As coronavirus is spreading across many countries in the world, more and more companies are asking their employees to work from home. For example, 5.000 Twitter employees were asked to work remotely for the foreseeable future.

As reported by Inc, 5 tech giants which decided to make their services for remote working more accessible to small businesses and organizations:

Google

Google began rolling out free access to their premium Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally including: 

  • Larger meetings, for up to 250 participants per call
  • Live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain 
  • The ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive

These features (already available in the Enterprise edition of G Suite and in G Suite Enterprise for Education) will be now available at no additional cost to all customers until July 1, 2020.

Microsoft

For the next 6 months, it will be possible to use for free the Microsoft premium plan for its Teams chat app which includes among the other meetings recording features and 1TB storage.

LogMeIn

For the next 3 months, it will be possible to use the LogMeIn “Emergency Remote Work Kits” , a plan designed for nonprofits, schools, and health care organizations that aren’t already customers. The kits include GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar features.

Cisco

Cisco is offering the free version of its Webex service with no time restrictions. Cisco Webex is the leading enterprise solution for video conferencing, online meetings, screen share, and webinars.

Stay Connected from Home
Currently, there is an unprecedented increase in remote work happening around the world due to circumstances resulting from COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease). If you’re being asked to work remotely – we’re here to keep your team connected on any device, enabling you to keep work moving from anywhere.

Cisco Webex

Zoom

Zoom is a videoconference platform which already offers a free version. With the free Zoom Meetings licence users have access to all the audio and video conferencing and group collaboration features needed, including:

  • An unlimited number of video meetings with up to 100 participants
  • Crystal-clear audio and HD video
  • Breakout rooms
  • Private and group chats 
  • Online support