Several UC brands have stepped up to offer free services for the newfound influx of remote workers around the planet. Companies like Avaya, BlueJeans, and Microsoft, normally play more of a background role when it comes to workplace communications. Rarely are these companies spoken about in the mainstream, but once in a while, an event so pivotal occurs, it pretty much catapults them into the society at large.
We have seen that happen over the past few weeks, companies that typically see adaption in the enterprise space now have millions of additional users who work from home for the foreseeable future. The software these companies develop costs thousands of dollars for a commercial license, but today, companies are giving away the popular unified communications and collaboration software because it is simply the right thing to do setting profit aside in many cases.
We've put together a list of companies that decided safety was more important than making a buck. And this is what companies should do to protect some of the most vulnerable workers such as contact center employees who work in a center with hundreds, sometimes thousands of other agents.
"We know it is a challenge maintaining high levels of customer service while making moves to keep employees safe in the face of this global health challenge." This is why, she added, Avaya's providing complimentary 90-day licenses for Avaya contact center solutions an Avaya spokesperson told UC Today News.
Avaya also recently announced it would give its 'Spaces' collaboration software for free for those at educational institutions along with eligible non-profits worldwide. "We know there is an immediate need in the education sector as school and university administrators consider the safety of their students while ensuring continuity of classes, engagement with students, and delivering on educational objectives," she added.
Avaya's also activated a 24-7 COVID-19 helpdesk to answer questions about the free solution and on how to convert agents into remote workers. According to the same spokesperson, since January, Avaya's seen a 500 percent increase in video collaboration traffic on the Avaya Spaces platform, which only further stresses the importance of these systems, especially during a pandemic.
In one of the hardest-hit regions in the world, Italians now use Avaya Spaces to communicate with parents, students, and each other to minimize learning disruption amid school closures. They can do things such as securely share documents, coordinate work across teams, assign and track coursework. In conjunction with Avaya, the Italian Regione Liguria government also introduced unified communication solutions to enable employee communication, collaboration, and the exchange of content remotely via chat, multimedia messages, video calls, audio-conferences, as well as collaboration.
Users also gain access to internal office telephone numbers which get diverted to their mobile other devices. Getting a bit more creative, the University of Milan used Avaya solutions for virtual graduation ceremonies. And Johannesburg-based Charter College International High School, moved its classrooms online with Avaya Spaces after schools shut down in South Africa. In another hard-hit area, Spain's University of the Balearic Islands used Avaya collaboration technology to deliver courses and training over the internet, enable the continuation of its education programs.
CPaaS giant Twilio already has a non-profit organization Twilio.org. It does a lot to support non-profits in enhancing internal and external communications. The organization announced it will donate $1.5 million to global and local relief efforts for organizations "Driving the medical response to COVID-19 which support low-income, at-risk populations." Here's a breakdown of how the money Twilio plans to divide the funds:
- $500,000 will go to the UN Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund, a program that benefits the World Health Organization
- $500,000 from Twilio's CEO Jeff Lawson and his wife Erica Lawson will go to the Give2SF fund
- $250,000 of the funds will head to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Regional Response Fund
- $250,000 will go to the Colorado COVID-19 Relief Fund
According to Twilio's Chief Social Impact Officer, Erin Reilly, the company will match employee donations 2:1 for charitable organizations focused on COVID-19 response, including the CDC Foundation, Global Relief International, Give2Asia, and International Medical Corps. She added, "We’ve engaged employees with virtual volunteer activities, including remote mentoring, too."
