The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is having a massive effect on how business is being done on a global scale. The government is urging parents to home-school, and these same parents are working almost exclusively from home. Social distancing is critical during the COVID-19 timeline, and fortunately, there are several tools available from VoIP providers to help keep businesses running.

Communication tools, beyond just social media, is vital for disseminating important public health information for healthcare workers, answering customer FAQs, and communicating with your family members. The COVID-19 pandemic has healthcare professionals on the frontlines rushing to learn new communication resources to improve patient-provider communication. So long as the CDC taskforce is requiring us to perform social distancing to stave off the Coronavirus disease of 2019, we’ll have to take our meetings, webinars, and conferences online.

Multiple providers are opting to deliver free options for VoIP, web/video conferencing, and contact center software without being concerned about profitability. Despite usage rising across the board, these providers are choosing not to gouge prices, which opens up lines of communication for non-profits and SMBs. These organizations are delivering powerful solutions for free.

 

 

Company
Product
Promo Offered
Availability
Collaboration Software
  • Free chat
  • Free video conferencing for up to 200 attendees
  • Free content sharing
  • Available until August 31, 2020

 
8x8, Inc. Logo 8×8 Meetings
  • Unlimited video meetings and unlimited use
  • Expanded international dial-in to 55+ countries
  • Free business readiness kit
Cisco WebEx
  • Unlimited WebEx use
  • Free hosting of conferences with up to 100 participants
  • Free 90-day licenses for new customers
Challo
  • Challo offered for free until July 1, 2020
  • File sharing
  • Designed for compliance
Loom Free and Pro
  • Loom Pro’s trial extended to one month from 14 days
  • Lifting recording limits on Loom Free
  • Loom Pro reduced from $10 to $5 per month
  • Loom Pro free for students and teachers
  Ooma
  • Regardless of payment status, existing users not disconnected for two months
  • Late fees waived for 60 days
  • Free IP desk phone with signup
Talkdesk Boost
  • Free access to cloud-based contact center
  • Avaya, Cisco, and Genesys customers free transition to cloud in 15 days
  • Available for three months
RingCentral Office
  • 3 months of free RingCentral Office
  • Video conferences for up to 500 attendees
  • Free virtual numbers
  • Free SMS
Hangouts Meet
  • Free meetings for up to 250 individuals
  • Live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers
  • Available until July 1, 2020
Microsoft Teams
  • Video meetings for up to 250 individuals
  • Free screen sharing, chat, and collaboration
  • Available until January 2021
BlueJeans Meetings
  • 90-day free video conferencing
  • Free meeting recording
  • Dolby Voice audio
zoho Zoho Remotely
  • Chat, file storage, and project management
  • Several free apps included in the package
  • Free use until July 1, 2020
Emergency Work Kits
  • Access to GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToMyPC, and Rescue Assist
  • Expanded use of GoToConnect for educators until June
  • Free for LogMeIn customers for three months
  • Nonprofits
  • Municipalities
  • Education
  • Hospitals
  • Current customers
  • More Details
StarLeaf
  • Free to anyone with an email
  • Licensing flexibility for easy expansion
  • Available until July 1, 2020
CXone Cloud Customer Experience Platform
  • Free access to cloud contact center software
  • Free access to CXone@home remote dialing software
  • Free voice call ports for six months
Facebook Workplace Advanced
  • Internal pro version of Facebook for businesses
  • Free video calling, news feed, and chat
  • Free workflow software for 12 months
  • Emergency services and government organizations
  • More Details
Zoom
  • No duration limits for educators, medical users, and NGOs
  • Available in Japan, the U.S., Germany. Canada, the UK, and Italy
  • Waiving 40-minute duration limits in China
  • K-12 educators
  • Medical institutions
  • NGOs
  • Basic users in China
  • More Details
Vonage Business Cloud
  • Three months of free access to voice, SMS, and team messaging
  • Available in the U.S., UK, and Australia
  • 250 mobile-only licenses for telecommuters
  3CX Standard Edition
  • Free access to 3CX Standard
  • Virtual meetings, video conferences, collaboration software
  • Free for a full 3 years
Dialpad
  • Available in Japan and North America
  • All industries
  • More Details
Lifesize
  • Access grants unlimited meetings
  • Encrypted conversations
  • Available for six months

 

There’s no need to panic; these providers are going above and beyond in order to help you maintain business continuity. Running a call center? Both Talkdesk and Nice inContact have solutions that will keep your agents dialing and will bring all of the modes and features that you require for success.

Running a non-profit, educational institution, or work in healthcare? Providers like RingCentral and LogMeIn have you covered.

What about running a marketing company where you will need to maintain communications so that your employees are meeting business needs? Providers like Microsoft, Google, Starleaf, and LifeSize are all granting subscriptions to their services so that you can video conference and chat during the pandemic. Every business type will have options in the coming months.

Team collaboration is the name of the game during this crisis, so take the time to find a provider that offers the features that you’ll need to keep things together.