How to Save on Online Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic
To align business processes with the challenges and restrictions precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic, numerous organisations around the world have switched to the remote workplace model. Therefore, employees have to get the hang of things like virtual conferencing solutions, remote collaboration apps, and desktop sharing tools.
To bridge the gap between users and technologies that enable teleworking, lots of software vendors have begun offering free subscriptions or advanced versions of their products. The following sections cover these generous initiatives, including freebies and licensing tweaks, which will play into remote workers’ hands during the COVID-19 crisis:
- Security Applications
- Security Services
- Virtual Meeting and Collaborations Tools
- Business Applications
- Business Services
- Communication
- Education
- Entertainment
Security Applications
Banyan Security
The Banyan Zero Trust Security Platform is temporarily available on a free-of-charge basis so that businesses can benefit from secure remote workplace access during the novel coronavirus emergency.
BitDefender
The company is lending healthcare organizations a helping hand by offering them up to 12 months of enterprise-grade cybersecurity.
Cisco Umbrella
Cisco is extending the initial 14-day trial period for the increasingly popular Cisco Umbrella security solution to 90 days. Additionally, existing clients are allowed to exceed their original user limit to keep teleworkers safe.
IObit
The software publisher has announced a giveaway of 50,000 IObit PRO licenses for two security products of choice.
Kaspersky
Kaspersky is offering healthcare organizations to use a range of their B2B products for free for six months.
Senseon
The company is giving new customers an opportunity to use the Endpoint 360 solution at zero cost for half a year.
Sophos
The vendor has made their Sophos Home Commercial Edition product free for PC and Mac users during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Security Services
Absolute
Absolute has canceled fees for using their “Application Persistence for VPN” product through August 31, 2020.
Cloudflare
The provider now allows small businesses around the world to use the Cloudflare for Teams solution for free during at least six months so that remote employees can work safely.
Cyber Risk Aware
Companies get the chance to conduct a free phishing test and training delivered by Cyber Risk Aware to boost their personnel’s awareness of the growingly widespread coronavirus-themed social engineering scams.
Druva
Druva is offering businesses to use their endpoint and Office 365 protection tools for free during six months and thereby help remote workers steer clear of cyber threats.
Duo Security
Duo Security, a company owned by Cisco Systems, is reducing its restrictions in terms of the allowed number of users. The customers can exceed their user limit outlined in the original subscription terms to support more remote employees.
ImmuniWeb
Organisations that have been forced to implement the remote workplace principle can use ImmuniWeb’s auditing and security assessment solutions for free. The company has allocated $500,000 worth of services to bolster this initiative.
Logsign
Logsign is offering healthcare institutions free access to their security information and event management (SIEM) platform. The free licenses will be distributed until April 30 and will stay in effect through 2021. The subscription supports 3000 EPS (events per second) and 50 log sources.
Reposify
The security provider is offering free licenses to organisations that want to check their infrastructure of connected devices for vulnerabilities and exposures.
Sucuri
Sucuri is granting a free year of its website firewall to those who are on the front line of crisis response, including physicians, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and food banks.
SentinelOne
The vendor is making its SentinelOne Core security solution free of charge through May 16, 2020, to help businesses implement remote work and stay safe.
Varonis
Varonis is giving free evaluation licenses for its cybersecurity platform to new customers. In addition to that, companies that fell victim to a cyber-attack can request incident response assistance with no strings attached.
Virtual Meeting and Collaboration Tools
Cisco Webex
The company has equipped its free Webex solution with extra features, including unlimited usage, support of up to 100 meeting participants, and enhanced file-sharing options.
Discord
Discord has lifted the main restriction in their free Go Live service, now allowing up to 50 concurrent attendees of a virtual meeting. This number was previously limited to 10 people at a time.
The technology giant is giving the green light to G Suite and G Suite for Education users in terms of leveraging the Hangouts Meet video conferencing tool, which supports up to 250 simultaneous participants and up to 100,000 viewers in a live streaming session.
Jamm
The vendor is granting free 3-month access to their web collaboration platform to make teleworking easier.
LogMeIn
LogMeIn is offering its Emergency Remote Work Kits to existing customers and eligible organizations faced with the “work from home” challenges amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Microsoft
The corporation is making the Microsoft Teams service free of charge during the next 6 months to help companies migrate their workforce off-premises.
Ribbon
As part of the “Work@Home” project, Ribbon is offering free access to its proprietary Smart Office communications and collaboration solution through June 30, 2020.
Zoho
The company is providing its collaboration tool called Zoho Remotely free of charge until July 1, 2020.
Zoom
Zoom has given their free subscription a boost by eliminating the 40-minute restriction for meetings with more than 2 participants.
Business Applications
1Password
The vendor is eliminating the 30-day trial for their 1Password Business app. By signing up for the enterprise product, companies get their first half a year free.
Adobe
Adobe is offering commendable perks to higher education and K-12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) institutions that currently leverage Adobe Creative Cloud utilities for distance learning. Specifically, the provider is granting free at-home access to the software through May 31, 2020, if a customer requests it.
Affinity
With the new licensing principle in place, clients can benefit from the 90-day free trial of the entire Affinity suite, including publishing, photo editing, graphic design, and illustration instruments. The offer applies to both Mac and Windows versions of the products.
Avid
The multimedia giant is temporarily providing free licenses for its audio and video editing software. This offer is valid through April 17.
Drastic Technologies
The company is giving its existing customers the opportunity to use free 3-month licenses for its popular media content creation solutions.
GanttPRO
Healthcare-related and nonprofit organizations can leverage project management tools from GanttPRO for free until August 15, 2020.
Kapwing
If you are a teacher and need collaboration video software for your work during the coronavirus outbreak, the company is offering free Kapwing Pro accounts through April 17, 2020, or until schools are reopened in your area.
Really Simple Systems
The provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software now allows businesses to use a 3-month “Starter” plan (up to a thousand customer accounts supported) without any financial strings attached. The offer applies to new subscriptions made until May 31, 2020.
TechSmith
The software maker is offering companies and academic institutions to use the TechSmith Snagit screen recording solution and TechSmith Video Review online collaboration tool for free through June 30, 2020.
Business Services
Acronis
Service providers can make the most of Acronis products by using two generous offers. The first one applies to Acronis Cyber Files Cloud, an enterprise file syncing and sharing instrument – businesses can leverage it for free through July 31, 2020. Additionally, new clients who start using the Acronis Cyber Backup Cloud solution between March 18 and July 31 won’t be charged for the service.
BlackBerry
The company allows customers to use their BlackBerry AtHoc, BlackBerry Desktop, BlackBerry Protect, and SecuSUITE products at no charge for 60 days.
iFlow
The vendor is offering their time management and employee attendance app for free during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the iFlow press release, it will stay that way for at least three months.
LuxSci
LuxSci is providing its HIPAA-compliant secure email services for free until at least June 1, 2020.
Loom
The provider is removing limits, extending trials, and cutting prices for their business communication products in light of the COVID-19 emergency.
Meero
The photography company is giving customers up to 10 extra gigabytes of storage while increasing the validity duration to 3 months.
PandaDoc
The company has launched a new free eSign plan to assist businesses in closing deals and maintaining their day-to-day activities during the disease outbreak.
Thoughtexchange
Business decision-makers can now gain free access to the cloud-based crowdsourcing platform and use it without limits to discuss issues related to the pandemic.
Virtu
Healthcare facilities, nonprofit organizations, K-12 education institutions, state and local governments, as well as entities supporting defense and intelligence can use the Virtu email encryption add-on for free by claiming complimentary licenses.
Communication
AT&T
The telco giant is reportedly lifting broadband data caps during the COVID-19 crisis.
CircleLoop
The provider of cloud-based business telephony service is offering free access to healthcare organizations, schools, and charities encountering remote working roadblocks.
RingCentral
The company is allowing healthcare providers, K-12 institutions, community colleges, nonprofits, as well as news and media organizations to use their RingCentral Office cloud-based communication solution for free during the coronavirus outbreak.
Education
FeedbackFruits
FeedbackFruits has made their distance learning services free to help teachers keep up their work in these hard times.
JSTOR
The popular digital library is allowing educators to gain complimentary access to its resources. This applies to institutions currently enrolled in the JSTOR content program.
LanSchool
To facilitate distance teaching during the closures, the provider is offering free LanSchool Air licenses through July 1, 2020.
The company has recently contacted registered users over email with an offer to use LinkedIn Learning courses at no charge during the pandemic.
Mojang
Mojang is expanding the range of free educational content available in the Minecraft Marketplace so that users can familiarize themselves with marine biology, Greek history, renewable energy, and other subjects.
Rosetta Stone
The educational technology company is offering three months of free access to their Rosetta Stone for Students service.
SANS
The SANS Security Awareness team has masterminded a free Work-from-Home Deployment Kit that helps users safeguard their teleworking activities.
Entertainment
Audible Stories
The service is providing a free collection of streaming audio materials for kids. The content is available in 6 different languages.
Remote Access
Amazon
To help remote workers do their job, Amazon is offering everyone interested to use the Amazon WorkSpaces and Amazon WorkDocs services for free through June 30, 2020. Up to 50 users are supported.
CyberArk
The company has got some good news for existing customers: they can deploy and use the Alero Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution at no charge through May 31, 2020. The free subscription allows businesses to manage up to 100 remote workers.
HotelFriend
HotelFriend, a global provider of software solutions for the hospitality and travel industries, has temporarily canceled the subscription fee for new customers.
Instant Housecall
The company is enabling organizations to create free sub-accounts so that the employees can control and use their office computers remotely. This offer will stay valid until the World Health Organization (WHO) declares the end of the pandemic.
OneClick
OneClick is providing their basic starter package for free during the first three months. It supports encrypted remote access to any app or desktop for up to 5 users per organization.
Splashtop
The vendor is offering companies to use its Splashtop Business Access remote access software with a discount that can reach 50%.
Tigunia
As part of their Business Continuity Program, Tigunia is giving organizations a chance to get six months of free remote access to an unlimited number of computers.
David Balaban
