Change Amid Financial Uncertainty
The situation with COVID-19 remains impactful on small businesses (and dire for many). The repercussions are the same for digital businesses as well. Plans, budgets, and forecasts are all being re-evaluated, and it’s the same for us here at Periphery.
This is especially important for small businesses that leverage digital tools. Fellow agencies, studios, and service-providers will (hopefully) find at least one better option. Software as a service (better known as SaaS) products have costs that add up quickly. We’ve found a list of SaaS companies now offering COVID-19 specific promotions and discounts (for every industry).
We thought it helpful to share the results of our research. Everyone is in this together, and our hope is that you find this useful when re-evaluating your spending.
Cloud Collaboration and Storage Platforms
- Box – Made its business edition free for 90 days. Business edition grants unlimited storage and data-loss protection service.
- Dropbox – Non-profits and NGOs can get six months of free access to Dropbox Business and HelloSign Enterprise.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
- Salesforce – Giving access to Salesforce Essentials for free (for 3 months) to everyone impacted by COVID-19. You do not have to commit to any purchase for this access.
Marketing Tools
- Omnisend – Free plan for basic email marketing, plus 50% off the first two months of the Standard Plan with marketing automation with the code INTHISTOGETHER50X2.
- Hootsuite – Giving free access to the Hootsuite Professional plan tools until July 1st.
- Mailchimp – Governments, schools, healthcare companies, non-profits, and other groups can get more features out of free accounts. Free tier users are being upgraded to standard tier for no charge.
Productivity Tools
- Adobe – Offering free home access to its Creative Cloud for teachers and students through May 31.
- PandaDoc – Now offers an unlimited free e-signatures service for all.
- Quickbase – Government, educational, non-profit, and healthcare users can get free access to software that helps digitize workflows. The discount runs through September 30.
Scheduling Tools
- Calendly – Usually charges customers for solutions that integrate its software into GoToMeeting and Zoom. They’ve announced this is now free and organizations working to fight Covid-19 have free access to premium service.
Team Communication and Collaboration Tools
- Facebook – Giving customers a year of free access to Workplace Advance to governments and emergency services. You have until June 30 to sign up, after which you can get video calling and file-sharing support.
- Slack – Users can get free upgrades to paid services if they’re working directly on Covid-19 research or response. Standard service plans also have no cap on users for three months (used to be 250). Email covid@slack.com to follow up with their team on this.
- Threads – Making its Pro services free through July 1 to help people work remotely.
Video Conference Tools
- Cisco – Removed time limits on its free video conferencing software and has expanded it to be able to support 100 people per call.
- Dialpad – Any customer in Japan and North America can get two months of access to Dialpad Talk Pro for free. UberConference Business, its video conferencing tool, is also free for that time.
- Google – G-Suite and G-Suite for Education customers can now get free advanced Hangouts Meet support, giving users access to video calls for up to 250 people. You can also store meeting recordings on Drive.
- Loom – Through July 1, Loom has removed the limit on the number of videos free-tier customers can access and extending the trial period for Loom Pro from 14 days to 30. Educational institutions can now get access to Loom Pro for free with no time limit.
- Zoom – Removed its 40 minute limit on free calls for students and teachers.
Want More?
While we have covered business SaaS products, you can refer to AidTable for more. This crowd-sourced database shares discounts offered by companies trying to help during the stressful COVID-19 situation. Everything from entertainment, to e-learning and more, are included, and you can add your own.
Moving Forward
There are no experts on how to deal with an unprecedented situation like COVID-19. The best we can do is learn, share, and support each other through this difficult time. This is a small part of doing so, and we hope you pass it on to anyone who might need the same.
Please share with anyone that might find this helpful and if there is anything that we can provide assistance for, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you and stay safe.
