystem and optimize the engagement of your remote employees.

• Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent offers the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business client software to support your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business integration services.
• FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Newer editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 simultaneous users for video calls. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
• Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that embed rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session recording, plus revision and playback for training. For details about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex and for other video conferencing products from Cisco, see 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 that include video calling, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support expertise for Microsoft Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
• Additional Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging expertise for these products and help you to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Collaboration Software for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration products are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, providing a powerful ecosystem of applications that deliver a consistent user interface for exchanging data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a wide selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their first publication and can help businesses to deploy these critical collaboration platforms to maximize the productivity of your at-home workers.

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

Microsoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for supporting its full range of capabilities. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, see planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint uses web entities to promote collaboration and knowledge delivery by offering policy-based delivery of content, workflow, and utilities for looking through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to build protected web portals that allows remote workers to view and edit aggregated corporate intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To learn about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, visit SharePoint integration 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 expertise, visit deployment consulting services for Exchange Server.

OneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, comparable to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can retrieve them securely via a web browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive enables at-home workers to co-author documents. Revisions created offline are automatically uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For information about Progent's expertise for OneDrive, visit Microsoft Onedrive configuration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Remote Workers
Progent can provide advanced online assistance for enabling businesses to create, maintain and troubleshoot integrated network architectures that combine internal data centers, telecommuters, branches, and cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of cloud service delivery including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers resolve issues with cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure is a leading platform for cloud services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps hosted on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes over 100 cloud-based services such as hosting for Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, app development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and recovery solutions with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create protected connections to Azure services for at-home workers by configuring and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's expertise for Azure, visit Microsoft Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity applications and cloud-based services available by subscription. Microsoft applications and services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for users ranging from students and small offices to large corporations. Progent can provide fast and affordable remote contact with experts familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible endpoint devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist your business to evaluate the various subscription plans available for Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers top business value. To learn about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, refer to Microsoft 365 integration services.

Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product suite. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for physical infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other advantages associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run transparently with local Exchange environments, enabling you to create hybrid networks. Progent's Exchange consultants are available for as-needed assistance to guide you past challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer comprehensive project management services to ensure your telecommuters have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud market and is the industry's biggest provider of cloud services. Progent can provide fast and economical online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to design, implement, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. Progent also can provide access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking experts to assist you to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading set of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to extend your current IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your telecommuters can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent's consultants can assist your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify access management for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist you to use GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your GCP environment. To learn, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) consulting support.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Teleworkers
An emergency, company-wide switchover to a teleworker 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 Call Center. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or augment their Call Center with Progent's remote Technical Response Center services.

• Progent's Standard Call Center services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote IT support specialists combined with world-class ticketing and tracking software to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Call Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that handles all aspects of online 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 enables telecommuters to check or update the status of their active tickets, enter information, and upload screen captures or relevant files. Desktop support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent offers optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve complex problems. To learn more, visit Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
• Progent's Call Center Augmentation Service allows your company to augment your existing Help Desk team by sharing responsibilities for Help Desk Call Center support services transparently between your regular IT support organization and Progent's extensive pool of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Help Desk service uses a collaborative support solution utilizing the number one professional services automation tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and generating reports. To learn how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class desktop support to your telecommuters, go to Progent's Help Desk supplementation Services.

Security for Remote Workers
At-home employees typically use their personal computing devices and usually operate in a poorly secured physical environment. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote endpoint monitoring, intensive end-user training, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned roster of IT security support experts can help you to design, configure and maintain a compliant security solution that protects critical IT resources in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewalls enable companies to create a network environment that can be securely accessed by local users and by at-home workers, mobile employees, suppliers, customers, and the public. Modern firewall appliances allow you to configure and manage appropriate access rights to different groups of users and to scale your network and adjust your security as your company evolves and as network attacks become increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both current and older firewall appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall support services, refer to firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it easy to track the various devices used by teleworkers and either block or spot and mitigate modern threats like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight software agent is put on each secured endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats at inception. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the targeted endpoint device from the network to contain the malware. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain protected even when they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For more information about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for remote workers.

Progent's Duo MFA Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity confirmation on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other personal devices. With Duo 2FA, when you log into a secured application and give your password you are asked to confirm your identity on a unit that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad range of devices can be used for this added means of ID validation including a smartphone or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline telephone, etc. You may designate several verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo two-factor identity validation services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for teleworkers.

Security Audits can assess the vulnerability of your information system to all classes of external and internal security threats for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security analysis software for quickly and affordably uncovering a broad range of security gaps that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security assessment experts, which can be provided by data security experts with top credentials such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can assist you to evaluate your operations and policies and review your WAN infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your an at-home workforce.

Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can find, rank, remediate, and confirm security vulnerabilities before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure in order to determine your current security profile. Progent can also assist you to strengthen your network security and can assist you to design and implement a cohesive cybersecurity strategy that streamlines management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's vulnerability assessment services based on on NodeZero's pentest platform, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Remote Workers
Data Protection involves backing up and restoring vital data in order to prevent data loss and reduce recovery time in the event of storage failures resulting from hardware breakdowns, programming glitches, human error, malware, or any other reason. Reliable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to design and maintain in hybrid networks that combine private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

• Backup/Restore solutions for teleworkers must address multiple kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent offers fast remote help from experts familiar with a wide array of platforms for protection Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, tablets and handhelds. Leading backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect data distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud-based storage and includes fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) plans often envision scenarios that call for a rapid changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity specialists can assist your company to create, document and test a DR/BC plan that addresses the logistics of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing local endpoints. Endpoint Manager offers a centralized environment for protecting critical data by controlling onsite, mobile, and at-home endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and securing mobile computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can use Intune to deploy and authenticate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for permission to access information and networks, set passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share information, set up threat protection, verify compliance, and delete corporate data from lost, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS computers. For details about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your teleworkers, refer to Intune teleworker endpoint management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management product that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch technology for centralized endpoint administration along with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery platform for access control, app management, and setup management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud-based service or as an on-premises product via a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new laptops, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of devices, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft applications and cloud-based products. To find out about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, go to VMware Workspace ONE remote endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Telecommuter Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing an efficient telecommuter environment for your Vacaville, California business, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.