WHY DO WE NEED OFFICE 365
THE switch to Office 365 is happening! Last year 62 members from 27 Surrey WIs took part in Office 365 Training, either at the Federation’s headquarters in Guildford, or in situ at various WIs around the county.
Ruth Bolton, our Digital Editor, is now running at least one training session a month* — which can be in Guildford or, if you’re in a WI with at least three members who’d like training, Ruth can come to you.
Many WIs are hesitant about the switch — they may already have a Google mail address for their WI and a Google drive to organise their WI business, so why change?
Others may be reluctant to learn another digital system and may have been out of a work environment for some time and lost confidence in their computer skills.
The advantages of Office 365 are:
- Each WI is given four email addresses (info, Secretary, Treasurer and President). These stay with your WI regardless of the changes of personnel.
- Many WIs use the info@ address in place of their gmail address as the central point of contact. Secretaries, Treasurers and Presidents can then use their unique email address if they wish to keep the info@ box uncluttered.
- Your WI’s email contacts list in your info@ email account can also be your up-to-date members list — you can add addresses, phone numbers etc as members join or leave. (You can import/export it as a spreadsheet any time).
- Office 365 allows you to set up your WI’s own document storage area that only your four email addresses have access to. You can file away your minutes, flyers, planning notes and photos all in one place and never have to worry about losing them or passing them on to your successors!
- Any forms that you may have previously downloaded from the SFWI website can also be downloaded from the SFWI area in Office 365.
If you would like to discuss training, please email Ruth at officerb@surreyfedwi.org.uk or ring 01483 238291 on Mondays and Tuesdays. The cost of training is £9 per person, or £27 per WI for up to six members and usually runs between 10.30am and 2.30pm with a coffee/tea and short lunch break.
*See Pages 3 and 6 of the February magazine for the latest training dates.
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