Digital Tools, Communication & Email Platforms

• All emails are hosted on a private enterprise class server meaning potentially sensitive information is kept safe. Free email accounts are consumer products and do not provide users with the same level of privacy, protection or support. 
• Data is backed up so you can retrieve something you may have deleted by mistake.
• With a custom domain name such as yourname@4thfrodshamscouts.org.uk as well as advanced security features such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Parents and outside organisations can be a lot more confident of your identity when receiving emails and access can be revoked during a suspension or after dismissal. Anyone can set up a free Gmail or Hotmail account with something similar to 4thfrodshamscouts@gmail.com and pose as a leader. We want to make sure our adult members are protected from identity theft and safeguard our young people from imposters.
• A Scouting email address allows you to manage and maintain a Scout-Life balance by keeping your Scouting mailbox separate from your personal inbox. Going on that well earned holiday? Temporarily turn off your Scout email without interrupting your personal emails.
• Microsoft 365 has the ability to send and share documents as protected links requiring the recipient to authenticate rather than sending as unprotected attachments.
• It looks professional. Quite often Scouting will lead you to have contact and dealings with public officials, MPs, Councillors, Business leaders or grant funders and having your own official scout email address will give a much better impression.
• When your group sign up for the system, you will automatically get a address book of all the people in your own group as well Mersey Weaver which will update as people join the organisation and leave – so you can always get hold of the people you need to and respect the privacy of those who have left.
• Centrally managed distribution lists can be setup so that you can be confident everyone who is supposed to receives your email.

By hosting your Group’s email with us, you will receive for FREE:

• a free domain name provided by us (e.g. 1stmoorescoutgroup.org.uk, 4thwidnesscoutgroup.org.uk)
• Secure personalised business class email, calendar, and contacts with a 50 GB inbox  (Microsoft Exchange)
• Personal File storage and sharing with 1 TB of OneDrive storage
• Collaboration services to securely store & backup documents (SharePoint). Essential for succession planning.
• Unlimited online meetings, instant messaging, audio, HD video, and web conferencing (Teams)
• Secure social media and networking platform (Yammer)
• Power Automate for Automation of processes and integration with third party services.
• Microsoft Forms for secure data collection.
• Web versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and more
• Kanban style management tools to help teams create plans, organise, assign and collaborate around tasks (Microsoft Planner). 
• Professional digital storytelling tools to create interactive reports, presentations, newsletters and more (Microsoft Sway)
• District-based technical support when you need it.
• Access to the Mersey Weaver members area based on SharePoint.
• Access to the District Directory
• Full GDPR compliance & alignment.

Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines chat, video meetings, file storage (including collaboration on files), and application integration. The service integrates with our Microsoft 365 subscription and features extensions that can integrate with non-Microsoft products.

Microsoft Teams is a comparable to services such as Slack, WhatsApp and Zoom and is the evolution from Skype for Business. Teams allows communities, groups, or teams to join online voice or video meetings through a link or invitation or host live broadcasts as well as direct message, have group chats and share or collaborate on documents.

• Video conferencing
• Webinars
• Live broadcasts
• Screen sharing
• Chat & instant messaging
• File sharing
• Document collaboration
• Apps and workflows