by Coffee Team | Mar 19, 2020 | General, Marketing
When you need tools to telecommunicate for your business , there are some free options to help you do this. Some of these have pro options for more functions, but you can use these while there is a need to telecommunicate between employees and work.
Work from home by telecommunicating?
Not a problem. Here are some of the tools for working via home and telecommunicating with your place of business. These are the most popular of tools that businesses are using.
Skype – for a very familiar feeling
For many, Skype is the go-to tool for all things video chat. As far as free tools go, it offers excellent quality without using up too much of your mobile data while on the go.
Key features: Video-calls, private and group IM, group video chats, file sharing and management, screen sharing and more
What’s so great about it? Most people will already have it installed, so you just need to swap usernames and you’re ready to go. You can also use it for group video chats for up to 10 users at once.
Google Hangouts – easy, hip team communications tool
Google’s chat and video messaging service, Hangouts, is a popular tool for many. It provides users with an easy way to converse with others, either with a single person or groups of people.
Key features: Voice calls, video calls, chat, multimedia messages, videoconferencing, live-stream meetings and events
What’s so great about it? You can connect with up to 10 people worldwide regardless of devices and messages can be archived for future reference. It recently got a dedicated website, so you can now use it in any web browser, without having to run Gmail or Google Plus.
You are limited to 10 users in a video call and 100 users in a chat, but paid subscriptions are available to increase that limit.
Slack – team communications on the go
If you need a chat app to send direct messages and create private groups, then Slack has the answer. It offers multi-team support, with free native apps for Android, iOS, and Mac and Windows desktops.
Key features: Real time messaging, one-to-one and group conversations, file sharing, powerful search and archiving (up to 10,000 most recent messages in free plan), dozens of integrations with tools such as Google+ Hangouts, Dropbox and Asana
What’s so great about it? Slack is one of the most widely used team communications apps available for all major mobile and desktop platforms. It’s quick to set up, well designed and allows you to embed social media posts and download and store images.
Advanced plans include features such as guest access, user groups, custom profile fields, unlimited service integration and a searchable archive with unlimited messages.
Bitrix24 – communication AND collaboration
Think of Bitrix24 as a social network for business. This free collaboration tool can be used by up to 12 users and offers free iOS and Android apps.
Key features: Instant messaging and group chat, email collaboration, telephony, videoconferencing, email connectors, unlimited tasks/subtasks, unlimited projects/workgroups, daily planner, multiuser editing, document sharing, calendars (personal and shared)
What’s so great about it? The free plan has plenty to offer, with up to 5GB of online storage. With a like button, interactive update feed and IM services, it’s incredibly user friendly.
Upgrade to increase storage space, participants and gain additional features such as backup storage, trigger emails, CRM record conversions and much more.
Fuze – high definition team communication
Fuze offers you a better meeting experience through the use of high definition audio and video conferencing. It provides a consistent experience across all supported devices, which include OSX, Windows and Linux for the desktop and iOS and Android for your mobile.
Key features: Cloud content, HD screen share, HD VoIP, HD video streams
What’s so great about it? Not only can you use it to hold meetings with someone across the country, but you can also use it to share documents such as animations, multimedia or other types of rich content.
Paid plans are available to increase participants, and receive additional features such as webinars, meeting recordings and unlimited dial-in (US only).
GoToMeeting – easy basic communication
GoToMeeting platform is ideal if you’re just looking for something easy and basic. The free plan allows you to video-conference up to 3 users and is compatible with Mac and Windows computers. A mobile app is available for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
Key features: Screen sharing, unlimited VoIP, application sharing, private and group in-meeting chat, customizable meeting link, one-click meeting entry
What’s so great about it? The free plan is perfect for consultants and freelancers looker for an easy to use a screen-sharing app with high-quality audio.
Starter, Pro and Plus plans are available for increased number of participants, as well as additional features such as recording, keyboard and mouse sharing, video conferencing and drawing tools.
Glip – tool for a productivity surge
Not only is Glip great for communication, but also it is ideal for increasing productivity as it keeps everything from task management, calendars, to-dos, files and notes in one place. With Glip you get unlimited teams and projects, as well as iOS, Android, web and desktop apps.
Key features: Real-time messaging, video conferencing, shared calendars, integrated task management, link sharing, extraction and archiving, and more
What’s so great about it? The free version offers unlimited users, storage, posts, free guest users and external integrations, as well as 500 minutes worth of video chat
Upgrade for additional support and video chat minutes.
Zoho – any time, any platform
If you’re looking for a way to host an instant web meeting, then Zoho is the answer. While the free option only allows one host and one participant, it is easy to use and set up, ideal for freelancers and small businesses. It supports Android, Linux, Mac, Windows and Web-based.
Key features: Audio conferencing, embed meeting in website, remote desktop control, secured web meetings, instant chat collaboration
What’s so great about it? The great thing about Zoho is that you are allowed unlimited meetings and durations in their free option. You can schedule meetings, or hold instant ones, with the ability for instant messaging and shared mouse and keyboard controls.
Upgrade your plan to gain more participants and additional features such as meeting reminders, changing presenters and dial-in audio conferencing.
Avaamo – a secure team messaging tool
Avaamo is a simple team-messaging tool that allows you to send an unlimited amount of messages to an unlimited number of business contacts. It offers free native iOS and Android apps.
Key features: One-to-one and group messaging, file and screen sharing, secure and searchable messaging, send and receive voice memos, dozens of integrations
What’s so great about it? With a delightfully simple interface, this instant and secure messaging service allows you to contact co-workers, partners, customers and vendors without having to worry about security.
Upgrade to the Premium version to receive increased customer support, data compliance and more.
Trello – Team CRM Great for Business
Trello offers a free version and professional version depending on your needs in business. Create productivity boards with a drag n drop interface. Invite users to join the board, assign tasks and drag n drop towards completion. You can share google docs and other tools available for businesses.
One key feature we like about Trello is that others can download the app and use Trello straight from their phones and on the go. you can assign tasks and managers who will also have responsibility for adding to and managing your Trello board. you can also have more than one board under your account so GREAT for dividing up employees and management.
Duo App for Video Calls and messaging
Simple, high-quality video calls for smartphones, tablets, computers, and Smart Displays like the Google Nest Hub Max. – You have gmail account, you can easily connect with Duo – for up to 8 people in video conferencing.
Zoom Video Conferencing
Zoom offers both free and professional plans that are affordable. Lots of different options and especially good for business solutions where you can monitor workrooms.
by Coffee Team | Jan 23, 2018 | General, Web Design
Divi security patch – Update your sites that use Divi or the Divi Builder!
This major security patch for Divi is crucial. The developers of Divi announced on Jan 17th that All WordPress sites using Divi or the Divi builder must update their plugin or theme. It is always important to keep up with updates on any WordPress site. If you don’t then you could be at risk.
See the announcement from Divi – Elegant Themes on Jan 17th.
Today our core product framework was updated to fix an unintended information exposure within password protected post excerpts. This includes all of our WordPress themes and the Divi Builder plugin. Updating these themes and plugins to their latest versions will patch the flaw, keeping your website content secure.
The Problem
WordPress allows posts (and Pages) to be password protected. When password protected posts are viewed or displayed within a post feed, post content is hidden pending password authentication. Our products did not treat these posts correctly when displaying excerpts. Post excerpts for password protected posts (and Pages) were mistakenly displayed on theme index pages and within post-based Divi Builder modules. Excerpts typically include the first ~40 words of a post unless otherwise defined. Full post content and individual post URLs were correctly protected.
Are You Affected?
This problem only affects customers who have published password protected posts and pages. Only the brief excerpts of these posts were potentially exposed within front-end website content. This does not affect WordPress admin authentication or any other password authentication on your website.
How To Fix It
Updating your themes and plugins will fix this problem. You can update your themes or plugins from within your WordPress dashboard, or you can download the latest versions from the member’s area and update them manually. This affects all Elegant Themes themes and the Divi Builder plugin. If you are using any of these products and you have published password protected posts, we recommend updating to the latest version.
What If You Can’t Update Right Now?
If you are unable to update your themes/plugins right away, you can use our security patcher plugin to patch the vulnerability without updating your products. This is a free download for all customers. Installing this plugin will fix the problem, and you can continue to use the security patcher plugin until you are able to update your products to their latest versions.
If you need this security patch then you need to contact us at immediately.
Has Your Account Expired?
We are making these updates available for free to all expired accounts. Even if your account has expired, you can still update your themes or plugins to their latest versions via your WordPress dashboard. Expired accounts will not be restricted from updating.
We Are Here To Help
Security is extremely important to us and we take a number of precautions to help mitigate issues like this. Unfortunately, something slipped through the cracks this time, but we will continue to work hard to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future.
If you have any questions or concerns, please know that our virtual doors are always open. If there is anything we can do to help, just let us know.
Best Wishes,
Nick Roach
www.ElegantThemes.com
More from Coffee Web Design Team
Since many of our clients do not have an Elegant Themes account, then you need to contact us so that we can make sure that your site gets updated ASAP.
To date, we still feel like the Divi theme is one of the best WordPress Themes we have used in building designs for WordPress sites. If you would like to have your own account to manage your Divi theme, then you can purchase the Divi theme membership through Coffee Web Design and we will be happy to adjust your settings in your WordPress site, so you have all the latest news and great stuff coming into Divi future versions!
