--- title: "Make the case to your manager | Socialheads" url: https://socialheads.co.uk/make-the-case/ --- # Make the case to your manager You can already see why this would help. The person who signs it off is weighing different things. Here is the argument in their language, and an email you can send today. ## Start with the staff group The strongest version of this argument is not about the people you support at all. It is about the staff WhatsApp group. Nearly every service has one, and it is the tool that worked when nothing better was offered. What it means is that a good deal of the organisation's day to day information lives on personal handsets the organisation does not own. That is the thing your manager can act on, and it is a much easier conversation than starting with messaging the people you support. ## What your manager is actually weighing Four things, in roughly this order. ### The responsibility they already hold Information about the people your service supports is already being shared, somewhere the organisation cannot reach. Moving it into a place the service owns makes an existing responsibility easier to hold, which is a very different pitch from adding a new one. ### What they can show at inspection Inspectors do not ask to see a messaging platform. They ask what contact a person had, how the service responded, and how you know. One document per person, covering a period, answers that in minutes rather than by collecting phones. ### Staff and their personal numbers Staff use their own phones because there is no alternative, and their personal number becomes a work contact that follows them after they leave. A work account on the phone they already carry solves it without buying anyone a handset. ### A record that holds up A record that builds itself while people work carries more weight than one assembled after the question is asked. One document answers a review, a complaint, an independent visit or a request from a person to see their own information. ## The argument in four sentences For the corridor version, or the two minutes at the end of a team meeting. Most of our coordination happens in a WhatsApp group on our own phones, and none of that belongs to the service. Socialheads gives us the same speed, with the record staying here when people move on. It starts at £3,000 a year for the staff side, and the pricing is published. Bringing something like this in takes a few months whatever we do, so the ask today is a conversation, not a purchase order. If your manager wants the vendor neutral version, send them [the questions to ask any supplier](/choosing-a-messaging-platform). It is written to be used on us as much as anyone else. ## An email you can send Copy it, change anything that does not sound like you, and send it. Short is deliberate. It is easier to say yes to a look than to a decision. Square brackets are yours to fill in. Subject: A safer place for our team messages Hi \[name], Can I put something in front of you for the planning round. Most of our day to day coordination happens in a WhatsApp group on our own phones. It works, which is why we all use it, and it does mean information about the people we support sits on personal handsets and we could not produce a record of any of it if we were asked. I have been looking at Socialheads. The main part is the staff side: group conversations that belong to the organisation rather than the handset, a record of who said what and when, and access that ends the day someone leaves. A second plan adds messaging with the people we support. Pricing is published. Core is from £3,000 a year, Safeguarding Plus from £7,500: https\://socialheads.co.uk/pricing/ Our own data protection review and budget approval would set the pace, so this is a planning decision rather than something we switch on next month. They will work the timing out with us. Would you be happy for me to arrange a look? They will walk us through it and take the data protection questions directly: https\://socialheads.co.uk/get-started/ Thanks, \[your name] ## What they will probably ask you Short answers you can give without needing us in the room. ### We already pay for Microsoft Teams. Why would we pay for this as well? If the team has Teams and still runs a WhatsApp group, that is the answer. The other difference is who can be in a conversation. In Teams the unit is a staff member with a licence, so messaging the people we support is a different thing entirely. ### What does it cost? Core, the staff messaging side, from £3,000 a year. Safeguarding Plus, which adds consent and oversight for messaging the people we support, from £7,500. There is also a Social Impact Rate from £3,500 a year, which is Safeguarding Plus at a reduced rate for smaller services and charities. It is all on [the pricing page](/pricing). ### Is this us monitoring staff? No, and it is a fair thing to check. Only the people in a conversation can read it, and any other access needs a recorded reason the service can see. [Trust and security](/trust-and-security) sets out how. ### Does everyone need to download an app? Not unless they want to. It runs in a web browser on any device, with iPhone and Android apps on their way to the stores, so someone can reach a conversation from a shared computer without an app store account. ### Who is responsible for the data? We are. Our organisation is the data controller and Socialheads is our processor, which is the way round it should be. No supplier can make a service compliant, and they say so themselves. ### How long would this take to bring in? A few months, mostly on our side. A data protection impact assessment, a processing agreement, a security review and budget approval take that long in most services, and longer in a local authority. Tell them the date we are working to and they will work it out with us, which is why starting the conversation now is the useful bit. ### And if the answer is not yet? Ask what would need to be true for it to be a yes, and put it in the planning round rather than dropping it. A manager who has already seen the argument once is a much easier conversation the second time. If they say yes, the next step is a walkthrough with your service in mind. We are happy to answer the data protection questions with your manager on the call. [Get started](/get-started) [See it in one scenario](/what-happens-when-a-worker-leaves)