COVID-19 Tools & Apps

Here at AdvancED we geek out over online tools and apps and we are pros at remote working. No matter what you're doing at home, you could benefit from the free tools that many vendors are now offering to support you in staying organized and engaged.

We're sharing free and low-cost apps and products to help you manage remote projects, coordinate virtual teams, and oversee all aspects of your business and organization from the comforts of home (or wherever you're stashing yourself).

NOTE: AdvancED Consulting does NOT actively promote any of the tools listed on this page unless specifically noted. These tools are listed because local partners identified them as having free or low-cost offerings to support communities adapting to the impact of the coronavirus. ​For tools that AdvancED specifically promotes, please see our Toolbox!
​Top New Products at TechSoup for 2020
From TechSoup

Even in these strange days we have added an impressive roster of new product donations and discounted offers to the TechSoup catalog over the past year. Most of them are very suitable to the new ways that nonprofits and libraries have begun to do more remote work. We think you'll be surprised to see our new offers for 2020 that you might have missed. As many nonprofits gear up for the end of the fiscal year, here's what's new in the TechSoup catalog. Read the full article.
More articles from TechSoup:

NEW Admin Badges
From Trailhead for Salesforce

Skill up with the new Increased Productivity with Einstein Search badge and the Integrate Salesforce with Slack project. Plus, Develop a Virtual Strategy for Your Business, Lead During Challenging Times, and Reopen Safely with Work.com trails. And discover the Summer '20 Release Highlights. Badge up with New Skills (June 2020) Release!


Introducing new Trailhead content to empower you for the future of work

New Trailhead learning content has been released to guide businesses and Trailblazers as they navigate the future of work, go digital fast, and reskill for the jobs of today and tomorrow. Reskill today!


New cybersecurity innovations empower anyone to skill up

Discover how fresh content on the Cybersecurity Learning Hub means all Trailblazers can learn in-demand cybersecurity skills, build awareness of security threats, and help protect their organizations.  Check out Safety First!
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1Password is removing the 30-day trial limit on new 1Password Business accounts so companies can start working safely from home, with their first 6 months free.

With 1Password, teams can manage their workforce from anywhere, and safely share logins and other important resources with remote workers. Click here to learn more.

​8x8 Video Meetings is free to all users, and offers 80+ local dial-in numbers (11 toll-free) from 55+ countries and does not require any installation.

​Users can create a custom URL to host meetings of up to 50 participants without any time restrictions. Click here to learn more.

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Adobe is offering free 2 months of Creative Cloud. 
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The company hasn’t announced this promotion anywhere, and you’ll need to follow a few steps to take advantage of it. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get your free two months in just a few minutes. ​Click here to learn more.

Atlassian is offering its software development tools free for small teams up to 10 users.

​The free products include Jira Software, Jira Service Desk, Confluence, and Jira Core. Click here to learn more.

Box is offering 3 months free of its secure file sharing and collaboration platform.

The offer is for the company's Business plan and includes unlimited storage, mobile access, and advanced user and security reporting. Click here to learn more.

Cisco is extending services for existing customers of Webex, its video conference platform.

The offer includes unlimited usage without time restriction, support for fewer than 100 participants, and toll free dial-in. Click here to learn more.

​Cloudflare for Teams is offering unlimited seats of Cloudflare for Teams for organizations of all sizes through September 1, as well as a free 30-minute onboarding session.

Cloudflare is helping small businesses with a Waived Price, Free 30-min session, and Onboarding now.​ Click here to learn more.​

Google is expanding features of Hangouts Meet, its video conferencing platform, for current customers through July 1st, 2020.

​Customers can now host larger meetings with up to 250 participants, live stream to 100,000 viewers, and save recordings to Google Drive. Click here to learn more.

Free Compliance Cloud accounts
And Implementation Services​
AdvancED Consulting is a FormAssembly Partner

To help those serving on the front lines, FormAssembly is offering free Compliance Cloud accounts and Implementation Services to organizations with projects involved in the fight against COVID-19. FormAssembly’s data collection platform can be leveraged for multiple use cases, including self-assessment questionnaires, epidemiological studies, clinical trial screening, volunteer registration, donations, and more.

Click here to access FormAssembly COVID-19 assistance.
Beginning May 30th, 2020, Zoom will be enabling GCM encryption across the entire Zoom platform, providing increased protection for meeting data. 

Please begin updating all your clients to Zoom 5.0 now. After May 30, 2020, all Zoom clients on older versions will receive a forced upgrade when trying to join meetings as GCM Encryption will be fully enabled across the Zoom platform.

GoToMeeting is offering 3 months of free site-wide licensing of its video conferencing solution, GoToMeeting, for eligible organizations (health care providers, educational institutions, municipalities and non-profits).

​Click here to learn more.

HelloSign is committed to helping those fighting to stop the spread of COVID-19.

We’re offering free HelloSign Enterprise subscriptions for a three-month period to nonprofits and NGOs focused on fighting COVID-19. You can apply here.

Microsoft is offering 6-months free of Microsoft Teams, a unified communication and collaboration platform.

Starting on March 10th, restrictions will be lifted on how many users can join a team or schedule video calls. Click here to learn more.

Square is waiving all software subscription fees for the month of April for existing software customers. This is in addition to refunding March subscription fees. Square Online Store launched the ability for any business to accept online orders for curbside pickup or local delivery. The monthly fees for these features are waived through June 30, 2020.  Click here to learn more.
Watch the Demo!
Manage workplace reopening from a single hub
AdvancED Consulting is a Salesforce Partner

Help keep your employees safe with the right tools and information to effectively manage your return to work. The Workplace Command Center is a central hub to manage, optimize, and automate your workplace reopening to help you:
  • Access wellness, location, contact tracing, and training data
  • Customize and trigger workflows, apps, and actions for resuming operations
  • Securely survey and monitor employee wellness
  • Manage shift scheduling and office capacity
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Zoho is offering its Remotely product line for free to all new customers until July, 1st 2020.

​Zoho Remotely is a suite of cloud applications that helps teams collaborate and communicate. Click here to learn more.

UrbanSitter is offering a 2-months free parent subscription during the COVID-19 outbreak. Parents can find trusted childcare help to support them as they work from home during this period.

Every sitter is background checked and UrbanSitter provides parents with as much information as possible to make informed decisions. Click here to learn more.
Additional Zoom Updates:
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Zoom Updates
From Zoom

For more information on these changes, please reference our Release Notes and recently published Blog.

  • Security Toolbar Icon for Hosts. The meeting host will now have a Security option in their meeting controls, which exposes all of Zoom’s existing in-meeting security controls in one place.
  • Invite Button on Meeting Client Toolbar. The button to invite others to join your Zoom meeting is now available at the bottom of the Participants panel.
  • Meeting ID No Longer Displayed. The meeting ID will no longer be displayed in the title bar of the Zoom meeting window. 
  • Remove Attendee Attention Tracking Feature. Zoom has removed the attendee attention tracker feature as part of our commitment to the security and privacy of our customers. 
  • File Transfers. The option to do third-party file transfers in Meeting and Chat was temporarily disabled. Local file transfer is available with our latest release. 
  • Join Before Host Emails Disabled. Notifications sent to the host via email when participants are waiting for the host to join the meeting have been disabled.
  • Setting to Allow Participants to Rename Themselves. Account admins and hosts can now disable the ability for participants to rename themselves in any meeting. This setting is available at the account, group, and user level in the Web portal.

Don't see the app you're looking for?

Our Toolbox includes apps that are not listed here, be sure to check them out!

Contact Us and let us know what you're hoping to achieve with a tool or app. We'll offer a recommendation or point you in the right direction of someone who can help you!

AdvancED Consulting, LLC         mer @ advancedconsulting.org          (408) 901-0290
AdvancED Consulting, LLC
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