Countries across the globe are facing the novel pandemic COVID-19 coronavirus, we have lost thousands of people, while millions of people are facing lockdown or different quarantine policies have been implemented in dozens of countries including India, Italy, South Africa, UK, etc.
While a few companies have the provision of Work From Home (WFH), there are many companies, including startups, where they have never worked remotely. To cope up with the impending crisis many software companies are stepping forward to offer various premium solutions & tools for free or at discounted prices.
I have curated this list of some of the best available online meeting / conferencing/ training/ collaboration tools that might be immensely helpful to entrepreneurs, healthcare workers, teachers, coaches, students, and society at large.
Free Team meeting, Video Conferencing, management tools
- Zoho – Remotely (Free until 01, July 2020)
Zoho has extended its support by launching two initiatives which have especially been designed for small business, in the first offer it has offered access of its product remotely which is a suite of web & mobile apps, it includes about 10 tools such as sheets, conferencing, training, project management, file sharing tools. These tools would remail accessible for free to use until 01 July 2020.
Zoho has also launched a program where it offers free solutions to its existing customers. If you are a paid customer of Zoho & eligible for the program than you can get the fee waived off for up to three months, Check out Zoho’s Emergency Subscription Assistance Program (ESAP) by visiting the following link.
- Google Suite for education (Google Hangouts meet, Google Classroom free for G-suite users)
Google was among the first few companies that extended support to people affected due to COVID-19; however, this offer is meant for existing google suite customers. If you are using the google suite services in your organization, you may check out the more details in this official announcement:
- Adobe Connect (Free 90 Days trial for up to 25 participants)
If you are a small organization & looking for temporary options to get online, you might give Adobe connect a try; the free trial has a limit of 25 participants, you will need to go for a premium plan in order to have more participants. One of the best features that Adobe gives in its free plan, you can record sessions over the cloud & share links with participants who miss your meeting.
I have accessed both free plan & premium one, frankly speaking, I didn’t find much difference but the cap of 25 participants. I first time accessed Adobe Connect when my organization decided to discontinue a VSAT based technology in 2019. It’s a good platform, requires decent bandwidth.
- Webex (Free for 90 Days)
During this difficult phase, Webex has also come up with an offer where anyone can signup over the platform & use it for free for 90 days.
- Amazon Chime (Free until June 30th)
Amazon Chime is a communications service it lets you meet, chat, and place business calls inside and outside your organization, all using a single application. Educators or entrepreneurs can use this tool to conduct classes, training, or meetings online.
- GoToMeeting
It offers free emergency remote work kits for health care providers, educational institutions, municipalities & non-Profit organizations. Check the below-mentioned URL for complete details.
- Zoom offers free access to schools
Zoom meeting is one of the popular platforms among people & during the COVID-19 lockdown, the platform has gained a lot of popularity among schools & educational institutions. Check the below-mentioned link to see if you’re eligible to use this platform; nevertheless, anyone can use the free trial for up to 40 minutes in one go.
DetailsApply here
- 8X8
While I was researching to find a platform where meetings can be hosted for free of cost, 8×8 offers Free Video Meetings that you can access without downloading an app or without any registration. It’s a good platform when you want to have a meeting with up to 50 participants.
You can also invite participants from various countries to join the meeting via audio call by dialing a number & passcode provided while creating a meeting. Although there are plenty of other companies that offer this feature, I have not found any company which supports calls on an Indian phone number. However, 8X8 doesn’t offer a toll-free number, however, the number that I tried, normal call charges were applicable, so it might be pretty useful for especially those who are looking for pretty cheap options for voice call conference.
However, I would like to add here that while using it the first time I didn’t face any challenge, the second time while I created a meeting, the option of recording didn’t work as perhaps their servers might have been getting massive traffic.
Link: https://www.8×8.com/
- Box (90 Days Free Trial)
Box has offered resources, including offers, training classes, personal coaching, and best practices guidance.
I hope these tools would help entrepreneurs, marketers, teachers to collaborate with team members. If you know someone who might get benefitted from these tools, kindly help them by sharing the article or details with them.
If you come across any other useful tool, kindly feel free to share details in the comments section.
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I’m glad that you found the post useful. Cheers!