Enlarging your telecommuter workforce can have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, security, and company workflows. Progent has two decades of experience helping small and mid-size businesses to design, deploy, manage, optimize, and debug IT networks that support work-from-home employees. Progent can assist your Bakersfield company to select the appropriate tools and follow best practices in creating and operating a secure virtual solution for teleworkers that facilitates teamwork and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed expertise for getting you past occasional IT bottlenecks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical tasks.

Progent can assist Bakersfield, California organizations to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning work-from-home ecosystem by delivering infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk services, cybersecurity, backup/restore solutions, and centralized management.

Network Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Setting up the network infrastructure required for a remote workforce can be particularly challenging if you must manage a combination of personal hardware like PCs and notebooks, routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from various manufacturers and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's background delivering online help for both legacy as well as modern technologies in virtual office solutions enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to expertise for making necessary upgrades. Services offered by Progent to assist you to create a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem include:

  • VPN connectivity makes it possible to create a secure connection for authenticated remote workers to use IT resources situated at your company data center or in the cloud. Progent can help your company to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration support. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA Firewall consultants can assist your telecommuters to set up Cisco's popular AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide range of devices including Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) platforms allow an at-home worker to see and interact with a data center PC's desktop. This technology provides network managers substantial control over the computing ecosystem of at-home employees and offers them a consistent and more productive experience. Progent's VDI services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI expertise.
  • Routers attach home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi networks, and firewalls. Progent can provide expert remote support for setting up home routers from a variety of manufacturers. See router integration services from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, often supporting families and guests, are commonly used by telecommuters to access their router for work. This can create throughput as well as cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these issues by providing services that include Cisco Aironet configuration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation expertise, and Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi access point setup help.
  • Internet access solutions affect the speed and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company network. Business-critical applications may require backup Internet access in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for picking Internet service providers, selecting appropriate bandwidth and data volume packages, and configuring redundant Internet connections. See Internet connectivity solutions.

VoIP Solutions for At-Home Workers
Extending the business PBX environment to accommodate teleworkers is vital to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are used by SMBs to server telecommuters. Many larger organizations rely on Cisco's modern or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can assist businesses of any size to design or maintain a telecommuter IP voice environment that provides the flexibility, convenience and security needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer high-level support to assist organizations tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise IP telephony features to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia software deployed across the network. Unified Communications Manager manages additional combined media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's CUCM support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager consulting services.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing software and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent's consultants can help your company to maintain your existing CallManager deployment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. For details about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP platforms, refer to Cisco CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate firewall like telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your wide area network infrastructure to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver on-demand integration and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A wide selection of video conferencing platforms from leading technology companies enable virtual discussions, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both onsite workers and at-home workers. Many companies use a mix of products to accommodate their various partners and clients. Progent's communications experts can assist your organization to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing ecosystem and optimize the experience of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular unified communications platform that supports real-time presence, instant messaging, voice and video conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified specialists who can help your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your remote workforce. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, see Skype for Business integration experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video phone platform for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support as many as 32 concurrent users for voice/video calls. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, refer to Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all desktop or mobile devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support services for Webex as well as for additional video conferencing solutions from Cisco, refer to Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a hub for conferencing, contacts, and content with capabilities that include IP voice and video conferencing, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and debugging services for these products and assist your business to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Telecommuters
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office suites, providing a rich environment of applications that deliver a cohesive user experience for exchanging information across multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered online consulting support for SharePoint and Exchange since their initial publication and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration products 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 and Teams Premium Solutions Consultants for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, 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 Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for supporting its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Configuration Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-based delivery of data, workflow, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide information silos. SharePoint enables you to build secure web portals that allows at-home workers to view and update aggregated business intelligence by means of Wikis, Blogs, social networking web sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For information about Progent's SharePoint support services, refer to SharePoint integration and application development consulting.

Exchange Integration Experts for Remote WorkersExchange 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, visit integration expertise for Exchange Server.

Onedrive Configuration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to OneDrive, and co-workers can access them safely via a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to co-author files. Revisions created offline are uploaded when you reconnect to the Internet. For details about Progent's expertise for OneDrive, go to Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Teleworkers
Progent can provide fast and affordable remote support for enabling organizations to create, manage and repair integrated network architectures that incorporate internal data centers, remote workers, branches, and public cloud services. Progent can provide top-tier consultant for all modes of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers resolve problems with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure includes more than 100 cloud-based services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered VMs, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to deploy 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 show you how to create protected connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, refer to Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration for TelecommutersMicrosoft 365, previously branded Office 365, is Microsoft's growing suite of client productivity software and cloud-based services offered on a subscription basis. Office apps and cloud services are provided in a selection of plans intended for customers ranging from individuals and households to large corporations. Progent offers quick and easy online contact with consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist you to assess the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. For details about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Exchange Online Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most widely used cloud-based applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the advantages of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high availability, and other benefits associated with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate transparently with on-premises Exchange environments, allowing you to create hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's Exchange experts can provide as-needed help to guide you past challenging IT bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your telecommuters have easy and safe access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online environment. For details Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online configuration and troubleshooting consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration for Remote WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the world's leading provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers fast and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with on-premises resources and with other popular cloud platforms such as Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-availability network model so your employees have a productive computing experience whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the move. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Integration for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud is a leading collection of public cloud services that offers Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco consulting experts can assist your organization to scale your current IT assets with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your critical apps cloud ready so your teleworkers can take full advantage of Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can assist your organization to deploy VMs on Google Cloud Compute Engine, design an efficient storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline access management for telecommuters with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's consultants can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's unified management tools to administer and monitor your Google Cloud ecosystem. To find out, see Google Cloud Platform integration services.

Help Desk Support for Remote Workers
A rapid, enterprise-wide switchover to a teleworker business model, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as a component of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Call Desk with Progent's online Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk support services leverage Progent's extensive team of online IT support experts along with world-class ticketing and tracking technology to offer an economical, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all facets of remote Level 1 PC support from service requests to trouble ticket creation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows at-home employees to monitor or update the status of their current trouble tickets, enter details, and append screenshots and attachments. Support services are provided at a substantial price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service charges, and Progent offers optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT experts to deal with advanced issues. To find out more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Augmentation Service allows your company to supplement your existing Help Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Call Center services seamlessly between your regular IT support organization and Progent's nationwide team of desktop support engineers and subject matter experts. Progent's shared Help Desk Call Center service uses a collective support model based on the number one professional services automation (PSA) platform for handling service requests and ticketing, establishing ownership, tracking progress, and producing reports. To find out how Progent's Support Desk Supplementation Services can enable your business to provide world-class technical support to your from-home workers, visit Progent's Support Desk augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for Telecommuters
Work-from-Home (WFH) staff members commonly utilize their personal computers and often operate in a poorly secured physical area. This situation increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and calls for judicious deployment of corporate firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough user education, and the development of policies based on leading practices. Progent's veteran roster of data security support experts can assist your business to design, deploy and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that protects vital information assets in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to create a network environment that can be safely accessed by local users and by an at-home workforce, mobile users, vendors, customers, and the public. Modern firewall devices allow you to assign and control different access rights to various classes of users and to scale your network and modify your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as network attacks grow more sophisticated. Progent works with both new and legacy firewall appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall integration services, see firewall integration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management for At-Home WorkersOnline Endpoint Monitoring makes it easy to watch over the various computers utilized by remote workers and either reject or identify and mitigate modern cyber attacks like ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring (ASM) services, a lightweight agent is installed on each protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to identify zero-day attacks at inception. When a cyberattack is discovered, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately disconnects the impacted endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices stay protected even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint security monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Two-factor Authentication Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Managed Services utilize Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against stolen passwords by using two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity verification on Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. Using 2FA, whenever you log into a secured online account and enter your password you are asked to confirm who you are via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a separate network channel. A broad range of devices can be used for this second form of authentication including an iPhone or Android or wearable, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate several validation devices. For more information about ProSight Duo identity validation services, see Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can assess the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and local security threats for a network that incorporates remote workers. Progent can deploy online, automated cybersecurity inventory software for quickly and economically detecting a wide variety of security holes that can be found over the Internet. Progent's endpoint security audit consulting services, which can be managed by security experts with top certifications including CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your procedures and policies and review your network architecture to allow you to implement top-level protection for your remote workers.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration 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 uncover, rank, fix, and confirm security weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to carry out thorough pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can determine your current security profile. Progent can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to plan and implement a cohesive cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides optimum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To learn additional details about Progent's vulnerability analysis solutions powered by on NodeZero's pentest platform, visit Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection involves saving and restoring critical information so as to prevent data loss and minimize recovery time in the event of storage problems resulting from hardware issues, software glitches, human mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be particularly challenging to architect and manage in hybrid environments that incorporate local data centers, cloud resources, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for teleworkers must cover diverse types of personally owned endpoints. Progent offers fast remote access to experts knowledgeable about a broad array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX powered servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iPads and smartphones. Leading backup/restore products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Microsoft Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data distributed across a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services (DPS), a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and features fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often envision scenarios that call for a rapid changeover to a work-at-home environment. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning consultants can help your company to produce, document and validate a DR/BC plan that includes the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and reshuffled its endpoint management products under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of mobile and remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing on-premises computers. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a centralized environment for protecting corporate data by controlling local, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is a component of Microsoft's Endpoint Management family that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and securing off-premises computers and software. Managed endpoint computers can be user owned or company owned. IT admins managing the endpoint devices of telecommuters can use Intune to provision and authenticate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for accessing data and resources, manage passwords, create VPN connections, determine how telecommuters share data, establish threat defense, ensure security compliance, and wipe sensitive information from missing, stolen or deactivated devices. Intune works with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS devices. To learn about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can assist you to use this platform to manage the devices of your at-home workers, see Intune remote endpoint management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized MDM platform that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoint devices up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management along with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, application management, and setup management of endpoints. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints powered by Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is available by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises deployment through a one-time purchase. Top capabilities of VMware Workspace ONE include fast remote provisioning of out-of-the-box laptops, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For information about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To get in touch with Progent about creating and maintaining a productive work-from-home environment for your Bakersfield, California organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.