Vonage Offering Free Cloud Communications Services During COVID-19 Pandemic

Business disruptions can happen at any time.  There are power outages, massive snow storms, network failures, and of course global pandemics like the current coronavirus crisis.  COVID-19 has already infected more than 200,000 people globally, with the number still rising each day.  It has forced school closures, event cancellations, and a “social distancing” mandates from governments – and even more strict quarantine measures in many countries. 

It’s also created an immediate demand for teleworking capabilities, as businesses and governments that are able to, have told employees to work from home if possible. 

Anywhere, anytime access to communications and other corporate resources isn’t new.  Cloud communications vendors have been touting the benefits of enabling people to work from anywhere for years, and the current situation only underscores the benefits of having the ability to react swiftly to any situation and relocate employees to remote locations.  It's a significant opporutnity for the communications community to promote its capabilities, while supporting efforts to ensure business continuity and help contain the spread of the virus.

Many of those providers are seeing a significant uptick in demand and are offering special deals to enable companies to implement remote work capabilities quickly.  That includes ITEXPO exhibitor Vonage, which has enabling businesses to implement its cloud-based solutions free for 90 days, in an effort to help them manage the crisis.

“We know how important it is to avoid disruptions in communications for those working to support public services through this crisis,” said Alan Masarek, Vonage (News - Alert) CEO.  “We feel it’s important to do our part to help vital services and support professionals communicate smoothly through this challenge.”

For healthcare organizations that are under heavy pressure to provide services, to schools that need to continue student education through distance learning, to any other business, Vonage is offering its communications and collaboration services to enable immediate teleworking capabilities.

With its Business Continuity Offer, Vonage is offering up to 250 mobile licenses to enable teams to work remotely from mobile devices, laptops, or desktops.  The solution includes: 

• Voice, SMS and team messaging.
• Video collaboration through Vonage Meetings to facilitate one-on-one communications or cross-company meetings from multiple locations worldwide.  
• Desktop and Mobile applications that allow employees to manage their services directly from any device.  
• The ability to choose how calls are handled and routed with call forwarding, or to automatically redirect calls to a specified backup number when needed using call continuity.
• Seamless integration into CRM and productivity tools.

In addition, the company is offering Vonage Meetings – its video collaboration solution – as a free service.  Vonage Free Conferencing is also available free for 90 days as of this week.

For healthcare providers, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations that are looking for a more permanent solution to support their digital transformation strategies and bring their communications into the modern era, Vonage is also offering its Virtual Workplace solution free for the first 90 days.

Finally, in an effort to enable efficient dissemination of critical information, Vonage has developed an SMS alert solution to allow healthcare providers, government agencies, and other community organizations to quickly and easily provide real-time updates on the current situation.  The service is free for these organizations to download and use as they battle this global pandemic.

Cloud communications and the remote work, mobility, and business continuity benefits it offers businesses are only part of the discussion that will continue at ITEXPO, coming to the brand new Miami Beach Convention Center, June 22-25, 2021.  Part of the TechSuperShow, along with other collocated events – SD-WAN Expo, Future of Work Expo, IoT Evolution Expo, MSP Expo, and more – the conference programming, exhibit hall, and networking events provider an unprecedented opportunity for enterprises and SMBs, service providers and MSPs, and channel partners to gain access to the latest technologies and business strategies that are driving innovation and success.