Slack has been a pioneer in the first of these, but missed the boat on the second. “It’s important to remember that the pandemic and mass move to remote work has shown us that ‘collaboration’ needs to involve both messaging and real-time communications like audio/video conferencing. That’s the power of platforms.”Īlan Duric, who is the Chief Technology Officer and cofounder of Wire : That’s the broader idea that the Slack acquisition represents. You need to create a community and a marketplace that allows people to interact, transact, and ideally learn from one another. “No matter what industry you are in, it’s not enough to just make and sell a great product anymore. According to Interbrand, four out of the top five most valuable brands in the world are platforms: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google. “Platforms have an outsized effect on the global economy because they create huge marketplaces that facilitate interactions between large numbers of participants.

Tien Tzuo, who is the CEO and cofounder of Zuora :

This represents an opportunity for Salesforce, which has clear intentions to use Slack to help facilitate better communications between businesses and their customers and partners using ‘Slack Connect.’ With an established foothold in the CRM market, this acquisition could further strengthen Salesforce’s position and help grow Slack’s user base.” “In our Workplace Communications Trends in 2020 report, we found only 41% of business chat app adopters use tools such as Slack and Teams frequently for external communications, compared to 79% for internal communications.

Peter Tsai, who is the Senior Technology Analyst at Spiceworks Ziff Davis :

Salesforce acquisition of slack