Expanding your remote workforce may have a significant impact on network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and company workflows. Progent has two decades of experience helping SMBs to design, deploy, manage, tune, and troubleshoot IT environments that support a remote workforce. Progent can assist your Irvine organization to select the appropriate tools and follow leading practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for telecommuters that promotes collaboration and returns top business value. Progent can provide support services ranging from on demand guidance for getting you past occasional technical roadblocks to comprehensive project management to help you successfully complete mission-critical initiatives.

Progent can help Irvine, California companies to succeed with any facet of creating a high-performing remote work ecosystem by delivering network infrastructure design and configuration services, IP voice troubleshooting, voice/video conferencing support, collaboration platform customization and training, public cloud integration, Help Desk services, data security, backup/restore solutions, and streamlined management.

Infrastructure for Teleworkers
Integrating the network infrastructure needed to support a remote workforce can be particularly complex if you have to manage a mix of worker-owned hardware like desktop computers and laptops, Internet routers, and Wi-Fi APs from different vendors and with a mix of OS software and firmware releases. Progent's experience providing online help for both outdated as well as modern IT products in virtual office venues enables you to make cost-effective use of your existing network infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for making necessary upgrades. Support services offered by Progent to help you to implement a productive work-at-home infrastructure include:

  • Virtual Private Network technology allows you to create a secure connection for authorized at-home employees to access IT resources located at your company data center or in a public cloud. Progent can help you to deploy and manage VPN access between your at-home workforce and your key network resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA firewalls, Progent's Cisco ASA experts can help your at-home workers to utilize Cisco's AnyConnect software for safe VPN tunneling for a broad selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms enable a teleworker to view and interact with a data center computer's desktop. This provides IT managers substantial control over the computing environment of telecommuters and ensures them a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop consulting services include Windows Remote Desktop integration and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI solutions.
  • Routers connect at-home computer networks to the Internet and support VPN connections, local Wi-Fi connectivity, and firewalls. Progent offers top-tier online support for integrating routers from all major manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified experts.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by families and guests, are frequently used by at-home employees to access their router for work. This can create performance and cybersecurity problems. Progent can assist you to resolve these issues by providing services like Aironet configuration consulting, Cisco-certified Meraki WiFi installation consulting, and Ubiquiti wireless access point integration assistance.
  • Internet connectivity methods impact the performance and availability of connections between at-home workers and the company data center. Mission-critical applications might demand backup Internet connections in the event the normal connection breaks. Progent offers guidance for selecting service providers, selecting appropriate bandwidth and data volume bundles, and integrating redundant Internet access. See Internet access integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for Telecommuters
Expanding the company phone system to include telecommuters is critical to maintaining a productive at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-based IP voice products are used by SMBs to support teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's modern or legacy products for VoIP management. Progent can assist organizations of any size to design or maintain a remote IP voice environment that delivers the versatility, transparency and security required for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts offer advanced support to help organizations optimize their current Cisco VoIP environments to support an expanding remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices like IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and mixed media software deployed throughout the network. CUCM supports additional mixed media services such as messaging, voice/video conferencing, and customer collaboration networks. For details about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see Cisco Unified Communications Manager consultants.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been replaced by Cisco Unified CM or CUCM. Progent's consultants can help your company to support your existing CallManager deployment or migrate smoothly to Cisco's current IP telephony products. To learn about Progent's support services for Cisco CallManager and Cisco's other older VoIP platforms, see Cisco CallManager expertise.
  • Cisco IP Gateways enable connectivity with PSTN networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter such as at-home workers. Progent can provide consulting expertise for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways including the UC520, UC540 and UC560 series and for modern Cisco SIP gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway configuration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Platforms supported by Progent include Vonage, Intermedia Unite and 8x8. Progent can assist you to expand your WAN infrastructure to work with these solutions and deliver as-needed integration and troubleshooting expertise.

Video Conferencing for At-Home Workers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing platforms from leading vendors support online meetings, video and voice conferencing, chat sessions, and screen sharing for both local users and at-home workers. Many organizations use multiple products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can help your organization to maintain your existing conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your at-home employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's popular communications platform that enables real-time presence, IM, voice and video calling and conferencing plus the seamless integration of these functions within Office desktop and Microsoft 365 productivity software including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. Progent offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help you to set up and maintain Skype for Business client software to accommodate your at-home workforce. To learn more about Progent's support expertise for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's multiuser video phone platform for compatible iOS and Mac devices. FaceTime works over Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime allow up to 32 concurrent users for video sessions. To learn more about Progent's support services for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center provides remote conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Delivered through Cisco's Webex Cloud platform, Webex capabilities include sharing specific content or screens, presentations that incorporate rich media including Microsoft PowerPoint, network-based capture, plus revision and playback for future reference and training. For details about Progent's consulting expertise for Cisco Webex and for other IP video solutions from Cisco, visit Progent's Webex Meeting Center support services.
  • Teams is Microsoft's next-generation replacement for Skype for Business. Teams acts as a portal for conferencing, contacts, and content with features such as IP voice and video calling, threaded chat, plus file sharing. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and for other Microsoft 365 apps, refer to Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Additional Conferencing Apps supported by Progent's conferencing experts include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and troubleshooting services for these products and assist you to optimize your network architecture to run them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Platforms for At-Home Workers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are closely integrated with Microsoft's popular Office and Microsoft 365 families, providing a powerful ecosystem of applications that create a consistent user experience for sharing data and ideas throughout multiple sites and on a broad range of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for SharePoint and Exchange since their original releases and can help your company to configure these flagship collaboration products to maximize 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 Solutions Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works with Microsoft 365 and integrates with third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration and communication. Developed as a replacement for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium can support chat, audio/video meetings with screen sharing, phone calls, cloud voicemail, group email, plus file and app sharing. Teams is tightly integrated with Microsoft 365 and depends on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Azure Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its complete range of features. To learn more about Progent's support services for Microsoft Teams and Teams Premium, visit planning and configuration expertise for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Server Deployment Consultants for Remote WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to promote collaboration and information delivery by providing policy-driven delivery of data, business processes, and utilities for searching through enterprise-wide business data. SharePoint permits you to create protected portals that allows remote workers to view and edit consolidated business intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). To find out about Progent's SharePoint consulting services, go to SharePoint integration and development expertise.

Exchange Deployment 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. To find out about Progent's Exchange expertise, see planning and configuration expertise for Exchange Server.

Onedrive Configuration Consultants for At-Home WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s shared cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service, comparable to GoogleDrive. Remote workers can store files to OneDrive, and co-workers anywhere can share them securely via a web browser. Provided with Office 365, OneDrive allows remote employees to jointly author files. Edits made offline are automatically synced when you reconnect to the Internet. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration consulting.

Cloud Integration Services for Telecommuters
Progent can provide advanced online assistance for helping organizations to build, maintain and repair cohesive hybrid network architectures that combine physical data centers, remote workers, branches, plus public cloud resources. Progent offers expertise for all modes of cloud service delivery such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help remote workers resolve issues with public cloud connectivity, identity, and cybersecurity.

Microsoft Azure Integration for At-Home WorkersAzure is a popular family of public cloud software and services that allows you to use infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications running on Microsoft's extensive cloud. Azure includes over 100 cloud-based services including hosting for Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can assist you to deploy virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines, configure cloud-based storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity control with Azure Active Directory, and design data backup and recovery systems with Azure Backup. Progent's cloud experts can also help you create secure access to Azure for teleworkers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN IPsec tunnels. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Azure, refer to Microsoft Azure expertise.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's growing family of client productivity software and cloud services offered on a subscription basis. Office applications and services are provided in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from students and households to major corporations. Progent can provide fast and affordable remote access to experts knowledgeable about Microsoft 365-compatible devices based on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent can assist you to evaluate the numerous subscription plans offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your teleworkers to achieve top business value. For information about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, go to Microsoft 365 consulting support.

Exchange Online Integration Services for At-Home WorkersMicrosoft 365 Exchange Online is one of the most widely used applications in Azure-hosted Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the advantages of lower spending for data center infrastructure, simplified management, on-demand scaling, high availability, and other benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Microsoft 365 Exchange Online to run seamlessly with local deployments of Exchange, enabling you to build hybrid cloud/onsite networks. Progent's Exchange experts are available for occasional help to guide you past tough technical bottlenecks and can also provide end-to-end project management outsourcing to ensure your remote workers have easy and safe access to your Exchange Online deployment. For information Progent's consulting expertise for Exchange Online, visit Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration Services for At-Home WorkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing market and is the industry's leading provider of cloud services. Progent offers quick and affordable online access to cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to design, deploy, maintain, and debug hybrid information networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud services with local data centers and with other popular cloud platforms like Azure. Progent also offers access to Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help you to build a high-uptime network architecture to make sure your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a branch office, at home, or on the move. To find out about Progent's expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS consulting support.

Google Cloud Platform Integration Services for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a popular collection of public cloud services that offers 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 existing IT resources with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your key apps cloud ready so your at-home workers can benefit fully from Google Cloud services. Progent's consultants can help your business to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage services, and simplify access control for teleworkers with GCP Cloud Identity services. Progent's experts can also assist you to use GCP's unified management technology to administer and track your Google Cloud ecosystem. To find out, visit Google Cloud Platform consulting expertise.

Help Desk Services for Telecommuters
A fast, organization-wide switchover to a from-home business model, which might be motivated by a pandemic or as an element of a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, can overstretch even a high-performing in-house Help Desk. Progent's Help Desk Call Center services make it possible for businesses to outsource or supplement their Help Desk Call Center with Progent's online Technical Response Center services.

  • Progent's Standard Help Desk services leverage Progent's extensive network of online IT support experts along with enterprise-class trouble ticketing and tracking software to offer an affordable, modern Help Desk Call Center. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services provide an end-to-end solution that addresses all facets of online Level 1 desktop support from initial help requests to trouble ticket generation, desktop sharing, issue resolution, and reporting. A web-based User's Service Portal enables from-home workers to track or update the status of their active trouble tickets, add information, and upload screen captures and attachments. Support services are provided at a significant discount off Progent's ordinary Level 1 technical support charges, and Progent makes available the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex problems. For more information, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services outsourcing for small and mid-size companies.
  • Progent's Help Desk Call Center Supplemental Service allows your company to supplement your current Help Desk organization by sharing responsibilities for Call Center support services seamlessly between your in-house IT support staff and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support technicians and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Desk service uses a collective support solution based on the number one professional services automation tool for handling service requests and trouble tickets, establishing responsibility, monitoring progress, and generating reports. For details about how Progent's Support Desk Augmentation Services can enable your company to provide best-in-class IT support to your at-home employees, go to Progent's Help Desk augmentation Services.

Cybersecurity for At-Home Workers
At-home staff members commonly utilize their personal devices and usually work in an unsecured physical area. This increases their susceptibility to cyber threats and calls for careful configuration of firewalls, anti-malware tools, multi-factor authentication, remote endpoint monitoring, thorough end-user education, and the development of security policies built on best practices. Progent's seasoned group of data security support consultants can help you to design, configure and manage a compliant security solution that guards vital IT resources in networks that incorporate an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls allow companies to build a network 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 manage different permissions to various classes of users and to scale your IT network and modify your security profile as your business evolves and as network attacks become more sophisticated. Progent supports both new and legacy security devices from all major manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, WatchGuard, Juniper, and Fortinet. For details about Progent's firewall configuration expertise, see firewall support services.

Remote Endpoint Monitoring and Management Services for At-Home WorkersOnline Endpoint Security Monitoring makes it possible to track the disparate devices used by teleworkers and either reject or identify and respond to the latest threats such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a small-footprint agent is installed on each protected endpoint device, monitoring all activity and utilizing advanced machine learning from SentinelOne to identify zero-day threats before they can spread. When an attack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring immediately isolates the infected endpoint from the network to quarantine the threat. Because the ProSight Active Security Monitoring software agent is autonomous, endpoint devices remain secure even if they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For more information about ProSight ASM, see remote endpoint security monitoring for an at-home workforce.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for TelecommutersProgent's Duo authentication Services incorporate Cisco's Duo cloud technology to protect against password theft through the use of two-factor authentication. Duo enables one-tap identity verification on iOS, Android, and other out-of-band devices. With Duo 2FA, when you sign into a protected application and give your password you are asked to verify your identity via a unit that only you have and that uses a different network channel. A broad range of devices can be used as this second form of ID validation such as a smartphone or wearable, a hardware token, a landline phone, etc. You can designate multiple verification devices. To learn more about Duo identity validation services, refer to Duo MFA two-factor authentication services for telecommuters.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the exposure of your network to all classes of external and local security threats for a network that includes remote workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security analysis software for quickly and economically uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by network security experts with advanced credentials such as CISM, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help you to evaluate your workflows and governance policies and assess your network infrastructure to enable you to design the highest level of protection for your remote workers.

NodeZero Pen Testing for At-Home WorkersHorizon3.ai's NodeZero Penetration Testing Platform is a leading-edge penetration test (pentest) product family that can deliver autonomous threat assessment of your at-home environment as well as your internal and perimeter networks to help you uncover, rank, fix, and verify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before threat actors can exploit them. Progent can assist you to deploy NodeZero to carry out comprehensive penetration tests of your network perimeter and your internal network in order to evaluate your present security posture. Progent can also help you to harden your existing network security and can help you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and delivers optimum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out additional information about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test products, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Pentest Products.

Download White Paper: Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment
To view or download a white paper describing key things to concentrate on for securing an IT environment that incorporates telecommuters, click:
Securing a Work-From-Home (WFH) Environment White Paper. (PDF - 2.4 MB)

Data Protection for Remote Workers
Data Protection covers saving and restoring vital information in order to avoid data loss and reduce recovery time in case of storage system failures due to equipment issues, programming hiccups, user mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially difficult to architect and manage in hybrid environments that combine in-house data centers, cloud resources, and at-home workers.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for telecommuters must address diverse kinds of personally owned endpoint devices. Progent can provide quick remote help from consultants knowledgeable about a wide range of products for protection Windows, Apple Mac and Linux/UNIX servers and desktop computers as well as laptops, iPads and smartphones. Popular backup/recovery products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery experts include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, DoubleTake Software, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To back up resources spread across a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a managed backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud-based storage and includes granular recovery and unified management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies often anticipate circumstances that require a temporary changeover to telecommuting. Progent's senior disaster recovery preparedness consultants and business continuity specialists can assist you to develop, document and validate a DR/BC plan that addresses the process of moving to telecommuting.

Unified Management for Teleworkers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the name Microsoft Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud management of remote endpoints and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a unified environment for safeguarding corporate data by controlling onsite, 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-based service for managing and protecting remote devices and software. Remote endpoint computers can be user owned or business owned. Network admins managing the enrolled endpoint computers of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and authenticate applications on devices, push updates and certificates, configure rules for accessing information and resources, manage passwords, establish VPN tunnels, control how teleworkers share data, set up threat defense, ensure compliance, and wipe sensitive data from missing, stolen or decommissioned endpoint devices. Intune can be used with iOS/iPadOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X endpoints. To learn about Microsoft Intune and to find out how Progent can help you to use this platform to manage the endpoint computers of your at-home workers, go to Intune remote device management experts.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced unified Mobile Device Management platform that helps network managers to keep offsite endpoints current and secure. Workspace ONE uses VMware AirWatch technology for unified endpoint management combined with VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery platform for access control, app management, and configuration management of endpoint computers. Workspace ONE operates with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, or popular distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site product via a one-time purchase. Key features of Workspace ONE include rapid remote deployment of new notebooks, immediate onboarding of new users, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies management reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft applications and cloud products. For information about Progent's expertise for VMware Workspace ONE, see VMware Workspace ONE mobile endpoint management expertise.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Expertise
To contact Progent about creating and maintaining an efficient telecommuter environment for your Irvine, California company, phone 1-800-993-9400 or go to Contact Progent.