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Besides the obvious challenges, (cut to all the late-night hosts struggling to make things work while working from home), it turns out, we need to have some array of tools and gizmos to help make telecommuting work.
In the wake of the current Corona (COVID-19) Virus scare, we all seem to be dealing with, millions around the world have been either forced to work from home/bunkers or try to be productive while keeping a safe distance from other humans. Sure, in the U.S, grocery stores, gas stations, and other "essential businesses are still open. For the rest of us, it's off to the home-office/garage/attic/wherever you feel comfortable setting up shop at home.
Thing is, many of us had never even considered the potential difficulties surrounding our new work realities. Besides the obvious challenges, (cut to all the late-night hosts struggling to make things work while working from home), it turns out, we need to have some array of tools and gizmos to help make telecommuting work.
In the quest to try to recreate the office, real office environment, we must assemble a group of tools to help us stay productive while we wait for this horrid virus to do its thing.
That being said, here are 3 tech firms providing free remote work communication tools during these challenging times.
Microsoft- Team chat
The Seattle, Washington-based software giant is currently offering the premium version of its Team chat platform for free, according to Business Insider. According to the company, this offer includes 1TB of storage and the ability to record meetings. Both of these features, it is worth noting, are not typically available for free. This offer will last for the next six months.
Zoom
The popular remote working app already offers a free version but is making modifications to its offerings to help accommodate the sudden increase in new users. Among the many steps zoom is taking to help its users deal with the COVID-induced lockdown, the company has removed the 40-minute limit on teleconferencing calls for free accounts. Zoom is also is currently working to test its network to "ensure maximum reliability amid any capacity increases, as uptime is paramount," according to a blog post from the company's CEO.
Google - Hangout
Google is currently allowing free access to the enterprise version of Hangouts Meet to all G Suite and G Suite for Education users. Until July 1, 2020, users can access its Livestream feature for upto 100,000 viewers and host upto 250 users per call. Users can also record all meetings for free during this time.
