Salesforce Inc. released a new version of Slack specifically designed for salespeople as it works to integrate its largest-ever acquisition.
The new edition of Slack will allow easier access to data and features from Sales Cloud, which is Salesforce’s signature tool. It will cost $60 a month per user on top of existing subscription fees for Slack and Salesforce.
The update is designed to make Slack and Sales Cloud work better together, reducing time spent on administrative tasks or flicking between apps, Slack Chief Executive Officer Lidiane Jones said in an interview. Internal tests show a 76% reduction in editing information on prospective deals, which often sucks up a lot of time, she said. Other major Salesforce apps such as those for marketing and customer service will also get specific Slack products in the future, she added.
Since acquiring Slack in July 2021 for $27.7 billion, Salesforce has worked to increase compatibility between its commerce tools and the workplace communications platform. Jones, who was appointed late last year when Slack co-founder and CEO Stewart Butterfield stepped down, plans to integrate key elements of Salesforce’s other products into Slack. “Slack can be the front door of Salesforce,” she said.
Cross-selling Slack with other products may also be easier now that “Slack Sales Elevate” is released, Jones said. The product will make it easier to explain the value of bundling Slack into other contracts, she said. As Salesforce works to boost profit, it wants employees to sell a wider variety of services, thus requiring fewer salespeople. Slack’s sales teams are now integrated in the company’s wider go-to-market division, while staff focused on building the product report to Jones, she said.
Slack’s largest competitor, Microsoft Corp.’s Teams, is the subject of a European regulatory probe. The European Commission said Thursday it opened a formal investigation into whether Microsoft had breached competition rules by tying or bundling Teams to its other office software. This comes three years after Slack made a complaint to the EU’s antitrust authority. “We’ve been collaborating with the European Commission and so certainly we welcome the movement,” Jones said.
Before leading Slack, Jones oversaw Salesforce’s marketing and commerce software and spent time at Sonos Inc. and Microsoft. Tableau, which was Salesforce’s second-largest acquisition, also recently appointed a new division head after the departure of a pre-merger leader.
--With assistance from Stephanie Bodoni and Samuel Stolton.
