Microsoft offers 6 month free trial of paid Teams tier in light of Coronavirus

Microsoft is offering a six-month free trial to the premium version of its Microsoft Teams business chat/collaboration application, a part of the Office 365 suite. The move comes as fears of the coronavirus outbreak cause many businesses to have their employees work from home.

Companies and businesses that take advantage of the six-month free trial of Teams premium will gain access to many of the application’s features which aren’t available of the free plan—including better access to scheduling and meeting features. Additionally, Microsoft says it will begin to allow users on the free Teams plan to schedule meetings starting March 10. The move promotes public health safety by making it easier to work from home.

At Microsoft, the health and safety of employees, customers, partners and communities is our top priority. By making Teams available to all for free for six months, we hope that we can support public health and safety by making remote work even easier. https://t.co/e8aaocLzYD

— JP Courtois (@JP_Courtois) March 3, 2020

Microsoft has recently begin promoting Teams as the place for employees to access from anywhere, likely as the result of the increased demand from working from home. A Microsoft employee from Shanghai also shared some tips for those who will be taking their work to their homes.

While coronavirus concerns have resulted in the cancellation of numerous tech events including Microsoft’s summit, the company says it will continue to monitor the situation before it decides on whether or not to cancel this year’s Build event.

Will you be working from home? What do you think about Microsoft’s promotion? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments area below.