- Tech companies unite efforts against coronavirus: new work tools and employers’ aid;
- Adobe is offering free access to Creative Cloud in America.
Tech giants are also trying to fight the impacts of the coronavirus. Companies are figuring out not only how best to support their employees during the coronavirus crisis, but also how they can be a resource to their users in lockdown, as Axios reported it.
Many educational tech firms are offering its products for free while schools are closed, such as Adobe offering free access to its Creative Cloud tools.
Video conferencing softwares including Zoom, Google (with its Hangouts Meet), Microsoft (with its Teams) and Cisco (which owns WebEx), have expanded their free offerings to help businesses and schools that need to rapidly increase their use of such products.
It’s not clear how long this outbreak will last. Steps to contain and reduce the speed with which the virus is spreading include efforts from some internet service providers and wireless carriers. In America they are lifting data caps and pledging not to terminate service to those who can’t pay their bills. In Brazil, operators are also increasing broadband capacity.
READ ALSO: Big Tech joins the White House to devise ways to contain outbreak
At the same time, tech giants promise to pay hourly workers while employees telecommute: Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Twitter told Axios that they plan to pay their hourly workers regular wages even as they encourage many of their staff to work from home, reducing their on-site support staffing needs.
