In today’s digital world, security and federated collaboration of communication applications is crucial, especially for association organizations with a large number of members, for example the German Red Cross (DRK), Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) or fire and police organizations.
Secure digital communication in such complex organizations is important both to protect confidential information and to maintain the trust of members, partners and external parties in the organization. This is especially true at a time when digital communications are becoming increasingly important and cyber-attacks are on the rise. A permanent security strategy that is regularly reviewed and adapted is therefore essential.
In a future where communication between fire departments, police, DRK and THW is fully interoperable, these organizations can coordinate their work even better. Thanks to the use of modern and reliable messenger services such as stashcat, communication can take place in real time and it is possible to react even faster and more efficiently in crisis situations.
Many of these aid organizations have decided to use the messenger service stashcat as a digital communication solution. This solution is one of the most up-to-date and secure in the field of digital communication and allows to act more effectively and to forward the right information to the right people.
Communication between the different hierarchical levels of an organization presents an additional challenge. This became particularly evident in crisis situations such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, flooding in the Ahr Valley, or national and international rescue and recovery operations. In such times, it is of vital importance to be able to act quickly and effectively and to communicate the right information to the right people. A reliable, robust and modern digital communications solution is essential for this.
To be able to communicate effectively and securely, it is no longer enough to rely solely on traditional communication channels. For example, communication via radio channels and control centers can be supplemented by a messenger with visual information such as images or video recordings.
Often, private messenger services are resorted to in such situations, but they carry a high risk of data misuse, hacker attacks and rights violations. A lack of compatibility between messenger services also makes a continuously moderated flow of information difficult.
When a messenger is interoperable, it means it is compatible with other messaging services. This, again, enables connectivity between different platforms and makes it easier for units and organizations to work together during an emergency situation. This is because they don’t necessarily have to use the same platform, but they can still communicate with each other and stay connected.
The topic of federated communication has currently gained in importance, which is why the demand for interoperable messengers from authorities and organizations has increased massively in recent years. It is particularly important to find solutions that are both secure and effective, while still ensuring easy communication.
stashcat is a federated business messenger app that enables privacy-compliant, secure and modern digital communication between all stakeholders inside and outside such organizations.
One of the most important upcoming features of stashcat will be integration of the Matrix protocol standard. It enables networking not only with stashcat servers, but also with all other Matrix-based messenger services.
The federated structure ensures that different organizations can communicate both internally and with each other. This greatly facilitates communication and cooperation among organizations in an emergency or crisis situation.
Mit dem Laden des Videos akzeptieren Sie die Datenschutzerklärung von YouTube.
Mehr erfahren
As technical tools continue to evolve, stashcat has decided to open up its platform to external applications. There are great advantages for organizations, as they are now able to integrate almost any system into the platform via an interface, thus optimally adapting it to their own needs. Thanks to the well-documented API, organizations also have the option of developing their own applications.
A “marketplace” is set up for this purpose, in which both external applications and stashcat’s own developments are made available. The seamless integration of these applications expands the functionality of the messenger.
This opens up many possibilities for organizations that need specific tools to effectively support their work. In the long run, this option in the “Marketplace” offers the possibility to offer and use applications with interfaces to frequently used and industry-specific tools themselves.
For example, in crisis situations, a chat bot could be used to give staff members quick and easy access to important information. The chat bot could be integrated into the existing FAQ database and accessed via the stashcat mobile app. This way, the chat bot could receive a question with a command and then output the corresponding answer from the FAQ database. This simplifies the work and ensures that automatic and effective support can be provided. This greatly facilitates communication and cooperation among organizations in an emergency or crisis situation.
THW also uses the stashcat communication solution successfully, for example in crisis and emergency situations. One example is the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, where the THW was able to efficiently organize and strategically deploy all emergency forces with the help of the specially branded stashcat offshoot Hermine@THW – this was the THW’s largest deployment to date. By using Hermine@THW, up to 60,000 messages could be sent daily during the operation. Users exchanged information about the operation in numerous group chats and queried which volunteers were ready and available. This type of communication enabled THW to act quickly and efficiently and make the right decisions.
Learn more about the mission from THW (German language only)