In response to the Coronavirus pandemic vendors are increasingly offering collaboration tools for free for a period of time. We’ll continuously update this list of free products that are designed to help you work better remotely.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft said at the start of March that if you work for a business that isn’t currently licensed for Teams, it will provide a free Office 365 E1 offer for six months. Teams is part of O365, so if you are licensed for that you already have it. It’s worth noting for small businesses that Microsoft already has a good freemium version and you can find details here.
Google Hangout Meets
Google’s general manager and VP of G-Suite Javier Soltero said at the start of March that Google will begin rolling out free access to its advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally.Google Hangouts Meet is a cloud-based collaboration tool that is part of its business productivity bundle. G-Suite. Hangouts Meet is Google’s latest video conferencing app while Hangouts Chat is Google’s Slack alternative, allowing G Suite organizations to create group chats and channels for internal discussions.
The new free access will include:
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
Cisco
Cisco is providing free 90-day licenses to businesses who are not Webex customers. It has also expanded the capabilities on its free Webex offer in all countries where it is available, not only those impacted by COVID-19.
Full details on the offer and eligible countries are available here
The additional features include:
Unlimited usage (no time restrictions)
Supports up to 100 participants
Offers toll dial-in (in addition to existing VoIP capabilities).
Litera
Certain key parts of Litera Transact (formerly Doxly) will be available at no cost for six months. In particular, the bits of Litera Transact that enable lawyers to avoid coming into contact with others, specifically its checklist, eSignature, and closing room functionality.
Juro
Juro’s contract management platform’s basic plan is free for 12 months. Basic plans allow businesses to add up to two users, so they can create, collaborate on and agree contracts right away. They don’t include larger deployments, nor the configuration of advanced integrations, due to the implementation time involved, but otherwise there are no limits. See here for more details: https://blog.juro.com/juro-basic-plans-free-covid-19
The Link App
The Link App provides a secure and confidential communication tool, now for free, across all devices: home computers, laptops, ipads, iphones and Androids. Users can message clients, share documents, and enable clients to access case updates. See here for how to get started: https://thelinkapp.com/insights/the-link-app-is-now-available-for-free/
LawPath
LawPath enables users to complete legally binding documents with its online eSignature tool. CEO Dominic Woolrych tells us it is offering free unlimited signatures to all users. See here for more:
https://lawpath.com.au/eSignature
Crafty Counsel
Crafty Counsel which is an online learning and development platform for lawyers, is making all their content free for two weeks – head on over to https://lnkd.in/gcCcz_W
Scribestar
Scribestar enables teams to collaborate efficiently to manage the drafting, verification, checklisting and publication of documents for debt and equity capital market transactions. CEO Srinivas Suravarapu told us: “We are a small business and don’t have the outreach of the larger technology providers, but we are happy to help within our means.” You can find out more here: https://www.scribestar.com/working-remotely-isnt-hard-its-just-different/
DPO Cloud
Tim Hyman at 2Twenty4Consulting has set up THEDPOCLOUD, a data protection collaboration to offer charities free advice by email. Advice may cover data breach, SAR, DPIA or other activity. If you are a DPO willing to give up some time (with no commitment) to help with queries let him know and he will add your profile.
Send free products for immediate inclusion to [email protected]