During a ‘Fireside Chat’ Slack introduced upcoming CEO Lidiane Jones, who will succeed Stewart Butterfield in January 2023, and outlined its intention to both continue its traditional focus on raising worker productivity and making the platform more customer driven;

Gregg Willsky, Principal Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view on Slack’s strategy:

“Seizing on productivity as its foremost competitive differentiator has been a smart move for Slack and dedicating greater attention to customer needs and wants can only serve to enhance the platform’s appeal.

“Slack has made it a priority to raise customer engagement by sourcing new features, and is also looking to refresh how it positions the platform. For example, the company is looking to pitch tailored solutions that appeal to specific vertical markets and/or tasks, instead of selling generic, one-size-fits-all capabilities. This approach should prove successful, as it aligns with how customers think about acquiring technology: they seek solutions, not platforms.

“Slack is realizing its full potential, as envisioned when acquired by Salesforce. Virtually overnight, Slack has provided Salesforce a notable presence in the cloud-based collaboration market, placing it much more on par with key rivals such as Microsoft, Cisco, and Google.

“Slack has come to play an integral role at Salesforce both as a successful product in the market and as an internal tool. The vast resources at its disposal through Salesforce give Slack plenty of runway for future innovation.”