Salesforce Closes Slack Acquisition, Tees Up More to ComeSalesforce Closes Slack Acquisition, Tees Up More to Come
Talks up the idea of the “digital HQ,” leaving details for another day.
July 21, 2021
Approximately eight months since we heard that Salesforce would be acquiring team collaboration provider Slack, the deal is official. Salesforce today announced that it closed the acquisition, value at $27.7 billion.
With the acquisition finalized, Salesforce plans to deliver what it’s calling digital headquarters (HQs), which will make Slack the user interface for all Customer 360 products, allowing users to use Slack to connect with fellow employees, customers, and external partners from within the CRM app. In addition, Slack will be integrated within every Salesforce Cloud solution, as Salesforce shared in a FAQ page on the acquisition. Salesforce customers will also have access to the 2,400 partners apps within the Slack platform, Salesforce said.
While details are sparse, Irwin Lazar, president and principal analyst at Metrigy, told No Jitter that he believes Salesforce will move forward with a two-pronged strategy. First, Salesforce will make Slack “the collaboration hub for various Salesforce apps through tight integrations,” replacing services like Salesforce Chatter with Slack, Lazar explained.
Second, Salesforce will continue to offer Slack as a standalone offering as a means to “compete with Microsoft Teams and others in the broader team collaboration market,” he added. To the latter part, Salesforce shared that it’ll continue to support Slack’s roadmap, allowing it to operate as its own brand under the leadership of Slack CEO and Co-founder Stewart Butterfield.
Lazar also noted that it might not be long before we hear more on the vision for Slack’s future. On Aug. 17, Salesforce will host a virtual event with members of the Slack and Salesforce leadership teams to discuss creating digital HQs for the future. So, until then, we will have to sit tight on answering those “what’s next” questions.
