Enlarging your remote workforce can have a significant effect on IT infrastructure, security, and corporate culture. Progent has 20 years of experience assisting SMBs to design, deploy, administer, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that incorporate a remote workforce. Progent can help your Modesto organization to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in creating and maintaining a safe virtual solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and returns top business value. Progent offers support services ranging from as-needed guidance for helping you past challenging IT roadblocks to comprehensive project management or co-management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Modesto, California companies to with any facet of building a high-functioning work-from-home environment by providing infrastructure design and configuration services, VoIP PBX troubleshooting, video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud connectivity, Call Desk augmentation, security and compliance, data protection solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for Telecommuters
Configuring the network infrastructure required for an at-home work environment can be particularly complicated if you must manage a mix of personal hardware such as desktop computers and notebooks, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi appliances from an assortment of vendors and with a variety of operating systems and firmware levels. Progent's background delivering online help for both legacy as well as modern technologies in virtual office venues allows you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement essential upgrades. Services offered by Progent to help you to create a high-functioning work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • VPN technology allows you to establish a secure tunnel for authorized at-home employees to access IT resources located at your corporate data center or in the cloud. Progent can assist you to configure and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN integration consulting. For businesses using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco-certified ASA experts can help your remote workers to utilize Cisco's popular AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad range of endpoint devices including Windows, Mac, Apple iOS, Linux, and Google Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) products enable a telecommuter to see and interact with a remote computer's desktop. This technology provides IT managers substantial control over the computing environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a consistent and more productive work experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers connect home networks to the Internet and typically support VPN connections, home Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers expert remote consulting for deploying routers from a variety of vendors. See router integration services from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wireless networks, typically supporting an entire household and visitors, are commonly utilized by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can create performance and security problems. Progent can help businesses to resolve these problems by delivering services that include Cisco Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point integration help.
  • Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and reliability of connections between at-home workers and the corporate network. Business-critical applications might demand backup Internet connections in case the normal connection breaks. Progent offers expertise for selecting Internet service providers, selecting appropriate service bundles, and integrating fault-tolerant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Integration for Teleworkers
Expanding the business PBX environment to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A broad range of cloud-based IP voice products are used by SMBs to support telecommuters. Many enterprises rely on Cisco's current or legacy products for IP voice management. Progent can help organizations of any size to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP service that delivers the versatility, transparency and protection required for remote users. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations tune their existing Cisco VoIP environments to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM) delivers high-end telephony capabilities to devices like VoIP phones, media processing products, VoIP gateways, and multimedia applications used throughout the network. CUCM supports other combined media services such as unified messaging, video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM expertise, refer to CUCM consultants.
  • CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing software and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can help your company to support your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's modern IP telephony solutions. To learn about Progent's support services for CallManager and Cisco's other early VoIP products, refer to CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working beyond the corporate perimeter such as telecommuters. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's legacy IP gateways like the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series as well as for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco SIP gateway configuration consulting.
  • Additional VoIP Products supported by Progent's consultants include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your wide area network architecture to support these solutions and provide as-needed configuration and troubleshooting expertise.

Voice/Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A wide selection of voice/video conferencing platforms from major technology companies support virtual discussions, video and voice conferencing, chat, and screen sharing for both onsite workers and teleworkers. Many companies use multiple products to accommodate their various partners and customers. Progent's communications experts can help your organization to manage your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home workforce.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading communications product that enables presence, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing as well as the transparent integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including PowerPoint, Word, Excel and Outlook. Progent can provide the expertise of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to deploy and manage Skype for Business clients to support your remote employees. To learn more about Progent's consulting expertise for Skype for Business, visit Skype for Business consulting services.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for iOS and macOS computers and smartphones. FaceTime works on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Current versions of FaceTime support up to 32 concurrent users for voice/video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Apple FaceTime, visit Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, session capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Webex and for additional 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 portal for conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities such as IP voice and video conferencing, threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Teams and for additional Microsoft 365 apps, see Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Voice/Video Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide integration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and assist you to optimize your WAN architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Remote Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, offering a powerful ecosystem of productivity apps that deliver a cohesive user experience for exchanging data and ideas throughout a corporate network and on a broad range of endpoints. Progent has delivered online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their original publication and can help your company to deploy these flagship collaboration platforms to maximize the effectiveness 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 Solutions Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Designed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and app sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (previously called Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams, visit solution design and deployment expertise for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium.

SharePoint Server Integration Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to enable collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-driven access to data, business processes, and tools for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to build secure portals that enables at-home workers to view and edit aggregated business intelligence by means of Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint consulting expertise, refer to SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange Deployment Consultants 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 learn about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, see integration expertise for Microsoft Exchange.

Microsoft Onedrive Configuration Experts for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home users can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can retrieve them safely through a browser. Included with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote workers to jointly author documents. Edits made offline are uploaded when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft OneDrive, refer to Onedrive configuration consulting.

Public Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers affordable online support for enabling organizations to build, manage and troubleshoot integrated network models that combine physical data centers, telecommuters, branches, and cloud services. Progent offers expertise for all modes of cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help telecommuters resolve problems with cloud access, authentication, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration Services for TelecommutersMicrosoft Azure is a leading family of public cloud services that enables you to use infrastructure, servers, and key apps running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Microsoft Azure features over 100 services services including hosting for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines, scalable cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data backup. Progent can help you to deploy VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, streamline identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design backup and restore systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also show you how to create secure connections to Azure for at-home workers by configuring and troubleshooting firewalls and VPN IPsec tunnels. For details about Progent's support services for Microsoft Azure, go to Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for TeleworkersMicrosoft 365, formerly branded Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity applications and cloud services offered by subscription. Office apps and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles intended for customers ranging from individuals and households to major corporations. Progent offers fast and affordable remote access to 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 plans available for Microsoft 365 and configure 365 applications for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's support services for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 integration services.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is among the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product suite. Microsoft 365 Exchange Online offers the benefits of reduced spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other advantages inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has engineered Exchange Online to operate transparently with local Exchange environments, allowing you to build hybrid information systems. Progent's Exchange experts are available for occasional help to guide you through tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your at-home workers have convenient and secure access to your Exchange Online environment. To find out Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, refer to Exchange Online integration and support consulting.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for Remote WorkersAmazon Web Services (AWS) is a pioneer in the public cloud arena and is the world's biggest provider of cloud-based services. Progent offers quick and economical online contact with cloud integration consultants who can help your business to design, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid information networks that integrate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with local resources and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to create a high-uptime network model so your employees have a productive computing environment whether they are working from your headquarters, a remote branch, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's consulting services for Amazon AWS, see Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Integration Services for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud Platform (GCP) is a popular collection of public cloud services that provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service products. Progent's Microsoft, Linux, and Cisco experts can help you to expand your current IT resources with the Google Cloud Platform, and Progent's DBA consultants can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your remote workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your business to deploy VMs on GCP Compute Engine, plan an efficient storage solution with Google Cloud Storage, and simplify identity control for remote workers with Google Cloud Identity. Progent's experts can also assist your organization to use GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP ecosystem. To find out, refer to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration services.

Help Desk Call Center Services for Remote Workers
A rapid, organization-wide transition to a telecommuter business model, which could be motivated by a pandemic or as an element of a business continuity process, can overwhelm even a well-staffed in-house Call Center. Progent's Help Desk services make it possible for organizations of any size to outsource or supplement their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

  • Progent's Standard Support Desk support services utilize Progent's nationwide team of remote IT support experts combined with world-class ticketing and tracking technology to provide an affordable, advanced Help Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer a comprehensive solution that handles all aspects of remote Level 1 PC technical support from help requests to trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, problem resolution, and reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal enables at-home employees to monitor or update their active tickets, enter details, and append screen captures and relevant files. Support services are delivered at a significant price reduction off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support rates, and Progent makes available optional rapid escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to deal with complex issues. To find out more, see Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Call Desk Supplemental Service enables you to expand your current Support Desk team by splitting responsibilities for Support Desk services seamlessly between your regular support organization and Progent's nationwide pool of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Desk service is based on a collective support model based on the leading professional services automation tool for handling service requests and ticketing, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can enable your business to provide world-class desktop support to your telecommuters, visit Progent's Help Desk Call Center supplementation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
At-home employees typically use their own computing devices and usually work in a poorly secured physical space. This multiplies their susceptibility to cyber threats and calls for judicious configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote monitoring, extensive user training, and the creation of policies based on leading practices. Progent's seasoned roster of IT security solutions experts can assist your business to design, configure and manage an effective cybersecurity solution that protects vital IT resources in networks that include at-home workers.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to build a network environment that can be safely utilized by local users and by telecommuters, mobile users, suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. Modern firewall devices allow you to assign and manage different access rights to various classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your security as your company evolves and as cyber threats become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security devices from all leading vendors like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For more information about Progent's firewall configuration services, go to firewall configuration and support expertise.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring for TelecommutersRemote Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to watch over the various devices utilized by at-home workers and either block or spot and respond to modern threats such as ransomware. With Progent's ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is installed on each protected endpoint, monitoring all activity and using advanced machine learning and full execution context from SentinelOne to detect zero-day threats at inception. When an attack is discovered, ProSight ASM instantly disconnects the targeted endpoint from the network to contain the malware. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even if they are disconnected from the Internet. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. To find out more about ProSight Active Security Monitoring, go to remote endpoint security monitoring for teleworkers.

Two-factor Authentication Services for At-Home WorkersProgent's Duo MFA Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to defend against stolen passwords through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables single-tap identity confirmation with Apple iOS, Android, and other personal devices. With 2FA, whenever you log into a secured application and give your password you are asked to verify your identity on a unit that only you possess and that uses a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be utilized as this added means of ID validation such as an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register multiple verification devices. To learn more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, refer to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for teleworkers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all types of outside and internal security attacks for an environment that incorporates an at-home workforce. Progent can run online, automated cybersecurity analysis scanning for rapidly and economically uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be surfaced via the Internet. Progent's security audit consulting services, which can be managed by data security professionals with top credentials such as CISM, CISSP, and GIAC, can help your business to audit your operations and governance policies and review your WAN architecture to enable you to implement top-level security for your remote workers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for Work-from-Home EnpointsHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a cutting-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that supports automated threat assessment of your at-home connectivity solution as well as your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, rank, fix, and verify security weaknesses before threat actors can take advantage of them. Progent's pentest experts can assist you to use NodeZero to perform comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network so you can determine your present security profile. Progent can also help you to harden your network security and can help you to plan and implement a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that simplifies management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, remote, and perimeter IT resources. To find out additional details about Progent's vulnerability assessment services powered by on NodeZero's pentest products, refer to Consulting Services for NodeZero's Penetration Test Platform.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
The field of Data Protection covers backing up and recovering critical information in order to avoid data loss and minimize recovery time and effort in the event of storage problems due to hardware issues, programming hiccups, operator error, cyber attack, or other causes. Reliable data protection solutions can be especially difficult to design and maintain in hybrid environments that combine private data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Recovery solutions for at-home workers must cover multiple kinds of user-owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick online access to experts knowledgeable about a wide range of products for backing up Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as notebooks, iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. Leading backup/restore solutions supported by Progent's data protection consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Mozy, and Time Machine. To back up data spread throughout a hybrid network, Progent offers ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery subscription service that uses cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and unified management.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity (DR/BC) strategies commonly anticipate scenarios that call for a temporary switch to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning experts and business continuity consultants can assist your company to create, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has rebranded and rebundled its endpoint management products under the name Endpoint Manager, which includes Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Endpoint Manager features a centralized environment for protecting corporate information by managing onsite, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Microsoft Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud service for managing and protecting remote devices and applications. Managed endpoint computers can be personally owned or business owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint computers of at-home workers can utilize Intune to deploy and validate apps on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for permission to access information and resources, set passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share information, set up threat protection, ensure compliance, and wipe corporate information from lost, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune can be used with iOS, Google Android, Windows, and macOS endpoints. For information about Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use Microsoft's Endpoint Management to administer the endpoint devices of your teleworkers, refer to Intune telecommuter device management consultants.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is a feature-rich centralized Mobile Device Management product that helps network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints current and protected. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint management plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for identity control, app management, and setup management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with devices powered by 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 via a one-time purchase. Top features of Workspace ONE include fast over-the-air provisioning of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new employees, policy set up and enforcement for all categories of endpoints, aggregated management reporting and performance analytics, an email encryption gateway, and tight integration with Microsoft apps and cloud services. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about building and maintaining a productive work-from-home environment for your Modesto, California organization, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.