(Bloomberg) Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud unit is offering support for businesses dealing with the economic impact of the coronavirus, outreach that follows criticism the cloud-computing giant wasn’t doing enough to help struggling customers.

Bloomberg News reported last week that several startups tried and failed to get breaks on their bills from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Corp.’s Azure and Google Cloud Platform, as they rush to cut costs to survive the drop in business brought about by the global pandemic. The three companies, which dominate the market for rented computing power and related software services, are indispensable for many modern businesses. The Information reported that AWS had also turned down requests for financial help from large customers.

AWS this week sent some customers an email offering to listen to their concerns. “Whether you need to address financial pressures, support remote work, ensure business continuity or scale to meet unusual demands, we are here to support you and help however we can,” said the message, which was confirmed by a person who had seen the outreach.

The email links to a website that aggregates AWS blog posts about managing costs and using Amazon services more effectively. It also features a contact form to reach out to the cloud-computing provider. CNBC reported on the outreach earlier. An AWS spokesman didn’t immediately comment.

Amazon also provides as part of its regular line of services AWS Loft locations in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Tel Aviv , where it provides business start-ups and web technology developers free information and cloud technology workshops on internet-of-things and other cloud applications. The New York and San Francisco AWS Loft locations are slated to be closed until May 4 because of the pandemic.

The editorial staff of Digital Commerce 360 | B2B contributed to this story.

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