As virus spreads across North America, software providers step up with cost-free offerings

As the novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the economy, a number of service and software providers are offering their products and platforms free of charge.

Carpinteria, Calif.-based Procore Technologies today announced that it is providing its current customers with the opportunity to access its construction management platform and customer support for their work on COVID-19 emergency relief construction projects at no additional cost. To apply for that usage, visit https://procore.com/covid-relief. Applications will be accepted until April 30. Customers can submit up to two qualifying COVID-19 relief projects totaling up to $20 million in aggregate construction volume. The projects must be started this month or have a completion date no later than May 31.

“We don’t want cost concerns to slow down the important work our customers are doing in response to this pandemic,” says Tooey Courtemanche, Procore’s CEO. The company’s construction platform connects project teams in the office and field, and across companies.

Owner Insite, an Austin, Texas-based company that provides owner-focused project management software, is offering its construction and asset management platforms for free to any organization that finds itself fighting the virus. Those platforms include:

•Owner Insite, which is used to manage construction projects such as hospitals or care centers. The platform’s tasks include budgeting, accounting, communications, and project management.

•Asset Management, which helps to manage all aspects of an asset. In the context of COVID-19, that could include inventory such as face masks, hand sanitizer, and other healthcare supplies. This platform can manage receiving, disseminating, and tracking product requests and status updates.

Both platforms can be accessed by users remotely and provide real-time data and analysis that can be shared quickly. Organizations interested in either platform can fill out a form on Owner Insite’s website: https://owner-insite.com/covid-19actionplan/.  The programs will be available free of charge for an entire year.

“We all need to be doing whatever we can right now to help in any way,” says Phil Burke, Owner Insite’s COO.

Procore is letting qualified customers apply to use its management platform for COVID-19 specific projects. Image: Procore Technologies

SafetyTek Software, a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based health and safety platform provider, is offering for free its COVID-19 Workforce Health Analysis Solution. This cloud-based solution allows safety, human resources, and other managers to share updates with workers and to monitor the virus’s infection status with employees to determine who is available to work.

The solution lets workers self-report any symptoms of COVID-19, or potential exposure, using their smartphones. This app “makes it easy for managers and workers to join forces in protecting people’s health while continuing business operations,” says Ryan Quiring, SafetyTek Software’s Founder and CEO.

With the software, managers can review a COVID-19 Workforce Health Analysis dashboard that shows which workers have completed a self-assessment form, how many are symptomatic or at risk, and other related metrics.  Managers can also upload employee emails to send out group communications, send company and government updates to employees, and provide a simple COVID-19 self-assessment form they can use to self-report daily.

To sign up for the free platform, visit https://safetytek.io/covid-19. Among the AEC firms and subcontractors currently deploying the platform are Thompson Electric in Ohio, Legacy 6 in Vancouver, Wash., and Surveying and Mapping, Inc., in Austin.