Enlarging your telecommuter workforce can have a major impact on network architecture, security, and corporate culture. Progent has two decades of experience assisting SMBs to design, deploy, administer, tune, and debug IT environments that incorporate at-home workers. Progent can help your Chatsworth organization to pick the appropriate tools and adhere to best practices in building and maintaining a safe virtual office solution for teleworkers that promotes collaboration and delivers top business value. Progent offers services ranging from on demand expertise for getting you over challenging IT roadblocks to full project management or co-management to help you successfully complete business-critical initiatives.

Progent's consultants can help Chatsworth, California businesses to succeed with any facet of creating a high-functioning telecommuting ecosystem by delivering infrastructure configuration services, VoIP PBX expertise, voice/video conferencing integration, collaboration platform selection and deployment, cloud integration, Call Desk services, endpoint security, data protection solutions, and unified management.

Network Infrastructure for a Remote Workforce
Configuring the physical and software infrastructure required to support a remote workforce can be especially complicated if you must accommodate a mix of personal hardware like PCs and notebooks, Internet routers, and wireless APs from various manufacturers and with a variety of OS software and firmware levels. Progent's experience delivering remote help for both outdated and modern technologies in virtual office solutions enables you to make efficient use of your existing infrastructure and provides you with ready access to top-tire consultants for implement essential upgrades. Services available from Progent to assist your company to implement a high-functioning telecommuting infrastructure include:

  • VPN technology allows you to create a secure connection for authorized remote workers to use IT assets located at your company datacenter or in a public cloud. Progent can help your company to configure and maintain VPN access between your at-home workforce and your various IT resources by providing remote VPN configuration consulting. For organizations using Cisco's ASA security appliances, Progent's Cisco ASA consultants can help your remote workers to set up Cisco's AnyConnect software to provide safe VPN tunneling for a wide selection of devices including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Apple iOS, Linux, and Android.
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure platforms allow a telecommuter to see and use a remote computer's desktop. This gives IT managers substantial control over the computing environment of telecommuters and offers remote users a familiar work experience. Progent's virtual desktop services include Windows Remote Desktop support and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops VDI consulting.
  • Routers connect home computer networks to the Internet and typically support VPN tunnels, local Wi-Fi networks, and firewall services. Progent can provide top-tier remote support for deploying routers from a range of manufacturers. See router configuration support from Cisco-certified consultants.
  • Home Wi-Fi networks, typically shared by the whole family and visitors, are commonly utilized by telecommuters to connect to their Internet router for work. This can create performance as well as cybersecurity issues. Progent can assist you to resolve these problems by delivering services that include Cisco Aironet integration expertise, Cisco-certified Meraki wireless deployment consulting, and Ubiquiti Unifi wireless access point integration assistance.
  • Internet connectivity solutions impact the performance and availability of connections between telecommuters and the company data center. Line-of-business applications might demand backup Internet access in case the primary connection fails. Progent offers expertise for identifying Internet service providers, choosing appropriate service bundles, and integrating high-availability Internet access. Refer to Internet connectivity integration services.

IP Voice Solutions for At-Home Workers
Expanding the company PBX environment to include teleworkers is critical to maintaining an effective at-home workforce. A variety of cloud-centric VoIP platforms are used by small and mid-size businesses to server teleworkers. Many larger organizations depend on Cisco's current or legacy platforms for IP voice management. Progent can help businesses of all sizes to plan or tune a telecommuter VoIP environment that delivers the flexibility, convenience and security needed for teleworkers. Progent's Cisco-certified CCIE Voice experts can provide high-level support to help organizations tune their current Cisco VoIP systems to support a growing remote workforce.

  • Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Cisco Unified CM or CUCM) delivers enterprise IP telephony capabilities to devices such as IP phones, media processing products, Voice over IP gateways, and multimedia apps deployed throughout the network. CUCM manages other mixed media services such as messaging, video conferencing, and team interaction networks. For more information about Progent's Cisco Unified CM or CUCM support, see CUCM expertise.
  • Cisco CallManager is Cisco's legacy call-processing agent and has been superseded by Cisco Unified CM. Progent can assist you to maintain your existing CallManager environment or migrate efficiently to Cisco's current IP telephony solutions. For details about Progent's expertise for CallManager and Cisco's other older IP voice products, see Cisco CallManager consulting services.
  • Cisco IP Gateways provide integration with public telephony networks and with clients working outside the corporate perimeter like at-home workers. Progent can provide expert support for Cisco's earlier generation IP gateways such as the UC520, UC540 and UC560 products and for current Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateways. See Cisco Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) gateway integration expertise.
  • Other VoIP Products supported by Progent include Vonage, RingCentral and 8x8. Progent can help you to update your WAN architecture to work with these VoIP solutions and provide as-needed deployment and debugging services.

Video Conferencing for Teleworkers
A broad range of voice/video conferencing products from leading technology companies support virtual meetings, video conferencing, chat, and screen/content sharing for both local workers and at-home workers. Many companies utilize a mix of conferencing products to meet the needs of their different partners and customers. Progent can help your organization to maintain your existing voice/video conferencing environment and optimize the productivity of your remote employees.

  • Skype for Business is Microsoft's leading unified communications product that enables presence, IM, 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 skills of Microsoft-certified consultants who can help your company to configure and manage Skype for Business clients to accommodate your at-home employees. To learn more about Progent's support services for Skype for Business, refer to Skype for Business consulting experts.
  • FaceTime is Apple's group video calling platform for compatible iOS, iPadOS, iPod and macOS devices. FaceTime runs on Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connections. Later editions of FaceTime support up to 32 simultaneous users for video calls. For details about Progent's support expertise for FaceTime, see Progent's FaceTime configuration expertise.
  • Webex Meeting Center supports online conferencing for virtually all computing devices. Offered via Cisco's Webex Cloud, Webex services include sharing granular content or computer screens, presentations that incorporate rich media such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Flash videos, session recording, plus revision and playback for future reference. To learn more about Progent's support services for Cisco Webex as well as for additional video conferencing products 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 conversations, contacts, and information with capabilities that include video calling, persistent threaded chat, plus file sharing. For details about Progent's support services for Teams as well as for additional Microsoft 365 products, visit Progent's Microsoft Teams consulting services.
  • Other Conferencing Platforms supported by Progent include Google Meet, Amazon Chime, Zoom, and Slack. Progent can provide configuration and troubleshooting services for these conferencing platforms and assist you to optimize your WAN architecture to host them.

Microsoft Integrated Collaboration Software for Teleworkers
Microsoft's collaboration platforms are tightly integrated with Microsoft's familiar Office and Microsoft 365 suites, providing a rich environment of productivity apps that create a consistent user interface for exchanging information throughout multiple sites and on a broad selection of endpoint devices. Progent has provided online consulting services for Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange since their initial releases and can assist businesses to deploy these critical collaboration products to maximize the productivity 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 Experts for TelecommutersMicrosoft Teams works on top of Microsoft 365 and supports third-party cloud services to deliver real-time collaboration. Developed as a substitute for Skype for Business Online, Microsoft Teams can support chat, audio/video meetings that include screen sharing, calling, cloud voicemail, group email, as well as file and application sharing. Teams is closely integrated with Microsoft 365 and relies on Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Entra (formerly branded Azure Active Directory) for delivering its full range of features. For additional information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Teams, see planning and deployment consulting for Microsoft Teams.

SharePoint Integration Consultants for At-Home WorkersSharePoint utilizes web sites to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing by offering policy-driven access to data, business processes, and tools for searching through company-wide information silos. SharePoint allows you to create protected web portals that enables remote workers to view and update aggregated corporate intelligence via Intranets (Wikis), Blogs, social networking sites, and Web Parts (Widgets). For details about Progent's SharePoint support services, visit SharePoint configuration and development consulting.

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. For information about Progent's Exchange consulting expertise, go to deployment consulting services for Microsoft Exchange Server.

Microsoft Onedrive Integration Experts for Remote WorkersOneDrive is Microsoft�s collaborative cloud-based storage service, similar to GoogleDrive. At-home workers can save files to OneDrive, and colleagues anywhere can share them securely through a web browser. Provided with Microsoft 365, OneDrive allows at-home employees to jointly author files. Edits created offline are synced when you go back online. To find out about Progent's consulting services for OneDrive, refer to Microsoft Onedrive integration experts.

Cloud Integration for Remote Workers
Progent offers fast and affordable remote support for enabling organizations to build, manage and troubleshoot cohesive hybrid network models that combine physical data centers, at-home workers, branches, plus cloud services. Progent can provide expertise for all types of public cloud service including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Progent can help teleworkers fix issues with public cloud access, identity, and cybersecurity.

Azure Integration for At-Home WorkersAzure is a popular family of cloud software and services that enables you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and critical applications hosted on Microsoft's massive cloud. Azure features more than 100 cloud-based services including the ability to host Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand cloud storage, email and messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and data protection. Progent can help you to set up VMs on Azure Virtual Machines, configure storage on Azure Storage services, unify identity management with Azure Active Directory, and plan backup and restore solutions with Azure Backup. Progent can also help you create protected access to Azure services for remote workers by setting up and debugging firewall appliances and VPN tunnels. For information about Progent's consulting services for Microsoft Azure, see Azure consulting.

Microsoft 365 Integration Services for Remote WorkersMicrosoft 365, formerly called Office 365, is Microsoft's popular family of client productivity software and cloud services offered by subscription. Office applications and cloud services are marketed in a variety of bundles designed for customers ranging from students and small offices to large corporations. Progent can provide quick and affordable online access to consultants familiar with Microsoft 365-compatible clients running Windows, Mac, iOS, and Google Android operating systems. Progent's experts can assist your business to evaluate the various subscription bundles offered with Microsoft 365 and deploy 365 apps for your telecommuters in a way that delivers maximum business value. To learn about Progent's consulting expertise for Microsoft 365, visit Microsoft 365 consulting expertise.

Microsoft 365 Exchange Online Integration Services for TelecommutersExchange Online is among the most popular applications in the Microsoft 365 product line. Exchange Online provides the benefits of lower spending for data center infrastructure, easier management, dynamic scaling, high reliability, and additional benefits inherent with public clouds. Microsoft has designed Exchange Online to run smoothly with local Exchange environments, enabling customers to build hybrid cloud/onsite information systems. Progent's certified Exchange consultants can provide occasional assistance to guide you past challenging technical roadblocks and also offer comprehensive project management outsourcing to ensure your remote workers have convenient and secure access to your Microsoft 365 Exchange Online deployment. For details Progent's expertise for Exchange Online, see Exchange Online configuration and support expertise.

Amazon AWS Integration for TeleworkersAmazon AWS is a pioneer in the public cloud computing arena and is the industry's leading source of cloud-based services. Progent offers rapid and affordable online contact with cloud connectivity experts who can assist your organization to plan, deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot hybrid IT networks that incorporate Amazon AWS cloud-based services with on-premises data centers and with other public clouds like Microsoft Azure. Progent also offers the skills of Cisco-certified CCIE networking consultants to help your company to build a high-uptime network model so your employees have a consistent computing experience regardless of whether they are working from your main office, a remote branch, from home, or on the road. To find out about Progent's consulting expertise for Amazon AWS, go to Amazon AWS integration expertise.

Google Cloud Platform Integration for TelecommutersGoogle Cloud (GCP) is a leading suite of 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 you to expand your existing IT assets with the Google Cloud, and Progent's DBA experts can show you how to make your critical applications cloud friendly so your teleworkers can benefit fully from Google Cloud Platform services. Progent can help you to set up virtual machines on GCP Compute Engine, design an efficient storage solution with GCP Storage, and simplify identity control for telecommuters with Google Cloud Identity services. Progent can also assist your organization to utilize GCP's management technology to control and track your GCP environment. For information, see Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration support.

Help Desk Call Center Services for At-Home Workers
A rapid, organization-wide switchover to a teleworker workforce, which could be motivated by an epidemic or as a component of a disaster recovery plan, can overstretch even a high-performing internal Help Desk. Progent's Call Center services allow organizations to outsource or augment their Support Desk by using Progent's remote Technical Response Center (TRC) services.

  • Progent's Standard Call Desk services utilize Progent's extensive team of remote IT support experts combined with world-class trouble ticketing and tracking technology to provide an affordable, modern Support Desk. Progent's Standard Help Desk Services offer an end-to-end solution that handles all aspects of remote Level 1 desktop support from initial service requests to ticket generation, screen sharing, problem resolution, and incident reporting. A browser-based User's Service Portal allows from-home workers to track or revise their current trouble tickets, enter information, and append screen captures and relevant files. Support services are delivered at a significant discount off Progent's normal Level 1 technical service rates, and Progent offers the option of fast escalation to Level 2 and Level 3 support experts to resolve complex issues. To learn more, go to Progent's Standard Helpdesk Services for small businesses.
  • Progent's Call Desk Augmentation Service enables your company to augment your existing Help Desk staff by sharing delivery of Call Desk services seamlessly between your in-house IT support organization and Progent's extensive roster of desktop support engineers and subject matter specialists. Progent's shared Call Desk service uses a collective support solution based on the leading professional services automation tool for handling help requests and trouble tickets, assigning ownership, tracking progress, and producing management reports. To find out how Progent's Call Center Augmentation Services can help your company to provide world-class IT support to your at-home workforce, refer to Progent's Help Desk Call Center augmentation Services.

Security for At-Home Workers
Work-from-Home employees commonly use their personal computers and often work in an unsecured physical space. This situation multiplies their vulnerability to malware threats and calls for judicious deployment of firewalls, AV tools, MFA-based identity verification, remote monitoring, thorough user education, and the creation of security policies built on best practices. Progent's veteran roster of IT security solutions experts can assist your business to plan, deploy and maintain an effective security solution that protects vital IT resources in networks that include an at-home workforce.

Firewall Integration Services for At-Home WorkersFirewalls enable you to build a network environment that can be safely accessed by on-premises users and by teleworkers, mobile employees, suppliers, clients, and the public. Next-generation firewall devices permit you to configure and control appropriate permissions to different classes of users and to scale your network and adjust your security as your company evolves and as network attacks become increasingly complex. Progent supports both new and legacy security devices from all leading manufacturers like Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Check Point, Juniper, SonicWall and Fortinet. To find out more about Progent's firewall support services, go to firewall configuration and support services.

Remote Security Monitoring for At-Home WorkersRemote Endpoint Monitoring makes it possible to track the various devices utilized by telecommuters and either block or identify and respond to the latest cyber attacks such as ransomware. With ProSight Active Security Monitoring services, a lightweight agent is put on each secured endpoint device, watching all activity and utilizing state-of-the-art AI technology from SentinelOne to identify new attacks on arrival. When a cyberattack is spotted, ProSight Active Security Monitoring instantly isolates the impacted device from the corporate network to quarantine the malware. Since the ProSight ASM software agent is self-contained, endpoint devices remain protected even when they are offline. Progent is a SentinelOne Partner, dealer, and integrator. For details about ProSight ASM, refer to remote endpoint monitoring for telecommuters.

Two-factor Authentication (2FA) Services for TelecommutersProgent's Duo authentication Service Plans incorporate Cisco's Duo technology to protect against password theft by using two-factor authentication (2FA). Duo enables one-tap identity confirmation on iOS, Google Android, and other out-of-band devices. With 2FA, whenever you sign into a protected online account and give your password you are asked to verify your identity via a device that only you have and that is accessed using a different network channel. A broad selection of devices can be used as this second form of ID validation including an iPhone or Android or watch, a hardware/software token, a landline phone, etc. You can register several verification devices. To find out more about ProSight Duo identity validation services, go to Cisco Duo MFA two-factor authentication (2FA) services for remote workers.

Security Audit Services for At-Home WorkersSecurity Audits can evaluate the exposure of your information system to all classes of outside and internal security attacks for a network that includes at-home workers. Progent can deploy remote, automated security analysis software for rapidly and economically uncovering a broad range of security holes that can be found via the Internet. Progent's endpoint security assessment consulting services, which can be provided by data security professionals with top certifications such as CISA, ISSAP, and GIAC, can help your company to evaluate your procedures and policies and review your network architecture to enable you to implement top-level security 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 automated testing of your work-from-home connectivity solution and your internal and perimeter networks so you can uncover, prioritize, remediate, and confirm security vulnerabilities before malicious hackers can exploit them. Progent can help you to use NodeZero to perform thorough penetration tests of your perimeter and your internal network in order to determine your present security profile. Progent's NodeZero experts can also assist you to harden your existing network security and can assist you to design and deploy a unified cybersecurity ecosystem that streamlines management and provides maximum cyber defense for on-prem, cloud-based, at-home, and perimeter IT assets. To find out more information about Progent's vulnerability assessment solutions based on on NodeZero's penetration test platform, see Consulting Support for NodeZero's Penetration Test Products.

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

Data Protection Solutions for Teleworkers
Data Protection covers saving and recovering critical information so as to prevent data loss and reduce restoration time and effort in case of storage system failures due to hardware issues, software glitches, human mistakes, malware, or any other reason. Dependable data protection strategies can be especially challenging to architect and manage in hybrid networks that combine local data centers, public clouds, and an at-home workforce.

  • Backup/Restore solutions for teleworkers must cover diverse kinds of user-owned endpoints. Progent can provide fast online access to experts familiar with a broad array of platforms for protection Microsoft Windows, Apple and Linux/UNIX servers and desktops as well as notebooks, iPads and handhelds. Leading backup/restore products maintained by Progent's backup/recovery consultants include Barracuda Backup, Azure Backup, Symantec Backup Exec, CrashPlan, Retrospect, and Time Machine. To protect resources distributed throughout a hybrid network, Progent can provide ProSight Data Protection Services, a backup/recovery service that utilizes cloud storage and includes fine-grained recovery and centralized management capabilities.
  • Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity strategies typically anticipate scenarios that require a rapid changeover to an at-home workforce. Progent's expert disaster recovery planning consultants and business continuity planning specialists can assist your company to develop, document and validate a DR/BC strategy that addresses the logistics of moving to an at-home workforce.

Unified Management for At-Home Workers
Microsoft has renamed and rebundled its endpoint management platforms under the title Endpoint Manager, which encompasses Intune for cloud-based management of remote devices and Configuration Manager for managing onsite endpoints. Microsoft Endpoint Manager offers a unified environment for protecting critical data by managing on-premises, mobile, and home-based endpoint devices.

Intune
Intune is part of Microsoft's Endpoint Management suite that also features Configuration Manager. Intune is a cloud-based service for managing and protecting off-premises devices and software. Managed endpoint devices can be user owned or company owned. IT administrators managing the enrolled endpoint devices of telecommuters can utilize Intune to provision and validate applications on managed devices, push updates and certificates, configure policies for permission to access data and networks, set passwords, establish VPN connections, control how teleworkers share information, set up threat defense, ensure security compliance, and delete corporate data from missing, stolen or decommissioned devices. Microsoft Intune works with Apple iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS/OS X computers. For details about Intune and how Progent can help your company to use this platform to manage the endpoint devices of your teleworkers, refer to Intune telecommuter endpoint management expertise.

VMware Workspace ONE
VMware Workspace ONE is an advanced centralized MDM platform that allows network administrators to keep off-premises endpoints up to date and secure. Workspace ONE incorporates VMware AirWatch for unified endpoint administration plus VMware's Horizon virtual software delivery technology for access control, application management, and configuration management of endpoint devices. Workspace ONE runs with endpoints based on Windows 10, macOS, Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome OS, or leading distros of Linux. VMware Workspace ONE is offered by subscription as a cloud service or as an on-site deployment via a perpetual license. Key features of VMware Workspace ONE include rapid over-the-air deployment of new notebooks, quick onboarding of new employees, policy setting and enforcement for all classes of endpoints, unifies reporting and analytics, email encryption, and integration with Microsoft apps and cloud-based services. To find out about Progent's support for VMware Workspace ONE, visit VMware Workspace ONE mobile device management consultants.

Contact Progent for Remote Workforce Support Services
To get in touch with Progent about building and managing an efficient work-from-home solution for your Chatsworth, California organization, phone 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.