Expanding your remote workforce may have a significant impact on IT architecture, cybersecurity, and corporate processes. Progent has two decades of experience helping businesses of all sizes to plan, configure, administer, optimize, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can assist your Fresno organization to select the appropriate technologies and adhere to leading practices in creating and operating a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and returns maximum business value. Progent can provide services ranging from as-needed expertise for helping you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical tasks.

Progent's consultants can help Fresno, California organizations to with any aspect of creating a high-functioning work-at-home ecosystem by delivering infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure needed to support a remote work environment can be particularly challenging if you must accommodate a combination of worker-owned equipment such as PCs and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from different vendors and with a mix of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both outdated as well as modern IT products in virtual office solutions allows you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and offers ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network technology makes it possible to establish a safe tunnel for authorized remote workers to access IT assets situated at your corporate data center or in a public cloud. Progent's consultants can help you to deploy and manage VPN connections between your teleworkers and your various IT resources by providing online VPN configuration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can assist your at-home workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide secure VPN tunneling for a wide range of devices including Microsoft Windows, Mac, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products allow a teleworker to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This technology gives network managers more control over the digital ecosystem of telecommuters and ensures remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's VDI consulting 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 tunnels, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert online consulting for configuring routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wireless networks, often supporting an entire household and guests, are commonly used by at-home employees to connect to their Internet router for work. This can cause throughput and security problems. Progent can assist businesses to mitigate these problems by delivering services like Aironet integration expertise, Cisco Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point integration assistance.
  • Internet connectivity solutions affect the speed and availability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate data center. Business-critical applications might require backup Internet connections in case the normal connection fails. Progent offers guidance for selecting ISPs, picking sensible bandwidth and data volume offerings, and integrating redundant Internet connections. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

VoIP Integration for an At-Home Workforce
Extending the company phone system to accommodate remote users is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice products are popular with SMBs to server remote users. Many enterprises depend on Cisco's modern or older products for VoIP management. Progent can help organizations of any size to design or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that provides the flexibility, convenience and protection needed for telecommuters. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE IP Voice consultants offer advanced support to help businesses tune their existing Cisco IP voice systems to handle a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) extends enterprise telephony capabilities to devices such as VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia software used across the network. CUCM manages additional combined media services like messaging, voice/video conferencing, and team collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Unified Communications Manager support, refer to Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's earlier call-processing agent and has been superseded by CUCM. Progent can assist you to support your current CallManager deployment or upgrade efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To find out about Progent's expertise for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other legacy IP voice platforms, see Cisco CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable integration with PSTN networks and with users operating beyond the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent offers expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can help you to expand your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and deliver online integration and troubleshooting services.

Voice/Video Conferencing for an At-Home Workforce
A broad selection of video conferencing products from leading vendors support online discussions, video conferencing, chat sessions, and content sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many organizations utilize a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their various partners and customers. Progent can assist you to manage your current voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the experience of your remote workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications platform that enables presence, IM, audio and video calling and conferencing as well as the seamless integration of these capabilities within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can assist your company to set up and maintain Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video calling app for compatible iOS and macOS devices. FaceTime runs over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's consulting services for Apple FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for most computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex services include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus editing and playback for training. For details about Progent's support expertise for Cisco Webex as well as for other IP video solutions 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 features such as voice/video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can deliver integration and troubleshooting services for these products and help you to optimize your network architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration products are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office families, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas across a corporate network and on a broad selection of endpoint computers. Progent has delivered remote consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange Server since their original publication and can assist businesses to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to optimize the effectiveness of your at-home 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 and Teams Premium Solutions Consultants for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to provide real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can enable chat, video meetings with screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. For additional information about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and configuration consulting for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Integration Experts for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web entities to enable collaboration and information sharing by offering policy-based delivery of data, workflow, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint allows you to build secure web portals that enables at-home workers to see and update aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts. To find out about Progent's SharePoint support services, go to SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange Configuration Experts for At-Home 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. For information about Progent's Exchange expertise, see integration expertise for Exchange.

Onedrive Configuration Experts for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. Remote users can save files to the OneDrive service, and colleagues can share them securely via a browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive enables remote employees to co-edit files. Edits made offline are automatically synced when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, go to Onedrive configuration experts.

Cloud Integration for At-Home Workers
Progent can provide advanced online support for helping businesses to create, maintain and optimize cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine internal data centers, remote workers, branch offices, and cloud resources. Progent can provide expertise for all types of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. Progent can help remote workers resolve issues with public cloud connectivity, authentication, and security.

Azure Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft Azure is a leading platform for cloud software and services that allows you to utilize infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical apps running on Microsoft's massive cloud. Microsoft Azure offers over 100 services services such as the ability to host Windows and Linux-based VMs, on-demand cloud storage, messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity management with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent can also show you how to establish secure connections to Azure for remote workers by configuring and debugging firewalls and VPN tunnels. To find out about Progent's expertise for Azure, see Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular 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 bundles intended for users ranging from individuals and households to major enterprises. Progent can provide quick and affordable online access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible client devices running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can help your business to assess the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and configure 365 apps for your remote workers to achieve maximum business value. To find out about Progent's expertise for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration for TeleworkersExchange Online is one of the most popular applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of reduced costs for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits associated with cloud computing. Microsoft has engineered Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with on-premises Exchange environments, enabling you to build hybrid networks. Progent's certified Exchange experts are available for as-needed assistance to get you past challenging technical roadblocks and also offer end-to-end project management services to ensure your telecommuters have easy and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. To learn Progent's consulting services for Microsoft 365 Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for TelecommutersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's top source of cloud-based services. Progent can provide quick and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can help your organization to design, deploy, manage, and debug hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your users have a productive computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your headquarters, a branch office, at home, or on the road. For information about Progent's support services for Amazon AWS, refer to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Integration for Remote WorkersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a leading set of cloud computing services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products. Progent's certified Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can help you make your mission-critical applications cloud friendly so your at-home workers can take full advantage of Google Cloud services. Progent can assist your organization to set up VMs on GCP Compute Engine, design a cost-effective storage system with Google Cloud Storage, and streamline identity control for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your business to use GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP environment. For details, refer to Google Cloud Platform consulting services.

Help Desk Call Center Support for Telecommuters
An emergency, company-wide changeover to a telecommuter workforce, which might be the result of an epidemic or as part of a disaster recovery/business continuity preparedness plan, can overwhelm even the most efficient in-house Call Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for organizations to outsource or augment their Help Desk Call Center by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center team.

  • Progent's Standard Support Desk support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of remote IT support specialists combined with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and follow-up software to provide an affordable, state-of-the-art Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide a comprehensive solution that addresses all aspects of online Level 1 desktop technical support from initial help requests to ticket creation, screen sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to track or update the status of their current tickets, enter information, and upload screen captures or attachments. Technical support services are provided at a significant price reduction off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 IT specialists to resolve complex problems. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small companies.
  • Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service enables your company to expand your current Help Desk Call Center staff by sharing delivery of Help Desk services transparently between your in-house IT support personnel and Progent's extensive team of PC support technicians and subject matter experts. Progent's co-managed Help Desk Call Center service is based on a co-sourcing support solution utilizing the number one PSA platform for handling service requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, monitoring progress, and producing management reports. For details about how Progent's Call Center Supplementation Services can help your business to deliver world-class IT support to your at-home workforce, see Progent's Call Center supplementation Services.

Cybersecurity for Teleworkers
Work-from-Home (WFH) workers typically use their own devices and usually operate in an unsecured physical space. This situation increases their vulnerability to cyber attacks and requires careful configuration of corporate firewalls, anti-malware tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough user education, and the development of policies based on best practices. Progent's seasoned team of cybersecurity solutions consultants can help you to plan, implement and maintain an effective security solution that guards critical IT resources in networks that incorporate at-home workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to create a network that can be safely accessed by on-premises users as well as by an at-home workforce, mobile workers, vendors, customers, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to assign and control appropriate access rights to various classes of users and to expand your IT network and adjust your cybersecurity posture as your business evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated. Progent supports both new and older security appliances from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall integration expertise, refer to firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring Services for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate devices utilized by at-home workers and either reject or identify and mitigate modern cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight software agent is put on every protected endpoint, watching all activity and using state-of-the-art behavioral threat analysis from SentinelOne to detect new threats on arrival. When an attack is spotted, ProSight ASM immediately isolates the infected endpoint device from the network to quarantine the threat. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices stay secure even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, reseller, and integrator. For details about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, see remote endpoint monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication Services for TeleworkersProgent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo supports one-tap identity verification on Apple iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. Using 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and give your password you are requested to confirm who you are on a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different ("out-of-band") network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized for this added form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware token, a landline telephone, etc. You can designate several verification devices. For details about Duo two-factor identity authentication services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the vulnerability of your network to all classes of outside and internal security attacks for a network that includes remote workers. Progent can run online, automated security inventory software for rapidly and affordably uncovering a wide variety of security holes that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be managed by data security experts with top credentials including CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your procedures and governance policies and assess your WAN architecture to allow you to design the highest level of protection for your an at-home workforce.

NodeZero Pentetration Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a breakthrough penetration test (pentest) product family that supports autonomous testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, remediate, and confirm cybersecurity weaknesses before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can help you to deploy NodeZero to perform comprehensive pentests of your perimeter and your internal IT infrastructure so you can evaluate your present security posture. Progent's NodeZero experts can also help you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-prem, multi-cloud, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out more details about Progent's threat analysis solutions powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, see Consulting Services for NodeZero's PEN Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for At-Home Workers
The field of Data Protection involves saving and restoring vital information in order to prevent data loss and reduce recovery time and effort in the event of storage system problems resulting from hardware breakdowns, software glitches, human mistakes, cyber attack, or other causes. Dependable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to architect and maintain in hybrid environments that incorporate private data centers, public clouds, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for remote workers must cover diverse kinds of personally owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online help from consultants familiar with a wide array of platforms for backing up Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as laptops, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore solutions maintained by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, Acronis Backup and Recovery, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a wide area network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and centralized management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly anticipate circumstances that require a temporary changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity planning consultants can assist your company to produce, document and test a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of switching to telecommuting.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite computers. Endpoint Manager provides a centralized environment for safeguarding corporate information by managing local, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting mobile devices and software. Remote endpoint devices can be user owned or business owned. Network admins managing the endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to deploy and authenticate applications on devices, push patches and certificates, set up policies for permission to access information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how home-based workers share information, establish threat protection, ensure compliance, and delete sensitive information from missing, stolen or deactivated endpoint devices. Intune runs with iOS/iPadOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. To learn about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help your company to use this platform to administer the endpoint devices of your at-home workforce, visit Intune telecommuter device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management (MDM) platform that helps network managers to keep remote endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch for centralized endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual application delivery technology for identity control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or leading distributions of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-premises product through a perpetual license. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of out-of-the-box notebooks, quick onboarding of new users, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of devices, unifies reporting and performance analytics, email encryption, and seamless integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based products. For information about Progent's support services for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE remote device management consultants.

Contact Progent for At-Home Worker Support Services
To contact Progent about creating and managing a productive work-from-home environment for your Fresno, California organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or refer to Contact Progent.